What are the best advertising channels to reach young people?

One of the biggest trends in marketing this decade has been cross-channel advertising. By synergising your advertising campaign across multiple channels you can build brand engagement by appealing to your target audience in different areas of their lives. Using cross-channel marketing software, you can build data profiles of individual users, enabling you to understand their behaviour across multiple platforms and their relationship with your brand.

Cross-channel marketing is a smart strategy for targeting Millennials and Gen Z, because these audiences consume a huge amount of media from a variety of different sources. Here is our guide to the most important advertising channels to consider if you want to reach young people.

Mobile Advertising

In 2017, 96% of 16-24s owned a smartphone, while another survey found that nearly 80% of teens check their phones at least once an hour. With the iPhone being the most popular device, iOS apps are a prime location for mobile advertising to a youth audience. Tablets, such as iPads, are also popular with young consumers who may not be able to afford their own laptop. Mobile advertising offers a range of formats, including banners, interstitials and video, which means it can be tailored to any brand or advertising objective.

Display Advertising

Display is the most common and traditional form of online advertising, but that doesn’t mean it’s only effective for an older audience. The benefits of display advertising include raising brand awareness, which is especially valuable when you’re targeting a young audience, whose brand loyalty in most categories is still up for grabs. Display ads typically appear on editorial and entertainment sites, such as Buzzfeed or Capital FM. Formats include banners, pop-ups and rich media ads.

Social Media Advertising

Social media has replaced email, phone calls and text messages for many teens, becoming the default mode of communication. This has made platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook the most powerful and direct advertising channel for this audience. These channels are often considered the best way to advertise to college students. Not only can brands place ads through services such as Facebook Ad Manager, but there’s also the opportunity to buy your way into users’ timelines by working with social media influencers to create sponsored content.

We help global brands implement cross-channel advertising campaigns to reach, engage and convert more student customers. Find out more about our student marketing services to better connect with young people through the advertising channels touched upon in this blog.