As part of my ongoing marketing education, I recently went along to a Creatives Club seminar on Gen Z. Just when you think you’ve got to grips with marketing to Millennials, along comes a new cohort which requires a re-think of your marketing tactics!

Who is Gen Z?

There appears to be some discrepancies on what classifies a person as Gen Z, but the general consensus is that it’s someone born between the mid-nineties and the mid-00s. I’m a proud Millennial (ok, only just) and I feel like I’m pretty well switched on when it comes to digital marketing channels, so I wasn’t sure how different Gen Z were going to be when it comes to engaging with brands and online content. Boy, was I in for an education!

The Creatives Club line-up had two great speakers to educate us on the topic of Gen Z and how to market to them. Luke Whiting, a fellow Millennial and entrepreneur/investor and Elle Pollicott, Content Specialist at Hallam.

Some mind-blowing stats about Gen Z

Luke took us through some of the stats about Gen Z and highlighted that by 2020, they will make up 35% of our workforce.

The statistic that really made my mind boggle is that Gen Z have an eight second attention span. Eight seconds! They never would’ve survived the dial-up internet days. As a Millennial, my attention span is apparently 12 seconds. You still need to capture my attention fairly quickly but shaving four seconds off that is rather dramatic.

Here’s another Gen Z fact that I found surprising: they often have five screens on the go at one time. I carried out a mental tally at this point:

1. Phone

2. Tablet

3. Laptop

4. TV

5. ...Smartwatch?

I might be a bit more out of touch than I thought seeing as I struggle to think of what five screens could constitute. Maybe they have the dual screen set-up for their laptop? Does that count?

Luke gave some tips to consider when selling and marketing to Gen Z:

1. They are concerned about the environment

Don’t have a CSR policy for your business? Seriously consider undertaking some kind of charitable work as this matters a lot.

2. Tap into emotions

Consider how to do this with your business and marketing.

3. Gen Zs want to buy an experience

How can I differentiate the experience that my marketing will bring?

4. They also like simplicity and choice.

Give them options.

5. Testimonials are hugely important.

Ask your happy customers to recommend you and put this out there for Gen Z to see.

Next to present was Elle and she took us through some practical tips for marketing to Gen Z in her talk: Selling experiences not products!

1. Social media micro-influencers are more looked at than traditional celebrities.

Can your brand partner with someone with a following of 2,000 – 100,000 (rather than a Kim Kardashian-esque 142 million)?

2. You have to have video content!

‘How to’ guides are a great example – even better if you can include guest videos from bloggers and other influencers.

3. Reviews are important - Gen Z read at least five reviews before buying.

As per Luke’s point, ask your customers for testimonials and share them online. If you are selling a product, read and respond to customer feedback as once those negative reviews start coming in, it’s difficult to undo that.

4. Responsive communication is key.

Consider using social media to respond quickly to customer queries. See the ASOS Twitter account which is solely for answering customer queries as a great example.

5. Leverage fan content

Share customer photos on your social channel.

6. Web design has to be excellent.

This is of course good advice for us all, but it seems Gen Z are more discerning than others. This probably goes back to the eight second attention span.

7. Make them feel like you know who they are

You’ll need to create your customer persona and write your communications directly to that person. Don’t be too broad.

8. Gen Z are young and therefore cost-conscious.

You need to justify cost. For example, are you charging more because your product is produced in a socially responsible way?

9. Organic social presence is more valuable than using paid.

It takes time, excellent content and consistent posting to grow your social channels organically.

10. Don’t be too polished.

Drop all the photo filters! More and more candid and authentic photos are coming through on social media and Gen Z are loving it.

The seminar was really insightful and Luke and Elle provided some great practical tips. You could apply some of the above tips to marketing in general in 2019 but some of the Gen Z specific behaviours and corresponding tactics for marketing are breaking new ground. I’m glad I took the time to attend!