Analyzing and Engaging Generation Z: A Marketing Report

This report examines Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2014, highlighting their unique characteristics and importance to marketers. It explores their communication preferences, emphasizing the use of social media and technology, and analyzes effective communication strategies, including video marketing and influencer collaborations. The report recommends that brand managers focus on authenticity, technological engagement, corporate social responsibility, and product customization to effectively engage Gen Z. The report concludes that to succeed in marketing, brands must adapt to the values and behaviors of this digitally native generation. The report provides valuable insights into how marketers can effectively reach and resonate with this influential demographic.

Generation Z Marketing

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. Target audience, their uniqueness in the way they communicate and their importance to
marketers................................................................................................................................1
2. Communication strategies influencing Gen Z....................................................................2
3. Recommendations to brand managers for engaging Gen Z...............................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Generation Z or Gen Z refers to the generation born in middle of 1995 to 2014. It is also
known as Post Millennials, Founders, Homeland, Plurals, or the iGeneration and it is the
demographic circle which follows the Millennials (Iqbal, 2018). There is no determined dates for
starting or ending of this cohort but researchers stated it between 1990 and 2000 as starting birth
years. Many from this Generation Z have started using internet at young age and feel
comfortable with new technology and social media. It has been determined that Generation Z
will comprise 33% of population globally of 7.7 billion in 2019, pushing ahead of millennials,
who will account for a 32.5% share. Every generation comes with a unique set of behaviour and
represent a unique set of challenges for those looking to reach them.
The following report will cover the target audience for this report, their uniqueness in a
way they communicate and importance to marketers. Further, I will analyse communication
strategies that influence Gen Z recommendations given to brand managers for engaging Gen Z.
1. Target audience, their uniqueness in the way they communicate and their importance to
marketers
Gen Z is widely considered to be the consumer powerhouse. Generation Z, from the age
of 22 years and younger are expected to be taken into account for about 40% of all customers by
2020. It has been determined that Gen Z perspective will be a key to marketing success. The
marketers should target online audiences because there have been a very a usage of social media
and technology since very young age. Generation Z is the 1st age group to have internet facility
readily available. Since more compact and affordable technology has become, it has increased
the popularity of smartphones. When marketers need to interact with these consumers, their
marketing posts must be tailored to each and every social media platform (Turner, 2015).
The way Gen Z communicate to marketers is unique as there is no other generation
before them. Previous generations are absorbing the behaviours of the future generations for two
main reasons i.e. transparency and self-preservation. This generation will make marketers to
work harder to gain their attention and they won't fall for tactics like traditional advertising.
Hence, marketers should adapt and learn to communicate in better ways on social media with
Gen Z.
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The effect of Generation Z on marketing team will enable businesses to re-evaluate their
methods wholesale. Gen Z's important individuality presents the biggest challenge and
opportunity to suppress marketers over the next few years. The study proves that in the post-
millennial economy, things like; reciprocity, exclusivity, instant satisfaction and social
responsibility will trump traditional loyalty marketing.
2. Communication strategies influencing Gen Z
One of the most used communication strategy for influencing Gen Z is social media. The
study showed that impact of social media marketing was positive on each attitude component
among young (Williams, A., 2015). But marketer cannot use the similar old media in the same
old ways to because Gen Z like to communicate with pictures rather than long form brochures,
massive word counts, text heavy emails even too long videos won't attract them. Marketers must
find out what they need to say and to whom so that the message will be valuable to their
audience. Social media marketing strategy has resulted in the most effective response which
enables sellers to continuously stream interesting content on social media marketing to Gen Z.
they don't even use voicemail and email, rather they are YouTube, Netflix generation. Marketers
should use video as their medium of choice for selling. Organisations must make sure that the
technology they are using must be superior and must meet customer's expectations, else buyers
won't take it as a quality purchasing option.
3. Recommendations to brand managers for engaging Gen Z
The Generation born after 1995 is different from older generations. According to the
research by National Retail Federation, buyers from Generation Z like to share their experience,
feedback and product related betterment ideas with brands. Gen Z buyers do not trust traditional
marketing and advertising as compared to all other segments. Brands managers must follow
these steps to engage Gen Z: Be real: - To engage generation Z consumers, brand managers need to be trustworthy.
They must feature real people in their campaigns, because Gen Z has the least trust for
traditional marketing (Edwards, 2017). Engage using technology: - Gen Z has born and living in the digital world and they grew
up with the internet facility and they even don't know about analogy technologies. This is
the reason that marketers must adopt technology in their marketing.
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 Team up with influencers: - It is already clear that Gen Z trust influencers more than
other celebrities. Marketers should team up with influencers or real people rather than
teaming up with celebrities to promote their brand. Invest in corporate social responsibility: - Gen Z highly takes into consideration the
various social environment issues, due to this it pays to invest in Corporate Social
Rresponsibility. The other way is to donate some part of your sales to charity.
 Enable product customisation: - Being a part of product customisation process is loved
by Gen Z, the best way is that marketers must enable their customers to create and
customise their product on their own. This also help brand managers to engage Gen Z in
marketing strategies (Ottman, 2017).
CONCLUSION
The overall report on Generation Z concluded that there is no discovered dates for
starting or ending of this age group but researchers use them in between 1990 and 2000 as
starting birth years. Furthermore, it has been proved that Gen Z perspective will be a key to
marketing success. Moreover, it can be concluded that Generation Z is the 1st age group using
internet facility which is readily available to them. One of the most used communication
strategies for influencing Gen Z is social media. Further it stated that, based on research brands,
managers must be real, use technology and enable product customisation to Gen Z for engaging
them in marketing strategies.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Turner, A., 2015. Generation Z: Technology and social interest. The Journal of Individual
Psychology. 71(2). pp.103-113.
Ottman, J., 2017. The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools, and inspiration for
sustainable branding. Routledge.
Vallone, D., Smith, A. and Koval, R., 2016. Agents of social change: a model for targeting and
engaging Generation Z across platforms: how a nonprofit rebuilt an advertising campaign
to curb smoking by teens and young adults. Journal of Advertising Research. 56(4).
pp.414-425.
Iorgulescu, M. C., 2016. Generation Z and its perception of work. Cross-Cultural Management
Journal. 18(1). pp.9.
Shatto, B. and Erwin, K., 2016. Moving on from millennials: Preparing for generation Z. The
Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. 47(6). pp.253-254.
Williams, A., 2015. Move over, millennials, here comes Generation Z. The New York Times, 18.
Edwards, A., 2017. Marketing through Social Media: Reaching Generation Z.
Online
Iqbal N., 2018. Generation Z: ‘We have more to do than drink and take drugs’. [Online].
Available through: <https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/21/generation-z-has-
different-attitudes-says-a-new-report>.
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