Engaging with youth markets is an ongoing challenge for marketers. With increasingly disparate audiences across multiple platforms it is more important than ever that brands reach their target demographics with messages that not only grab, but hold, the audiences attention.
It is well documented that the traditional methods of a brand putting their message across to a young generation via TV, radio and billboards are now less effective than they used to be. A huge cause of this is the significant increase in online/digital viewing in recent years. We spend more time in front of our computers, tablets and mobile phones for social, entertainment and educational purposes. Our market profiles live in an ‘on-demand’ environment where audiences go directly to the information they want without sitting through 2 minutes of adverts before their programmes start or waiting until a particular time of day to watch content that directly interests them.
The rise of mobile and improved connectivity has only compounded this further. In the UK on subscriptions TV during the next five years will grow at a composite annual rate of 5.5%. This seems a respectable expansion until you realize that, in terms of growth, it will be eclipsed by the mobile TV market which will grow by a breath taking 60.5% in the same period.
Unsurprisingly this is having a direct impact on the allocation of marketing budgets. The predicted increase in marketing spend with traditional TV advertising is going to be a little under 4% while the rise in internet advertising will be three times at around 12%
As so many of our peers create digital channels, producing and uploading niche content it results in there being something for everyone; for example if you want Urban entertainment you’ll check GRM Daily as you know and trust that we’ll give you the credible, in touch, entertaining content you’re looking for in a genre that means so much to you.
In addition to providing this content, we also recognise the demand is on a consistent basis (as it’s a direct interest) and we need to get straight to the point. This has resulted in channels like ours uploading high quality and concise content every single day. This consistency keeps the youth market continuously engaged and is the reason why digital video viewing is more popular than ever before.
This heavy consumption of entertainment through online videos means that it’s an extremely important medium in targeting youth and one that cannot be missed by brands. They should be very aware however that in order to engage the youth they have to do so on their terms. To put a sponsor logo at the beginning of a video will certainly get the user’s attention but that will be lost once the video starts and may not necessarily be ‘on message’ with the content.
One of the most effective ways to engage the user on their terms is to do so via branded content. This involves the brand actually understanding the content which is ultimately the user’s needs, wants and desires. To understand these characteristics means you’re able to feature a brand within the content without comprising it at all and in many cases raising the quality of the content.
For example if you’ve got a music show series that users watch, the best way for a brand to position themselves within the content would be to do so in line with what the users are already used to seeing. This could involve having some branding in the performance/interview set, to create a branded segment within the show or possibly creating a whole new better quality show that gives the users the same experience but with the brand attached. This is much more engaging and rewarding for both parties as the users are getting a better show (as the brands will want a high-quality show to fall in-line with their image) and the users are getting better content.
This shows users you care about their interests and they’ll be much more receptive to any messages you want to give them as you’ve shown you understand who are they and what they like.
Ultimately the expectations of youth audiences have moved beyond informative marketing. They know what brands they like in the same way as they now the content they want. For a brand to truly engage it has to be done on a much deeper and more organic level. Brands need to look at how they can move themselves to the heart of the pre-exisitng passion points online, while building and maintaining a level of credibility with this demographic. The rewards of doing this properly can be huge in terms of brand loyalty and subsequent word of mouth marketing but this is something brands need to address sooner rather than later.
The continued success of Grime Daily, now GRM Daily, over the years has made us an essential place for brands to directly target the youth. However, we encourage brands to engage, educate and inform users with the content and space on the site, in a convincing and credible way that matches up with the reasons that our audience comes to us in the first place. DO so has already seen great results for brands such as Nike, Reebok, Boxfresh and Google + and we look forward to seeing more brands start to follow suit.
