RESPOND TO BOTH STUDENT'S POSTS *NOT THE PROMPT* WITH A MINIMUM OF 150 WORDS

Prompt: Summarize the 5 methods below and include an analysis how you, as a marketer, can apply these methods by using media vehicles such as Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram to communicate to the Gen Zers.

5 marketing solutions for the boundless generation

1. Sell an experience

Hard sells are a big no to Gen Zers. Due to their experience with the internet as they grew up, blatant marketing campaigns simply don't convince them to spend their money. Instead, they want to know what benefits they get from your business and what experience your product or service will bring them. A company selling an experience sounds more appealing to them than buying a product with no attachment to it.

2. Engagement and community

Gen Zers crave a company that engages with customers and tailors their responses, so they know it's not just a standard one-size-fits-all reply. A study shows that 76% of Gen Zers want brands to respond to feedback, and they view this as a key to determining how authentic and honest a brand is.

3. Transparency and privacy

Transparency and privacy go hand in hand. Gen Zers want a company that can be transparent and open but also protects and does not share their information. Transparency allows the customer to trust a brand, creates loyalty and ensures they feel good about where their money is going. Gen Zers do not hesitate to boycott and protest against supporting companies when unethical business practices and false advertising is spotted.

4. Getting to the point

Gen Zers have eight seconds of an attention span, combined with a hectic and busy schedule. Due to how Gen Zers grew up with technology and screens, they typically bounce between five screens at any time. This means that you have less time to grab their attention and convince them to look into your business and product. On top of this, your content has to be engaging and exciting having an opinion or point of view can be a risky business move, but a worthwhile one with the reward of the community you can build.

5. Speaking through your brand

Creating a brand or company that hits all of the essential key points can be complex. First, your brand has to speak for itself in its actions and intentions. Gen Z is a generation known for caring for the world, meaning that they are acutely aware of problems that societies face today. Gen Zers want companies to be environmentally and socially responsible. They want brands to be an extension of their personalities, values and expectations. You aren't just selling a product or an experience you're also selling values.

FIRST STUDENT:

"The way in which we market to consumers is an ever-changing task that has created many positive as well as negative challenges and opportunities for many businesses today. It has allowed us to open our brains and get creative about how we can better our consumers lives through the way we market our products and services. One point that caught my attention in the article was that Gen Zers overcome the limitations of our software. They have somewhat of a hacker mentality. They look at barriers and limitations as things to challenge and overcome. Therefore, making it important but sometimes difficult to truly appeal to their likings and interests.

The points that the article makes are that it is important to: sell an experience, show engagement and community, express transparency as well as privacy within the business, get to the point, and speak through their brand. This mixture of elements tests a companys ability to interact with this younger generation. I found it interesting in the article when it said that Gen Zers have an 8 second attention span. With the way that we engage constantly with our screens now it makes me wonder what this attention span will be in a year from now, 5 years, or even 10 years from now. How will our marketing improve and change to squeeze into peoples view just for those couple of seconds? To get in touch with this generation we need to be able to sell experiences. In a way, giving them a bigger bang for their buck. In my own experience of talking with businesses it is often the ones that market the experiences the best that can charge a premium price for the same product as everyone else. All because of the experience, education, honesty, and transparency that the customers receive from purchasing the product. "

SECOND STUDENT:

"The five methods of marketing solutions for Gen Zers is something you will see all over social media. The selling experience Gen Zers seem to want to experience is seeing how the products work and watching firsthand others reactions to these products and this is something TikTok has been known to do. My future daughter-in-law is a prime example of this experience, before she buys, she wants to watch and see how the product works and how others react.

Lush is a company that falls under Engagement and Community talked about by Hodges, if you watch TikTok these products are handmade and environmentally friendly and are said to be great for your personal hygiene and again these products my future daughter-in-law purchases all started through social media for her, especially TikTok and Instgram. Lush engages with their customers and tailors their responses and they know that one-size doesnt fit all (Hodges, 2021). Transparency and privacy allows for companies to engage with their customers by creating the loyalty and trust with the products they offer, standing behind what they believe, such as Lush, who engage with their customers and get to know them and what will work best for them and at the same time its a personal experience and the information is kept private.

Gen Zers tend to want to be captivated with the first few seconds otherwise they are scrolling to something else and TikTok and Instagram are excellent sources when getting to the point. The last method of speaking through your brand is presenting the products and standing behind them, Lush is a bath, body, skin and haircare company devoted to creating fresh, ethically-sourced, cruelty-free, vegetarian, handmade, low-waste and effective products (LushUSA, 2021). Lush is not just selling the product or experience they are selling the value (Hodges, 2021).

As a marketer you can apply these experiences through social media as I described through my analysis, just like what Lush does. Utilizing social media such as TikTok and Instagram allows for companies to show how the products are being used and how they work, and this is being done with real people and not just celebrities. You have the opportunity of reaching these Gen Zers and captivating them to want to try your products if they are seeing others actually using them and how they really work. According to our textbook, marketing communications activities must be integrated to deliver a consistent message and achieve the strategic positioning and by utilizing social media sites will help you market your product and stay consistent by reaching those potential consumers, such as Gen Zers."

ONLY RESPOND TO THE STUDENT'S POSTS, THE PROMPT IS THERE TO SHOW WHAT THE STUDENT'S WERE POSTING ABOUT**