Millennials are quickly entering the luxury brand market. An article in Forbes states, “Deloitte recently projected 99 million millennials versus 77 million boomers now make up a larger segment of the luxury market.” This generation likes to buy and use luxury products and services, but the marketing that reached previous generations is not going to work on them. If you haven’t updated your marketing efforts to reach millennials, it’s time to make a change. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Millennials are looking for an experience
This generation would prefer to spend money on experiences instead of products. They want to ‘live life’ instead of ‘buy more’. To reach millennials you need to sell them on the experience that your product or service provides. That means you cannot just focus on the product itself. You need to show them the value that your product is going to add to their life. When expanding your marketing efforts to millennials, look for ways to show them the experience of owning your brand.
The designer apparel brand Revolve has found success using this strategy in their marketing efforts. They focused marketing on bringing guest bloggers on trips to help show off their merchandise. This allows them to create an experience out of a clothing line and expand their reach through the blogger’s audience.
Show how your story matches with their values
Millennials are ready to make changes in the world. They do not just accept things because they have always been done a certain way. They are active in the causes that matter to them from climate control to civil rights. Millennials are putting their money where their mouth is, so if your luxury brand wants to connect with this generation show you support the causes they care about. Then, they will want to support you as well.
Media matters more than ever
Millennials prefer to connect with a brand before making a purchase. While social media is important for this generation there is also a larger percentage of millennials that read magazines than Boomers or Generation X. That means they want to see your luxury brand in print media and interacting with them through online marketing efforts before they will decide to purchase from you. A millennial is going to research your company and read reviews prior to choosing you over your competitor.
To have the largest impact on the millennial generation you need to monitor the media coverage that your luxury brand is receiving. This is a time-consuming job, but one that will help your brand continue to grow as the demands of your target audience change.
