By Syed Balkhi
Building a brand from scratch is an intricate process. It requires you to communicate your values clearly and in a way that entices the intended audience.
The goal here is to form a strong connection with your audience to ensure lasting relationships and better recall.
Your audience will relate to your brand only when their interests and preferences resonate with your brand’s personality, which may be a bit more challenging when you intend to attract Gen Z.
Unlike its predecessors, Gen Z is highly connected and conscious. This audience profile doesn’t make buying decisions on a whim and makes informed choices based on relevant information.
So, you may need to reconsider your brand-building tactics and embrace new ways that may help you in an overall better way.
Here’s how you do it:
Understanding Gen Z
Before we dive in, let’s discuss a few things about Gen Z and what makes it different than its predecessors.
Gen Z has unique characteristics that set it apart from the rest. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z is more socially connected and acquainted with the use of technology.
Around 95% of individuals comprising Gen Z own a smartphone. They are more comfortable exploring useful information online and finding the answers to their questions.
This makes them less likely to be impressed by the gimmicks that brands generally leverage to inspire buying decisions.
So, to engage this audience, brands may have to ditch the old-school tactics and think outside the box.
Best Practices to Build a Brand for Gen Z
If you strive to build a brand to engage Gen Z, it’s essential that the characteristics of your brand resonate with the interests of the intended audience. So, knowing your audience is the key and serves as the foundation here.
Gen Z comprises digital natives. It’s a generation that has information available at its fingertips. So, honesty and transparency are a must when conveying your messages.
The generation is digitally active and a bit more tech-savvy compared to its predecessors. So, if you carefully leverage the right platforms, connecting with your target audience won’t be much of a problem.
Here are a few best practices that you should consider to create a tailored branding strategy as per your respective industry to engage Gen Z:
Tell a Compelling Story
A brand’s story is a narrative that showcases its mission and values, enabling the target audience to connect with its history.
It highlights the challenges and struggles that made a brand what it is today and shaped its beliefs.
A story about your brand reflects your origin and helps you bond with your target audience at an emotional level.
So, to make your brand more appealing and relatable for Gen Z, it’s important that you learn the art of storytelling and communicate your intrinsic values through it.
Leverage Value Proposition
To build a brand for Gen Z, it’s important that you thoroughly research your competitors and learn about their strengths and weaknesses.
Gen Z doesn’t make buying decisions on a whim. They make informed purchase decisions based on their research. They explore different alternatives, compare their offerings, and choose to go for the best of the bunch.
So, it’s highly recommended that you leverage your value proposition to make your brand stand out from other players in your respective industry.
Build a Community
Creating a community around your brand may make it more appealing to Gen Z. Here, you will be providing a platform for link-minded people to connect and share their experiences.
This makes it easier for people to seek answers to their questions and find viable solutions to their problems.
Since this generation is socially active, being a part of a community is a fun experience for them. They not only get to learn about their preferred solutions but also make new friends along the way.
So, building a community around your brand may make it more appealing to a Gen Z audience.
Be People-Centric
One of the most effective ways to build a brand to engage Gen Z is to be customer-centric rather than company-focused.
This means not being obsessed with just promoting your solutions but prioritizing facilitating access to relevant information.
To engage Gen Z, you should focus on helping people find answers to their questions and making it easier for them to explore fitting solutions to their problems.
Leverage Social Proof
People find it difficult to trust new brands and often prefer buying from the ones they’re familiar with. Around 55% of people rely on the recommendations of others to complete their purchases.
Gen Z is no exception. As a matter of fact, gaining the trust of this audience may be comparatively more difficult.
So, to build a brand from the ground up and make the intended audience consider your solutions, it’s highly recommended that you leverage social proof or benefit from positive reviews of your customers.
Consider Influencer Collaborations
Influencer collaborations are an effective way to generate awareness about your brand and engage Gen Z.
Around 49% of people say that influencer collaborations highly pay off and serve as an efficient marketing tactic.
Since Gen Z is highly active on social media, collaborating with the right influencers will allow you to convey your message effectively.
Influencers serve as role models for the intended audience. So, they’re likely to pay heed to what they have to say and consider brands that they endorse.
Final Words
There you have it: the six best practices to build a brand that converts Gen Z.
It doesn’t matter if you’re building a brand from scratch or generating awareness about it in a new market, the recommendations in this article will help you cultivate a strong bond with the intended audience.
These best practices will help you design a branding strategy that will help you generate quality leads and speed up your conversions.
About the Author
Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site. With over 10 years of experience, he’s the leading WordPress expert in the industry. You can learn more about Syed and his portfolio of companies by following him on his social media networks.
