Marketing to the Gen Z audience

Writing about how to market to Gen Z makes me feel ancient, but recently Vogue shared an article about marketing fashion and beauty brands and the lessons here shouldn’t be ignored.

While Gen Z grew up ignoring traditional online marketing tactics, this hasn’t deterred them from engaging in social media. The difference is that they are savvier in their approach, relying on community reviews (the comment section, tagged posts, and community forums) rather than only listening to (and trusting) what the brand has to say.

These folks rely heavily on social media to get inspiration, information, and assess the brand's cool-factor to make purchasing decisions.

When marketing to this audience, brands need to think of social media as less of an advertising tactic and more of a world-building device. Gen Z are voracious product researchers and values-driven brand advocates. They are looking to connect to brands and it’s our job as marketers to create the world a brand’s advocates can enjoy, both online and IRL.

So how do you do this?

💎 Focus on creating and nurturing fans by speaking to their values, educating, and entertaining.
💎 Choose partners that share your values. Influencers are still influential but you must choose wisely.
💎 Reward affinity. Loyalty is measured in brand affinity (following on social and telling friends), not necessarily repeat purchases.
💎 Engage in the comment section.
💎 Be transparent. Gen Zs are not impulse shoppers and will do extensive research on products before buying. This audience has a keen awareness of value so notes on price, fit, materials, manufacturing practices, and comment sections on social are all key points of research.

TL;DR:

Community is everything
Entertain and educate
Speak to your values
There’s no such thing as too much information

Looking for inspiration from brands who do this really, really well? Look to Maguire Shoes and Londre Bodywear for Canadian fashion brands who really get their customers.