Why Your Marketing Does Not Impress The Born-Free Generation

Khanyi Moshia is a writer and community manager for Arc Interactive and she gives her take on why local advertisers are missing the mark when speaking to South Africa's generation of born-frees

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Marketers tend to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what it is about born-frees that makes them an important part of the consumer market, and why they seem to be a lot more complicated than the Generation-X. Well, if you’ve ever wondered why your marketing doesn’t really impress the born free generation, one or more of these could be the reasons:

You are not socially responsible

We (the born-free generation) are very conscious of who we are and we care about brands that are purpose driven. What that means is, we generally engage with and support brands that contribute to the well-being of communities and/or the environment. If your brand is not socially responsible in any way, then you should think of ways that you can give back to, and uplift the community that you operate in.

You don’t know where to reach us

Knowing your (potential) target market and where to find them is important. Using traditional marketing tactics like print media (flyer/pamphlets) or email is a thing of the past and it isn’t that valuable to us. More often than not, your marketing material will end up in the trash. Not only do we spend a lot of time on social media platforms (like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and SnapChat) posting about our lives, we also share information about our experiences with brands and the products we consume (which is free marketing for you) - so knowing where to reach us is very important.

Your customer experience isn’t seamless

Born-frees live in a world of instant gratification and we honestly don’t want to jump through hoops in order to reach your brand. If your marketing material requires a lot of admin, the chances of us engaging with the content are really slim. Our “world” is moving very quickly so a seamless customer experience is important to us. When creating your marketing content, make sure the process of getting to your desired call-to-action (be it a sale or subscription) is quick and easy.

We are not influenced

One of the most popular marketing trends is the use of social media influencers. As a generation that’s easily influenced and constantly looking to jump on the next cool thing, the use of influencers will help with reaching us. Keep in mind though, the influencers should be authentic when they promote your brand or product because if they don’t believe in it, neither will we.

Can you get your message across quickly?

Unfortunately, we have short attention spans and we lose interest quickly. We want to be able to absorb information instantly and if you can’t communicate to us in a few words or pictures, then you won’t be able to market to us. Consider modifying your content so that it communicates in a language that we can easily understand. As born frees, we are loyal to, and prefer building relationships with brands that are “woke”, make a meaningful contribution to our daily experiences (by making our lives easier) and most importantly, brands that are committed to making a difference in the world.

About the author

Khanyi Moshia is a Copywriter and Community Manager at Arc Interactive who is passionate about female empowerment. She spends her free time getting involved in causes that uplift her community, or being a mixologist - she makes a mean cocktail. For more information visit www.arcinteractive.co.

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Tags: Marketing