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Born between (roughly) 1997 and 2012, Gen Z is the first generation of Americans who grew up with mobile and smart devices at their fingertips. Their digital footprint grew right alongside them, from early days chatting on Club Penguin to creating Pandora playlists to get ready for a first date.
Many Gen Zers are now making decisions about their college education. If schools want to compete for this generation of students, they're going to have to understand something about marketing. The same techniques that might've worked before won’t cut it for these young people.
Recruiters must remember that Gen Z loves digital audio and streaming platforms.
- Digital Audio reaches 74% of Americans ages 18 to 24.
- 47% of Americans age 13-24 are monthly podcast listeners, an estimated 24 million people.
- 82% of Gen Z monthly podcast listeners have taken action as a result of hearing a podcast advertisement. That includes things like buying something, visiting a website, using a promo code or recommending a product.
Follow along and we'll teach you some more basics about marketing to Gen Z. We'll also look at proven strategies from our own college advertisers that could help your school meet and surpass enrollment goals.
1. Be Authentic: Gen Z May Be Young, but They Aren't Naive
In many ways, Gen Zers are the most tech-savvy consumers around. Raised digitally, they’ve been exposed to more advertising than any other demographic group.
Don’t underestimate how smart and alert this generation is to the tricks of the digital marketing trade. They’ve learned about subliminal messaging from video content on YouTube and Netflix documentaries. They’ve been inundated with Instagram and TikTok videos about the perils of student debt and influencer marketing that touts get-rich-quick schemes.
Frankly, some of them are skeptical about ads for higher education. There is an easy way around this: presenting with authenticity.
To do that, we suggest you ditch flashy, promotional language and try to present your school's value proposition in a way that is truthful and compelling. That's always the simplest, most effective way to get your message heard.
2. Hook Them Quickly: You Have Less Than 10 Seconds to Impress
Getting hit with advertisements is as natural as breathing for Gen Z. Consequently, they've become fiercely protective of their time.
A 2015 study indicated that you have 8 seconds to grab the average person's attention before they lose interest. That was 10 years ago. You might have even less time today. If your ad doesn’t resonate immediately, you'll be tuned out.
One of the best things about audio advertising is that you usually have about 30 full seconds to make your school's case. For example, SiriusXM media found that when Coca Cola ran 30-second digital audio ads, 98% of listeners stayed with them all the way through.
Our advice is to focus on getting that initial hook right, and we're sure you'll get your message across just fine.
3. Use Micro-influencers: Reach Gen Z through Gen Z Itself
Today's students are much more interested in what their peers have to say about a topic than whatever their favorite celebrities get paid to say. Consider the rise of TikTok, a (primarily) peer-to-peer, short-form video content platform, where anyone can become a viral hit overnight. Users seek out their peers for discovery of new topics. That includes emerging artists, music festivals, book recommendations, and just about everything under the sun. Its popularity indicates a shift away from more corporate-friendly platforms, with abundant brand partnerships, toward digital platforms where Gen Z can freely talk to each other in online communities.
One of the best ways to reach prospective students is by using the voices of currently enrolled students, or at least someone in their age bracket.
For a good example of this type of social proof and word-of-mouth marketing, listen to the ad at this link.
AudioGO can create a similar ad experience for your school. Just visit our in-app studio, request to have one of our young voice talents read out a student testimonial, and we can have that message recorded by the next day. On a budget? You can choose from one of our synthetic voices to read your ad copy, offered at an ideal price point: $0.
4. Tailor Your Message: This Isn't a Bonus, It's a Must
Personalization is another key ingredient to any Gen Z marketing campaign.
Nearly half (46%) of college students polled say they purposefully like, comment, or share things to "train algorithms" to give them relevant content or ads. Also, over two-thirds (69%) of Gen Zers say they welcome targeted advertising.
AudioGO was specially built with powerful targeting features to help with that, including:
- Device targeting. Seeing how 98% of Gen Z owns a smartphone, we've seen our fair share of college campaigns that will selectively, and exclusively, target mobile phone users.
- Behavioral targeting. This is a great way to reach students by a particular subject or passion, like "politics" or "arts & culture." Options like "high school graduate," "households with children," and "student" are popular picks, for obvious reasons.
- Zip Code targeting. This is perfect for marketing the locations where most of your student body comes from.
- Podcast targeting. This chart breaks down Gen Z's preferences in podcasts.
