Brand Storytelling is the Secret Sauce When Marketing to Gen Z
(They’re not as scary as they seem.)
We all know that marketing is way more than promoting the literal benefits of a product or service to the target audience. Studies have shown that consumers are more likely to engage with brands and products that they have a personal connection with. Long gone are the ads and social media campaigns of old that focused exclusively on marketing their product and not engaging anywhere else in social life.
Yeah, that’s not cutting it anymore. Most of us realize by now that a brand has to be more than a product developer or service provider; they need to have personality and stand for something. This is more true with the upcoming Generation Z than with any other population. Why is this, and how can marketers entering the field channel their understanding of this generation to improve their marketing tactics? Read on below.
Who is Gen Z?
Generation Z, or Gen Z, the iGeneration, Post-Millenials or the Homeland Generation, are defined as anyone born from the mid-90s to the late 2000s (exact years are disputed). That may seem young, but members of this generation are beginning to graduate college and enter the workplace as we speak. Many of you may even consider yourselves a part of Gen Z.
More than that, they currently make up 25.9 percent of the US population and make up approximately 40 percent of consumers. This means that ignoring the evolving expectations of the vast majority of consumers would be extremely harmful for your business.
Gen Z is here to stay, and they will continue to become more and more prevalent in the years ahead. So if you want your business to move ahead with the times and not stay stalling in the past, you need to consider what Gen Zers look for in a brand first and foremost.
That thing? It’s called brand storytelling.
What is brand storytelling and why should I care?
Brand storytelling, put simply, is all about the personality and voice that tells your customers who exactly your brand is and why it’s unique. This quality makes your brand more than just a company: it’s something that brings your customers joy, inspiration, comfort, or any other positive emotion you wish to convey. Brand storytelling ensures that your company isn’t like all the others; it’s memorable, completely unique, and so vital to the customer that they feel as though their life is missing something without your product or service.
This idea of brand storytelling is not new. The most successful internationally recognizable brands have been doing this well for years now. For example, Nike’s brand is not just about selling shoes. Their slogan “Just Do It” and accompanying marketing materials all seek to inspire athletes of all abilities and backgrounds. They’re about a cause bigger than material gain, and that comes through across all their platforms. This makes you connect more with a brand, and have a compelling reason to keep going back to them again and again, even if you don’t care that much about the brand of your shoes.
Again, this idea is not new. But the difference is that with past generations, brand storytelling was an added bonus. Gen Z expects it to be a given, so developing a strong brand voice and personality is a must for the future marketing landscape.
Luckily, we know a few specific strategies that really get Gen Z to pay attention. Consider trying out these three tips for reaching the youngest, largest generation of consumers in your marketing strategy.
#1 Don’t underestimate a sense of humor.
This tip can’t be too surprising. The Tik Tok generation is used to absorbing content daily that is meant to be amusing or entertaining. What’s more, it has been found that this generation responds really well to brands that flex their unique sense of humor to create a distinctive and memorable voice. Gen Z is more likely to support brands that they deem “fun” or “cool.”
And this doesn’t mean that every brand needs to have a quippy, cheeky voice to reach this audience. This isn’t the tone for many brands. But finding some element of levity goes a long way with reaching this generation. Find ways to incorporate pop culture or influencers in your marketing. Speak their language (even if you have to consult your younger siblings to understand the lingo kids are using nowadays). Whatever your strategy, lean on developing this “cool” factor for your brand and you’ll be amazed at how well Gen Zers respond to it.
#2 Take a stance on social issues.
Gen Z is a very, very socially aware generation. They are the climate change activists demanding national policy change. They organized the international movement March For Our Lives crying out that they’ve had enough of the normalization of school shootings. And they took to the streets after the killing of George Floyd by police, even taking it upon themselves to educate older generations on the continued prevalence of racism in our society.
This generation is demanding a better future for themselves and for posterity, and this bleeds into all facets of their lives. If a brand does not share their values on a social issue, it is very unlikely that they will continue to use their product or service. Even more significant, Gen Zers tend to distrust brands that refuse to take a stand on social issues at all. If you want to build a loyal customer-base within Gen Z, you better be prepared to take firm stances on the most relevant social issues of the day. And if your values clash with a subset of the population, you have to be okay with that.
#3 Leverage social currency.
Gen Z grew up in the era of social media. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have always been around for them (although they’d tell you that Facebook is strictly for “old people”). They primarily connect with one another online. And with the prevalence of online sharing has come the dreaded reality of FOMO (fear of missing out). Gen Z feels this more than any generation before it because they are inundated with content from their friends and peers daily.
Tapping into this feeling of FOMO could do wonders for your brand voice and personality. Everyone wants to feel like a VIP, and this desire for exclusivity could help your brand gain a major following with the youngest generation. Use social media to share time-sensitive promotions or experiences that make them feel like they need to act now. Find what’s unique and novel about your brand, and make sure the consumer can’t get the same experience with any other brand.
A note on technology:
I would be remiss if I ended this article about marketing to Gen Z without touching on the importance of technology. Obviously, the iGeneration is more online than any generation before it, which means that leveraging technology and social media are essential to reaching their market. This generation taps, likes and shares as much as they walk, hop and jump. That is to say, the internet is as much a part of their life as the real world.
Luckily, social connectivity through online channels provide even more opportunities than ever to really deliver your brand voice to your target audience. You can use videos, online polls, interactive games and so much more to get this customer base engaged and invested. Wherever Gen Z is interacting online is a platform for you to expand your brand voice and reach your target audience.
These three tips are not the end-all be-all of marketing to Gen Z. But they will hopefully get you started with thinking the way they think and understanding what they truly care about. Remember, if all else fails, you can never go wrong with a Riverdale reference and copying a Tik Tok dance from Charli D’Amelio.
I’m just kidding. That could go very, very wrong.
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