Have you ever heard the wise grandmotherly proverb that says you should look at a man’s shoes to see how he treats others?

Clean shoes mean he takes the time to care for his things, even small details, and therefore will probably do the same for those close to him.

Well for Millennials, a company’s website is like a man’s footwear, and the adage still stands.

Millennials, or Generation Y, are defined as those born between 1981 and 1995, and they are vastly different from their predecessors, Generation X, in many ways. With proclivity for social media, hand-held devices, instant online answers and an inborn trust of technology, marketing to Millennials is difficult in the traditional sense or in traditional ways, meaning billboards and flyers will not get you very far.

But could their love of the internet and always being ‘plugged-in’ actually help targeted online marketing? It can if you are willing to adapt to reach the largest generation in the U.S., over 75 million strong!

If you’re ready to take your company into the online spotlight and market to Millennials (and the even more tech-savvy Generation Z who are just beginning to come into adulthood) here are four great ways to start!

Be Personal, Authentic & Transparent

If you are local or can introduce a personal feel to your page, Millennials will respond positively, as they often prefer companies that show their true colors and principles, rather than goliath companies which can seem cold or generic.

In fact, statistics have shown that how authentic a company, experience or online marketing campaign appears is more important to Millennials than social standing, popularity and sometimes even price. This is why large-scale billboards or impersonal flyer drop-offs no longer pull in business like they used to.

Personal touches, honesty, and an authentic experience are much more likely to bring in Millennials than false claims, glitz and glam, which will quickly be found out, discredited and spread in the online information era. Just like good online marketing can rocket your company to new success, poor marketing can do the inverse and make it difficult to clean your name afterward.

Be as plugged in as they are

Over 40% of Millennials use their phone to interact daily on social media pages and apps. This is a huge jump from only a little over 15% of Baby Boomers. If you want your online marketing campaign to be a success, make sure it is able to translate across all forms; desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, in addition to the different brands, search engines and platforms.

If you have amazing products or services with authentic and personalized content, but it cannot be viewed through a certain platform or device, then you are losing that audience completely and they will quickly look elsewhere.

Think about your ‘voice’

Just like a good salesman, you need to use your smooth voice to draw in your target audience, but how can you do this when all you have is text on a page? The same as if it was spoken! Online marketing and web content has a distinct voice just like an audible one, and you have to be sure yours is friendly, and if you can, clever!

Millennials are often labeled as cynical, but they are also humorous and they appreciate humor in all areas, even online marketing. Puns and ridiculous humor, irony and sarcasm, and putting as much of yourself and your humor into your online ‘voice’ are all things Millennials respond to. Think of the silly Old Spice commercials, or the infamous ‘Dilly Dilly’ Bud Light Super Bowl LII commercial (viewed over 20 million times online).

Now, think of how you can translate some humor into your digital voice for your own online marketing. A little humor goes a long way when it comes to marketing to Millennials!

SEO! SEO! Did I Mention SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) means ensuring that your information shows up at the top of the internet heap because if it doesn’t, your digital needle will never be found in the vast online haystack.

The majority of Millennials look to the internet first when trying to learn more about a company or their products and services, so failing to hold a strong online presence through SEO makes even the best company difficult to find.

A Google search is where roughly 90% of internet experiences start. Whether Millennials are looking for information on products, businesses, locations and hours or simply an answer to a relevant question, SEO is the first step in making sure you have visibility, because, without first-page visibility, it’s easy to get buried in the massive content of the web.

Are you ready to take the next step?

Without a doubt, the most important part of online marketing to Millennials is SEO. You can be transparent, offer a great quality service or product, and have humor oozing from every letter of your content, but if you’re on the 3rd page of Google, you are invisible to the modern Millennial.

If you’re ready to take the next step into marketing to the largest living generation, then contact us! Think we missed a marketing tip? Let us know in a comment below!