Win over ‘Generation Elusive’

Getting through to an audience of 18-to-34-year-olds has long been seen as the Holy Grail of marketing.

To help you build deeper bonds with this elusive audience, here’s a nugget for your next product launch or awareness campaign.

It sounds so simple and obvious – but it works and we can prove it:

Turn your customers into case studies.

Research from Goldbug in partnership with leading pollsters Opinium shows that 60% of consumers aged 18 to 34 have bought a product or signed up to a service solely because it had been recommended by a case study in the press or the media.

That’s twice as many as the average – and four times as many as over 55s.

Using relatable people in communications – such as case studies – was found to be more attractive to consumers in the lower age group than advertising (28% v 21% respectively), and more effective than sponsored content or celebrity endorsements of any kind.

Seeing someone of your own age, your own passions, in the media you consume, builds stronger relationships.

Over a third (34%) said they have to feel an emotional connection with a brand before they buy its products on a regular basis.

This increases to 54% for younger audiences aged under 35.

More than eight out of 10 (83%) people of that younger generation feel warmer about a brand when they see a person they can relate to talking favourably about it in the media.

While the average for this is 60% – younger people are twice as likely to say this than over 55s.

Meanwhile, more than six in 10 (64%) young UK consumers say they’re more likely to buy a product based on information supplied in an independent way, like a news organisation or an expert than in an ad. This is the highest figure out of all age groups.

Interestingly, younger age groups also trust major news brands such as the BBC, Sky, Telegraph and the Guardian more than social media, podcasts, smaller independent media, or direct communications from a brand.

It’s fascinating to see how placing a case study in the press is wielding as much buying power, if not more, than traditional and new forms of advertising.

Don’t make your customers an after-thought. Put them right in the middle.