- Music targeting. This chart will give you insights into the music kids are streaming these days.
Just keep in mind that your listeners will be hearing your message during scheduled breaks. So if you do choose to go with a background track for your ad, try to maintain a sonic identity similar to the music genres you’re targeting. And Gen Z is all about "the vibe." Don't kill the vibe.
5. Use Family Members: Build on the Trust
According to a McKinsey survey, some 82% of Gen Zers trust their family (and friends) over any other source. That may come as a shock to some of you parents of Gen Z children, but conversations about college have always tended to be a family matter.
For that reason, it could be helpful to target parents as part of your school's recruitment program. After all, their influence can weigh heaviest on important life decisions. Parents of Gen Z are often Gen X and older millennials, meaning they have a whole different set of consumer behaviors when it comes to digital audio content.
This is where you can take advantage of AudioGo's advanced targeting features. Automated Targeting Recommendations can help you target the right audiences — parents of high school students — with greater precision. Based on your business category (in this case, higher education) and usage patterns, this feature will suggest relevant Behavioral and Predictive segments during campaign setup. We make it easy to connect with the families of prospective college students.
6. Communicate Value: Gen Z Is Wary of ROI
Members of Gen Z have watched peers carve untraditional careers and make small and large fortunes in social media, eSports, cryptocurrency, and the online gig economy. Colleges will have to compete against these pursuits — none of which require a degree — for their interest. According to one survey, 86% of young people list influencer as their dream job.
Older generations may scoff at this notion, but much of the motivation there has to do with Gen Z simply wanting to avoid massive debt. They have seen many college grads get crushed by student loans. They might prefer a world that increasingly rewards social currency over traditional paths.
If you're going to try to compete on this playing field, you're really going to have to showcase the tangible value of a degree.
7. Appeal to Big Ideas: Gen Z Has Bigger Goals and Concerns
Gen Z witnessed their parents and family members go through the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. They saw how easily a seemingly stable investment in a house could disappear.
Soaring housing costs, blockchain currency, artificial intelligence, creating their own startup business — these are some of the topics that preoccupy an average Gen Z mind. Not to mention, Gen Z tends to be highly sensitive and emotional.
Incidentally, the source of a lot of their stress and sensitivity stems from their heavy use of social media. One study found that among Gen Zers who spend 2 or more hours a day on social media, 31% said social media and technology had a negative effect on their mental health.
On the flip side, polls also show that 71% of Gen Zers will turn to music streaming and podcasts as an antidote to "doomscrolling."
For Gen Z, purpose can be more important than a paycheck. Sure, they're still concerned with practical things too, but in the end, schools can’t afford to ignore the fact that a lot of them share a need to make a difference in the world around them, and are seeking ways to do just that.
Balancing and appealing to this priority in your audio branding is vital. There's so much more to college than just a piece of paper. It's about networking, having hands-on learning experiences with diverse, yet like-minded peers, and giving students a toolbelt of knowledge that will help them navigate their chosen field. And sliding down hills on lunch trays on snowy days, of course.
8. Marketing to Gen Z on Their Phones: Pair Audio with Social
We know Gen Zers are social media power users. You're probably marketing to them on Instagram as we speak.
But what you might not know is how much more effective your mobile marketing can be when you combine social and audio ads together.
For proof, take a look at this case study about a college that added AudioGO to a month-long Facebook recruitment campaign that netted a 775% return on their investment.
And even though it's not a school, you might also enjoy reading this story about another advertiser that found a lot of success leveraging the combination of social media platforms and audio ads in a multichannel marketing campaign.
If you already market to students on social apps, then audio platforms make sense for you as well.
With AudioGo, you can give a one-two punch to your audio strategy with targeting and re-targeting. Display retargeting allows you to reconnect with the people who have already listened to your audio ad with a display ad as they browse the Internet. Based on AdsWizz internally reported data and compared to the average display industry benchmarks, this kind of cross-platform marketing gets 4x the click-through rates.
Congrats! You Passed College Advertising 101 ... What's Next?
If you're ready to start marketing to prospective students, AudioGo is here to help. With effective, targeted audio campaigns, it should be fairly easy for you to drive enrollment among this next generation of motivated listeners for many, many semesters to come. With AudioGo's tools, you'll be set to track exactly how your campaign does with engagement metrics and AudioPixel, which helps track conversions.
