How Do I Connect With Teen Consumers?
Q: My product is meant for a teen market. What advice do you have for effectively connecting with such a young demographic?
— Dana, Arlington, Virginia
The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council. Founded by Scott Gerber, the YEC is an invite-only nonprofit organization composed of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship and resources that support each stage of a business's development and growth.
A: Go to Their Turf
Teens are more perceptive than ever. Avoid the hard sell in favor of embedding your product into media and services they already consume. Consider creating a joint venture with a company/brand already serving your market. Above all else, keep your approach as organic as possible.
Lisa Nicole Bell (www.twitter.com/LisaNicoleBell), Inspired Life Media Group (www.lisanicolebell.com)
A: Brand Ambassadors
Bring on brand ambassadors from the younger target demographic who speak that market’s language! Let them share and market your product for you. As they connect with their peers, you will gain a wider following for your product and begin to mirror the language they use to connect with this younger demographic. Have them guest post, blog and be an integral part of the marketing campaign.
Kris Ruby (twitter.com/sparklingruby), Ruby Media Group (www.rubymediagroup.com)
A: Create Incentives for Participation
The best way to get younger folks involved and passionate about your product/service? Give them a reason to give a damn. Build an incentive program for participation — whether that be "badges," à la Foursquare, or some other incentive. When they're earning something and getting a pat on the back for being involved, there's all the more incentive to be that much more engaged with your product/service.
Matt Cheuvront (twitter.com/mattChevy), Proof Branding (www.proofbranding.com)
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A: Use Facebook and Add Teens to Your Team
High school students live on Facebook, so go to where they are! Set up a Facebook page for your business and post from it frequently throughout the day. In addition, recruit teens to join your team as interns or ambassadors so that they can spread the word to other teens via word-of-mouth and their existing networks.
Stephanie Kaplan (twitter.com/stephaniekaplan), Her Campus Media (www.hercampus.com)
A: Go Through Their Parents
It might sound crazy to reach teens through parents, but we get almost all of our teen audience and interns through parents who have told their teens about us. Oftentimes parents can be a great backdoor into the teen market because they have influence over what their child buys, watches and consumes.
Vanessa Van Petten (twitter.com/vvanpetten), Science of People (www.scienceofpeople.org)
A: Involve Your Target Demographic in Your Business
If you're trying to reach teens, you have to have teens working with you: Whether you bring brand ambassadors on board or bring in a few teens on your regular staff, you've got to have their insights. They can tell you not just that you need to be on Facebook, but how to use it, and all the other nuances of teen culture.
Thursday Bram (twitter.com/thursdayb), Hyper Modern Consulting (www.hypermodernconsulting.com)
A: Use Social Influence
Teens typically tune out advertisements and do not trust marketing messages. Rather, they turn to their own research and friends when making purchasing decisions. Try first just being "cool" with some great, funny, teen-relevant content, and subtly work your message in after building a relationship.
Lucas Sommer (twitter.com/Audimated), Audimated (www.audimated.com)
A: Engage Teen YouTube Partners
YouTube is one of the most popular sites for teens. On YouTube exist many partners who are being paid by YouTube to generate content, and some of these partners have a lot of subscribers/fans. If you can engage with YouTube partners and involve them in the promotion of your product, you will see greater results than if you purchased Facebook ads, as an example. Engage these savvy teens!
Erin Blaskie (twitter.com/ErinBlaskie), BSETC (www.bsetc.com)
A: Engage Them Online
Marketers need to be where the millennials are: online. This means engaging this young demographic through social media platforms. Depending on the product, it may be effective to create an online component where teens can purchase through the Internet. With the world available at their fingertips, teens today are more wired than ever, and marketers must understand that to be noticed.
Tina Wells (twitter.com/tinacwells), Buzz Marketing Group (www.buzzmg.com)
