Just when we thought we were getting to grips with the elusive millennial market, Generation Z is about to come crashing into the consumer marketplace. And guess what? They are even more diverse, powerful and digitally grounded.

Marketers should always be one step ahead, writes David Willey from Growth Tank. Right now, millennials are at the forefront of brand marketing strategies as the most influential generation so far. Focused on gaining and retaining their attention, marketers are overlooking Generation Z, i.e. the siblings of millennials. Notorious for their lack of concentration and inability to remain loyal to brands, millennials are a generation that are tricky to engage with. Following in their footsteps, Generation Z have been brought up in an era so saturated with advertising content that they have learned to switch off from hard-sells and generic messages. For brands to start building connections with millennials and Gen Z, new tactics need to be implemented. And it all starts with content marketing.

The fall of advertising

Traditional methods of advertising go heavily unnoticed by millennials and Gen Z – they have learnt to read between the lines of advertising messages and know when they are being sold to. This has led to a universal distrust in many brands and the motivation to look elsewhere. Whatever leads them to choose another brand often comes in the form of organic content marketing.

Rather than focusing solely on selling, content marketing enables you to share valuable and relevant information about your brand with an engaged audience. This subtle marketing technique is also a key opportunity for brands to listen to their consumers.

Gaining trust

Once you have proved you are a brand that listens to its audience, follow through with consistent communication and feedback. With peer reviews ranked as one of the most trusted forms of advertising, be sure to respond to customers and provide genuine comments, particularly on social media. This includes complaints as millennials will welcome negative reviews that are resolved in a compassionate and appropriate manner. We’re all human – prove it by taking the complaint into account and telling people how you will fix it.

Embrace storytelling

Use your website as a hub to showcase your content marketing work and share the story of your brand.

Millennials and Gen Z want to identify with a brand’s personality and values. Not only that, they want to see evidence of those values put into practice. Standing for something is high on their checklist when it comes to choosing the right brand, particularly if they share the same principles. Post photos of branded events and other ‘Instagrammable’ images that endorse what you stand for as a brand, encouraging millennials and Gen Z to share on their social feeds. This will then reach others within your clearly-defined target audience that can start following your brand story and begin their journey into a loyal customer.

Resonate with your key audiences

Being genuine and real is not just an objective when targeting millennials and Gen Z – it is a necessity. Be sure to craft content that is significant to their values and inspires them. This will showcase your brand in a positive light and encourage them to invest in your products in the future.

Over the past two years, YMA has hosted speakers from International brands such as Google, Facebook, MTV, Linkedin, BuzzFeed, Instagram and Contiki.

This year’s carefully selected line up will see presentations from proven experts and industry leaders from Spotify, UNiDAYS, Vice Media, MTV, Adore Beauty and Broadsheet, to name a few.