Marketing your restaurant to each generation often requires a specific approach.
Last week, we took a look at Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, and Gen X. (If you’re interested in marketing to those generations, make sure to check Part 1 out here.) This week we’ll be talking about the two younger generations, Millennials and Gen Z.
Millennials
Everyone loves to talk about millennials. Running between the early 80s and around the mid 90s, Pew Research suggests that 2019 is the year they’ll finally surpass Gen X as the largest adult generation. This makes them, surprisingly, more relevant than they have ever been.
- Millennials love personalization and customization. It’s why QSRs that let customers customize their meals down to the ingredient have found such success with the generation. Customization is in the concept. So, try introducing an element of choice into your menu. Add options. Let customers mix and match ingredients.
- Serve healthy choices. Many millennials place a high degree of importance on the nutrition of the food they’re eating. They like to know how many calories there are, where the food is sourced from, if it’s organic, and everything in between.
- Mobile loyalty. According to Oracle, more than half of millennials (52%) are interested in engaging with restaurant loyalty programs via their mobile devices.
- Convenience. According to Pew Research, millennials make up the largest segment of the US labor force. They are busy. And as a result, they are more strapped for time than any other generation. This means that convenience is highly important. Being able to get food on demand is essential. Offering grab-and-go items, call-ahead ordering, and easy takeout services are a few ways you can get more convenient.
Gen Z
Our youngest generation, these kids were born starting in the mid-90s and ending sometime in the early 2000s. There’s a lack of a solid consensus on when the cutoff is. One of the defining characteristics of this generation is that they were raised with smartphones, tablets, and social media at their disposal from a very young age.
- Go all-in on digital. Like I said, this generation was practically born with a tablet in hand. That’s where they live and breathe. According to Nielsen, Gen Z is 59% more likely than all other generations combined to connect with brands on social media.
- Make sure you’re on the right social media platforms. According to AdWeek, Gen Z tends to bounce around platforms. They’ll search for new products on Instagram, research those products on YouTube, and then share stuff on Snapchat.
- Word-of-mouth is a big deal for Gen Z. If you can get them talking about your restaurant to their friends, odds are good that the friends will want to come in too.
- They have short attention spans. In fact, according to Forbes, their attention span only lasts 8 seconds! Whether you’re writing a social media post, a menu description, or something else entirely, this is pretty important to bear in mind.
Marketing Across Generations With CoGoBuzz
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Leveraging advanced WiFi, SMS, and Email solutions, CoGoBuzz automatically incentivizes customers to return to your restaurant, even after just a single visit. Want to get in on mobile loyalty? Engage your millennial customers thanks to your new CoGoBuzz-powered, text-based loyalty program. Want to improve word-of-mouth? Leveraging your in-store WiFi, we’ll get you more Facebook followers automatically.
CoGoBuzz sets you up with automatically-produced customer profiles, more repeat customers, and so much more. Check out the rest of our website to learn more!
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Does your restaurant market to Gen Z or millennials? Sound off in the comments!