In marketing, it is highly important to identify market segments and to target them appropriately given their needs and wants. In this essay, I will consider such demographic segment as Millennials. This generation is becoming more and more influential as buyers, and for that reason more and more companies, including the sphere of arts management, strive to satisfy them.
Millennials are the people born between the 1980s and 2000s, and this generation includes young adults in their 20s and 30s. As Accenture states, “There are roughly 80 million Millennials in the United States alone, and each year they spend approximately $600 billion” (“Who are the Millennial shoppers?” par. 4), which makes them a significant target group for marketing. Raines names the following features of this generation: focused on children and family, have scheduled life, multicultural, patriotic, support their parents, “see things as global and open for business” (Raines 2-3).
It is essential to understand the needs and values of Millennials. First, if a company is not represented in social webs, it is non-existent (McKenna par. 20). Next, the brand has to be transparent: “You can gain consumers’ business if you build their trust” (McKenna par. 11). Millennials are suspicious of traditional advertisement, so distinct approaches are necessary to reach out to them (McKenna par. 14-15). Finally, this generation prefers not to collect things, but to create and store memories, so it may be a good idea to hold events for advertising purposes (McKenna par. 17).
It arts management, failing to attract Millennials equals losing a significant part of the target audience. Since by 2030 Millennials “are most likely to outnumber baby boomers 78 million to 56 million” (“Why Many Companies Fail at Millennial Marketing” par. 2) and now is the time when a lot of them are forming their habits and preferences in art, the loss of this part of the audience now probably means severe revenue losses in the next 15 years. To change the situation, arts managers should address the Millennials, taking into consideration their values needs. Mainly, they need to alter the approach to advertising and make their content mobile-friendly since, as A. Howlett, CDO of Rain, said, “If you aren’t thinking mobile first to reach millennials, you won’t be successful. This group is spending more time on their mobile devices than any other platform and are making their decisions utilizing their mobile devices” (“11 Easy Ways to Target Millennials” par. 12).
One of the examples of successful marketing to Millennials is Spotify. This company understands the value of the Millennials as their consumers: as Spotify’s CDO Seth Farbman says, “Especially for a millennial, music is one of those things that gives you a voice and a point of view” (Johnson par. 4). Spotify considers the fact that Millennials value experience, not things, so the recommendations made to the users are based on their previous choices (Johnson par. 14-15), and they use events for advertising (Johnson par. 20). Since it is known that Millennials tend to change their parents’ preferences (“Who are the Millennial shoppers?” par. 38), the company may have to alter its approach, particularly in the advertisement, to attract the elder generation better.
To conclude, Millennials are becoming the most influential market segment, so it is important to study their expectations. Among the latter there is the need to trust a brand and the pursuit of experiences. The brand needs to be present online as well.
Works Cited
11 Easy Ways to Target Millennials in Your Marketing Strategy 2015. Web.
Johnson, Lauren 2015. 4 Ways Spotify and Pandora Target Millennials Differently. Web.
McKenna, Erin 2015. Millennials: What Marketers Need to Know. Web.
Raines, Claire. “Managing Millennials.” 2002.
Who Are the Millennial Shoppers? And What Do They Really Want? n.d. Web.
Why Many Companies Fail at Millennial Marketing 2015. Web.