Marketers who do not pay attention to the buying habits and general activities of the teenager of today do so at their peril. Teenagers may not have the buying power necessary to cause marketers to salivate, but they represent the adults of tomorrow and some of the amazing trends that are emerging from the world of the teenager will have a significant effect on the marketing arena ahead.
Change is a constant, as we all know, but some of the accelerating trends of the last few years have given us all cause to stop and think. Those of us who are somewhat more mature can clearly remember the rise and fall of certain “hot” products and services – remember 8-track and cassettes?
If you want to reach the teenager of today with your marketing message, you can completely forget about the radio and the printed newspaper. Teenagers do want to hear music, but whereas ten years ago the radio was the prime source of the hippest beats, these days online streaming music sites provide the tracks commercial free. Newspapers appear to be very strange to the teenager of today and they cannot really see the value of what is, let’s face it, an industry in significant decline.
If you really want to reach the kids of today you will find them interacting through the Internet, popular gaming platforms and, increasingly via their mobile cell phones. A large number of teenagers have access to conventional gaming consoles, such as the Xbox 360 or the Wii and they can spend long periods of time interacting with others, as the consoles are able to connect via the Internet. By and large, the hottest games are viewed and played on the standalone gaming consoles, rather than via a PC version.
It seems that every teenager has access to the Internet, at school or at home and social networking is taking on increased importance. Facebook is by far the most common site and is visited by teenagers on an almost daily basis. This format allows interaction with friends on a widespread scale and has almost universal acceptance within this age group. Conversely, Twitter appears to be on the outside looking in and has not yet captured the imagination of the teenager due to its somewhat more focused and regimented approach, perhaps.
The Internet, and Google in particular, is the source of information for the learning teenager and has, in line with other age demographics, completely annihilated the power of the erstwhile directory resources, such as Yellow Pages.
Whilst teenagers do generally own a TV, they are not avid watchers necessarily. The more virally popular shows and series will be followed, but many teenagers see commercials as too intrusive and will often refer to TiVo and other products to skip through or eliminate these annoyances.
Almost 100% of teenagers have access to a mobile phone and most of these have a good degree of functionality, or are smart phones. This is definitely the growth area of opportunity for marketers trying to reach the teenager of today and the adult of tomorrow. As functionality and feature availability becomes more widespread and mainstream and the premium services morph into standard features, teenagers are likely to use cell phones more and more for their social networking, music and communication.
Do you know how to reach your teenager?
Matthew Toren
“Small Business, Big Vision provides a framework for you to unleash your driven and relentless passion to achieve unprecedented growth.”
Thank you!
Now I have better standing point on one group of potential customers.
To be honest with you,I never came on idea about importance of young people
in promoting any online bussiness.
Young people,teenagers are future and for that reason it is very important
to focus on their behavior and habits!
Great article. I agree with you – you touched on so much. I think you forgot Youtube. I would add that teenagers are innovative tech savy w/ the entrpreneural spirit. Young adults can create something out of nothing and do so. Us 20 somethings and under don’t need PR & huge budgets. We have creativity, word of mouth, computers, and imagination to create our own websites, music videos, tv shows, online games & that’s far from everything. Young adults are the market & they are making custom products for themselves cause lord knows its nearly impossible for teenagers to get what they ask for.
this is so very true, branding and loyalty can be obtained at this time with teenagers rather than trying to win them from the competition later.
Teenagers can have indirect buying power and influence through their parents
so getting on the gaming platforms is a very good idea!
Good article. If you are in marketing for the long term, you definitely have to pay attention to trends. Teenagers are a great spot to look at what sorts of things will be big for marketers in the coming years. This is partly smart marketers have jumped on the web 2.0 bandwagon.
Teenagers are on the cutting edge, no doubt. They form a fascinating demographic, and when they discover a hot new trend they really burn up the internet. The trick is to be in front of the wave, so to speak, and ride it for all it’s worth. Teens are so fickle too, what’s hot today will be very uncool tomorrow, so it’s necessary to always keep a close eye on what is coming up.