If you want to appeal to millennials, you have to know how to get their attention. How? Through values, transparency, and trust. Use that to figure out what makes them tick.

Millennials see ads all the time, especially on social media, and they need something to grab their attention right away. In order to do that, you’re going to have to cater to this demographic and figure out what you all have in common.

So here’s what you need to do: figure out what you’re saying, who you’re saying it to, where you’re saying it, and then make the content — that’s brand strategy 101. If you want millennials to listen to you, listen to them first.

How To Appeal To Millennials

1. Remember: transparency and trust go hand-in-hand.

Work hard and be transparent about it. Vague, sure, but still pretty simple: give millennials a peek behind the scenes. Why? Transparency is important and it’s what millennials want. We want to be able to trust you.

Go all in and show them that you care about the things millennials care about. With that being said, don’t pump out too much information to the consumers and don’t spread yourself too thin, because then 1) you won’t be able to give out the original intent of the brand and 2) millennials might lose focus. Seriously. You gotta grab their attention fast.

2. Have morals. Have values.

You can’t be “fake woke” or promote diversity on certain topics because it’s monetize-able and trendy. Millennials are really good at seeing through bullshit and highly-saturated content. If you’re just doing something that might be along the lines of “fake it till you make it” or just because it might be “trendy,” they’ll question your authenticity and focus their attention on something else.

Times are changing and if you want to attract the next generation, you need to genuinely connect with them. How? Build from the ground up, if you have to. Just be genuine with your brand. Make sure your pillars are strong with morals, values, authenticity, and a no-bullshit policy. That’s how you get their attention.

3. Be relatable.

Millennials are maxed out with the information they are fed, and all they want are straight forward answers to their problems. With that being said, advertise your brand in a way that grabs their attention quick: clean-cut, energy-focused, brushed away from bullshit.

What does that mean? 

A perfect example is Glossier. They are an all-natural makeup and skincare brand that has marketed themselves on Instagram so well that it appears as more of a friend showing you their makeup products rather than a brand trying to sell their products. They are personable, and therefore, relatable.

So, as you build your brand, ask yourself these questions:

How can a millennial focus on our brand when there are millions of others that they could focus on? How do we attract the next generation? What can we do to modernize our brand? Are we going all in? Should we?