If your client expects one ad to appeal to every audience out there, they’re sorely mistaken. No one views everything the same. That’s far too deep of a rabbit hole to dive down in its entirety, so for now, let’s focus on different generations. Generation Z wants and expects different things from brands than baby boomers. And even millennials and Gen Xers have different preferences when it comes to ads. That’s why audience segmentation in media is important. Here’s what you need to know.

Why Audience Segmentation in Media Campaigns Matters for Your Client

Millennials

Let’s start with arguably the biggest buying power right now: millennials. When it comes to audience segmentation in media that’s targeting millennials, Marketing Charts says that they want to buy from brands that are:

Reliable: 53% of millennials agree that this is important
Innovative: 43%
Smart: 43%
Authentic: 42%
Trendy/Cool: 29%

Millennials value those traits above, as well as traditional, bold, funny, young, and exclusive, in that order.

According to Marketing Charts, millennials also want brands to listen to customer feedback more often. Brands should ask customers for feedback and open dialogues in response to public opinion. Basically, brands should listen to what customers have to say and then take action based on what they hear.

In addition, millennials pay more attention to brands that are socially responsible and eco-friendly.

So, when your client wants to create ads targeting millennial consumers, they should keep these messaging tips in mind.

Generation Z

Despite all the drama around cookies and information collecting, Gen Z doesn’t mind it as much as other generations. According to MarketingDive, “Gen Zers are three times as likely to allow tracking when presented with prompts.” They’re comfortable with targeted ads and don’t expect brands to get personalization right without a little help from them. Overall, 37% of Gen Zers allow tracking in order to see more relevant ads.

Gen Z also values authenticity, which they sometimes don’t feel like they can get from brands themselves. So, influencers have a lot of power to sway this generation’s opinions on brands.

And just like millennials, Gen Z cares about making purchases from brands that share their values.

Baby Boomers

This generation has a mixture of mildly different values from their younger counterparts and a few of the same. Just like the youngins, Baby Boomers want to make purchases from brands who are reliable, says Marketing Charts. They want brands to be:

Reliable: 74%
Authentic: 54%
Innovative: 42%
Smart: 38%
Traditional: 25%

Another thing Baby Boomers agree with younger generations about is that brands should have values. The ones that are important to this generation are eco-friendliness and social responsibility.

Additionally, a big difference between Baby Boomers and younger generations is their opinions on ads. They’re not interested in giving up their digital privacy for more targeted digital ads. Instead, they’d rather see traditional ads and take advice from friends and family whose opinions they trust.

Generation X

This often overlooked generation is still a buying powerhouse and deserves to be included in audience segmentation for media. Forbes says that Gen Xers are resourceful, independent, adaptable, and skeptical. From brands, they expect value, information and authenticity.

If your client wants to target Gen Xers, Forbes recommends ads that spotlight:

Family Time
Nostalgia
Health and Wellness
Value/Financial Security

Your Client’s Target Audience

Unless your client’s target audience is one of these generations specifically, they’ll have to practice audience segmentation in media that they’re creating. But which generations should they focus on? What kinds of advertising media does their audience respond to the most often? What values do they want brands to stand by? Check out the target audience’s profile on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel to find out.

Photo by Benjamin Ranger