As the youngest nation of the world, India has a sea of opportunity for tapping this young demographic. Here are some of the current strategies to tap into the teen consumer base of the country and tips on how they can be evolved in keeping with the times. We give you five essential areas to follow for a head start over your competitors…
Create Your Brand Identity
The new generation is very label conscious. All brands are aware of this and try to win over the youth. From Lee to Adidas and Lakme to Maybeline and from Rado to Seiko, it is important for brands to be conscious of how they are perceived by the young generation and to manage this aspect well. If your brand is not on top of his/ her mind share, you will not make it to their initial shortlist.
The way to make the cut (and the final shortlist) is to get them to crave for the brand. It is your responsibility to manage your brand in a way that makes teen prospects say, “I’ve got to have XYZ brand, and I will make sacrifices to get it.”
Effective Communication
In communication, messages get lost for two reasons: firstly, they are misunderstood. Make sure the message is clear to the young audience. Secondly, the young audience will never get to hear the message if its timing is not right. Don’t let your message get lost because of poor timing. Be sure to talk about your brand and its benefits early and about the price/feature/product later.
Emphasise on the brand experience early in the actual engagement cycle. As your teen prospects move through the engagement cycle, three important elements arise: results, pricing, and products. During the early stages of the dissemination of information, bring in some fun elements when detailing and creating a picture of your brand. As you move through the communications flow, be more focused on what you off er (products), how much it costs (price), and what benefits will they have (results).
Win Over Teen Influencers
When dealing with the teens, it is crucial to remember the ‘influencers’ – those individuals providing counsel or advice to the teens. Make sure you keep the information flowing to these audiences as they can play a critical role for your brand.
Throughout the engagement process, teen prospects look to different people for insight. Peers are the influencers that will play a role throughout the engagement process. Indirectly marketing to peers has worked for several brands.
Act & Behave Real
Be cool, and don’t act like a fool. Try not to be too trendy, and avoid phrases that are cool now but may be out of style in the near future. Be honest in what you say about your brand. Many times, it is a matter of expectation not meeting reality. Marketers create an image of the brand through publications, advertising, or their website. This image is the one that the teen grasps onto as an expectation.
When they try your product, they often find the image they had in their mind doesn’t meet the reality. When expectations do not meet reality, teens will desert your brand. For this very reason, I always suggest you test your marketing messages with a focus group to make sure that you are who you say you are!
Highlight Benefits, Features & Outcomes
With teens it’s all about Me, Me, and Me. Most brands are very good at telling about their product features but fall short in two critical areas. Why are your features of benefit to me, and what will your products do for me? Teens want to see what you have to offer and what it means to them.
Most brands are very good at telling about their product features but fall short in two critical areas
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