Article Review: Analyzing Marketing Strategies for Teen Consumers

This report provides a comprehensive review of the Forbes article "Five things your brand needs to know about marketing to teens" by Steve Olenski. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the teen market segment for effective marketing strategies. The review highlights key insig...Read More

RUNNING HEAD: ARTICLE REVIEW
ARTICLE REVIEW
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Author’s Note:

1ARTICLE REVIEW
Name of the Article:
Name of the article is “Five things your brand needs to know about marketing to teens”.
Name of the source:
Source of this article is the website of Forbes. Link of this article is-
forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/05/26/5-things-your-brand-needs-to-know-about-marketing-
to-teens/#7605be706248
Article summary:
“Five things your brand needs to know about marketing to teens” is an article which is
written by Steve Olenski, who is the former contributor of CMO Network. According to the
author of this article, the marketing team of a business organisation of the fashion industry has to
develop a marketing plan for the teens. Steve Olenski has identified five things which can be
helpful for the marketing team of a brand to develop the marketing plan for teens.
Whether teens are for a marketing plan or not is analysed in a part of this article.
According to research, among the total disposable income of a teen 41 % goes for food and
clothing. For books and magazine, a teen spends only two per cent. So it can be said that teens
are worthy of a marketing plan. To capture this segment, the marketing team of a brand has to
develop an appropriate marketing plan which will attract potential teen customers.
The marketing plan of a brand should orient to teens while developing the marketing
plan. Author of this article identified five factors will help a brand to create a marketing plan for
teen. By emphasising the five factors, identified by Steve Olenski, a brand should develop its
marketing plan. Five factors will be analysed below.

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According to Julia Benben, marketing director of Freetoes Company, appropriate
utilisation of teen as an intern or part-timer or employee can help a business organisation to have
a clear idea about the market trend (Olenski, 2015). Teens know which brand is losing its
popularity in the market. The marketing team of a company has to amalgam marketing expertise
with the idea and opinion of the teen.
The second factor is identifying the right brand ambassador. Instead of making
musicians, Hollywood stars or sports celebrities, a brand can choose YouTube stars as the brand
ambassador. Teens are much influenced by YouTube stars like Felix Arvid UlfKjellberg or
PewDiePie (Olenski, 2015).
According to Sammy Lau, a digital strategist, the popularity of Facebook is losing its
popularity among teens. Other social media platform such as Tumbler, Instagram and Snapchat
are becoming the popular social media platforms among teens (Olenski, 2015). To attract teens,
the marketing team of a company needs extra involvement in social media platforms like
Instagram and others. So the marketing strategy for teens should be as much adaptable as
possible.
Although teens exercise their own choice while buying food products, clothes and
entertainment but they are not self-dependent consumers. Their parents and other caregivers still
hold a certain amount of responsibility and care. According to Dr Jeff Nalin, doctor of adolescent
treatment centre named Paradigm Malibu, parents are prioritised at every level while dealing
with adolescents. In a year, parents of a single teen spend near about $17000 (Olenski, 2015). So
ignoring teen as a market segment will be a mistake.

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The marketing team of a business organisation should identify peak shopping seasons for
teens. Due to graduation and Prom, May and June are two months when teens spend a huge
amount of money. In this time only for Prom night, the expenditure of a teenage boy is near
about $250 and the expenditure of a teenage girl is near about $500.
To accomplish the business goal, a business organisation has to figure out how to dip the
net into the flowing river of disposable income.
How this article relates to our course:
This article discusses the significance of teens in the marketing plan. Whether the
marketing team of a brand needs to create a marketing plan for teens or not is discussed in this
part. In this part, it will be analysed whether the content of this article relates to the topic of this
week or not.
A marketing plan helps a business organisation to boost its market share. A marketing
plan is a blueprint which guides the advertising and marketing efforts of a company for the
future. To achieve specific marketing goals in a fixed time, marketing plan identifies necessary
business activities. Market segmentation is a process which helps the marketing team of a brand
to divide a market of potential consumers into different segments based on different
characteristics (Venter, Wright & Dibb, 2015). Market segmentation allows a brand to precisely
reach a customer with appropriate needs and wants. This procedure provides long term benefits
to a brand (Dolnicar, Grün & Leisch, 2018). After conducting market segmentation procedure,
officials of a brand can utilise its resources more effectively to create an effective marketing
plan.

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Each market segment has its products for a market segment and marketing plan is
developed to target the specific market segment. Market segmentation can identify different
types of market segment among them teens are an important market segment (Khraim, 2015).
Now the question is why teens are an important market segment. This article refers that teens are
an important segment because, among their total expenditure 41%, teens spend 41% for foods,
entertainment and clothing (Olenski, 2015). That is the reason the marketing team of a brand
should prioritise this specific market segment.
However, to target teens as a specific market segment, a brand not only has to create a
specific advertisement for them but also provide specific products for them (McDonald, 2015).
Steve Olenski, the author of this article, identifies five factors which can be used for developing
a marketing plan for teens. To target this market segment, the marketing team of a brand has to
utilise marketing expertise with the information from the teen regarding the market trend.
Identifying the peak season, when teens spend a huge amount of money on clothing. Choosing
the appropriate brand ambassador, who is popular among teens, is necessary. Added involvement
in the social media platform can help a brand to maximise its engagement with this market
segment (Olenski, 2015).
So it can be said that this article is helpful to understand the importance of market
segmentation while developing the marketing plan. This article is helpful to realise the
significance of teens as a market segment. This article is beneficial to understand the factors
which are necessary to influence this market segment.

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References:
Dolnicar, S., Grün, B., & Leisch, F. (2018). Market segmentation analysis. In Market
Segmentation Analysis (pp. 11-22). Springer, Singapore.
Khraim, H. S. (2015). Segmentation of young consumers in Jordan in terms of their lifestyle: an
exploratory study. American Journal of Business and Management, 4(1), 27-37.
McDonald, M. (2015). Market segmentation. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 1-10.
Olenski, S. (2015). Five Things Your Brand Needs To Know About Marketing To Teens.
Retrieved 25 March 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/05/26/5-
things-your-brand-needs-to-know-about-marketing-to-teens/#7605be706248
Venter, P., Wright, A., & Dibb, S. (2015). Performing market segmentation: a performative
perspective. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(1-2), 62-83.