Marketers targeting Gen Z confront a murky collection of challenges. These range from making sound decisions on which influencers partner with brands to underscoring authenticity in ways that don’t backfire.
Everyone is speaking about what makes millennials tick or – alternatively – how to market to them. This means that we forget they’re old news. Absolutely, we’ll still need to market to millennials for years and year to come, however it’s time to start concentrating on Generation Z.
At first glance, millennials – tougher with Gen Z – may seem very similar. However, if you look a little more in depth, you start to see the understated differences between the two generations—and these understated differences are important to us marketers.
What Are The Challenges Of Marketing To Gen Z
In marketing, someone’s always waiting to declare that “the end is nigh” with every single piece of new technology or culture shift. However – don’t worry. Every generation presents challenges, but marketers adjust well. Changing is as much a vital part of the industry as any key performance indicators or data.
For example, you’ve possibly heard that Gen Z has the attention span of about eight seconds—compared to the millennials’ 12—when, in reality, they really possess a sophisticated filter that comes from growing up surrounded by a torrent of information.
You’ll just have a few seconds in order to convince Gen Z consumers that your ad, blog post, etc. is worth their time. However, if you do, they can focus (the word “binge” comes to mind) for long enough in order to complete in-depth research on any topic.
So next time that someone tells you Gen Z will kill your marketing strategy, don’t have no fear. Gen Z — just as with millennials, Gen X, and even the baby boomers before them — will be no different than any other generation. And to help quell the panic, we did our own research to demystify marketing to a new group of consumers.
