Meet Your Millennial Competition

Business is changing, in the age of digitalisation. That means competition suddenly takes a new shape, as well.

Whether you are an automotive manufacturer, a cashmere producer, a chocolatier, a newspaper, or even a politician, you are no longer merely in competition with companies in your own trade. You’re now, also, in competition with everyone else who is creating media for your target audience. This could be your daughter’s best friend who is posting cute pictures on Instagram. Because she is taking the attention of other millennials away from your product led adverts.

Meantime, giant media companies and manufacturers are working round the clock to attract people’s attention on social media by creating information-rich and entertaining content. Apple’s recent series, Planet of the Apps is only one Example. The fact that Apple has launched its own original series should tell you something. Why would a computer manufacturer want to have their own original reality series? In 2017, Apple hired the former Chief Creative Officer of Britain’s Channel 4 to lead their video team. This should be a wakeup call to every business.

Amazon’s original content is another example. You don’t have look hard to see all the other companies waking up to the reality that they need to create original content. This is not exclusive to just giant corporation. Many smaller brands are also leveraging the power of original content and disrupting the more established brands in their industry.

The internet is a crowded place. Millennials only have so much attention and bandwidth to dedicate to their digital lives. That means they’re going to go for trusted content that’s valuable. Since you need to be in the business of creating content, it means anyone who also produces content, and therefore steals a portion of your audience’s time, is direct competition. So all of a sudden, your competition takes a whole new shape in the digital era.

The sooner you come to terms with the reality that we live in a media world, the sooner you will be able to save your business. Don’t look back and regret putting your dollars in the wrong places. Re-imagine your approach to advertising. Appear in the right way and in the right places, in front of the right audience and reap long-term benefits of capturing the millennial market.

I recently spoke with the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for The Economist, Jamie Credland. During the interview, Jamie spoke poignantly about brands struggling to stay relevant in the digital age.

“We live in a world where there is more content available to people than ever before. That includes news content, content from your friends, funny cat videos, and everything in between. All of those things are demanding our attention all the time. At The Economist, people used to talk to us about who our competitors were. We used to list other news organisations and say that they were our competition. But nowadays our competition is anything else that you choose to do with your time.”

Millennials live rich and diverse lives online. As Jamie mentioned, their attention is drawn to a huge amount of content available with zero strings attached. Every Vlog and how-to blog post that millennials are consuming take away from your brand’s potential to be heard online. This is why it’s critical to develop a media mindset. It’s the only way brands can remain relevant, loved, and profitable with a millennial audience. Whether you are a one-man band or a giant institution.

Somi Arian

smartcookiemedia.com