Marketing in the Age of Authenticity: From Baby Boomers to Generation Z

The customer journey is no longer a straight path, and consumers have high expectations. But marketers can use persona-based strategies to maximize customer engagement.

“Consumer expectations are at an all-time high,” said Alice Palmer, vice president of marketing at Monotype. Consumers expect instant access: getting the right information at the right time, on whatever device they’re using. Seventy-five percent of consumers also expect companies to provide a consistent experience whenever they engage with them online or off. Ninety-four percent of consumers also say they’re likely to be loyal to a brand that offers complete transparency — they want to feel they know the brand personally.

The number of customer touchpoints is also increasing, Palmer says. There are new channels emerging, and new devices (even the refrigerator can be an opportunity to interact with consumers).

• 90% of consumers use multiple devices to accomplish an online task
• 70% use three or more channels to research a purchase
• 67% begin on one device and continue ton a separate device

Drawing from her own life, Palmer offered three touchpoints, three channels in which her own journey moved recently: She saw a dress she liked when doing back-to-school shopping online. She forgot about it, but noticed it again when shopping in-store at Nordstrom; however, she remembered she had a coupon code at home somewhere. She then returned home and applied the coupon online.

This is all to say the customer journey is increasingly less linear. “Data is great, but it may misinform us as to where people are in their journey,” Palmer said.

Personas

Palmer spoke to how millennials are changing marketing: They’re more interested in experience. For example, car buying was formerly about features. For millennials, that marketing has shifted to how cars can move them to a different experience. Cars sometimes aren’t even featured in the ads anymore, Palmer noted.

Monotype’s own research has shown the differences between generations and their expectations for brands. Add to this the complexities of account-based marketing, visual marketing, social selling and artificial intelligence. “I would argue that using these technologies can be simplified through personas,” she said.

She provided three steps for personal-based marketing:

1. Knowing target buyers as people
2. Mapping content directly to personalized buyers’ journeys
3. Aligning marketing channels and tactics.

Palmer provided some marketing drivers for different generations:

Baby Boomers

• Peer recommendations
• Case studies
• Live/in-person demos

Gen X

• Peer recommendations
• Case studies
• Live/in-person demos
• Advertising

Millennials

• Peer recommendations
• Case studies

Gen Z

• Peer recommendations
• Case studies
• Social marketing

Palmer said companies that exceed lead and revenue goals were 2.2 times more likely to use persona-based marketing. She said Monotype is a case study for persona-based marketing. They previously cast a wide net with campaigns and content and they identified prospective buyers only. The company embarked on a test, spent three months researching personas and came up with five target personas, ranging from decision-makers, influencers and disruptors.

They honed in on what the audience cared about, and they saw a five-time increase in influenced revenue, 60% of inbound leads matched target personas and a 50% reduction in cost per lead.

Palmer used the Colin Kaepernick ad from Nike as an example of a company doing an great job of marketing to personas. Their target audience, made up of many young people, cares a lot about cause marketing. Older generations aren’t as driven by the social impact of brands, but this can be a decision-making factor for younger generations

How to Operationalize

Five steps to implementing persona-based marketing:

1. Create hypothesis personas

• win/loss analysis
• existing research
• internal stakeholders
• demographic data
• digital analytics

2. Validate through qualitative research

3. Develop Journey Maps

This is a great place to consider generations. For example, baby boomers are more likely to use Facebook, Gen X is on LinkedIn and millennials and Gen Z heavily use Instagram.

Although these journeys are no longer linear, it’s still important to map out possible paths and build in flexibility, Palmer says.

4. Educate & Embrace

“This is not a one-time training, these personas need to be a part of everyday thinking,” Palmer said, and recommended ongoing team trainings about personas and even posting those personas around the office.

5. Test & Analyze

What content are consumers engaging with? What are they missing? Test and analyze to find where journeys are moving.

Key Takeaways

1. When you’re feeling overwhelmed by what to do, go back to the basics.
2. Don’t underestimate the importance of generational distinctions.
3. Make your personas actionable and flexible.
4. Authenticity can mean different things to different audiences, but it’s important to all.