In today’s rapidly evolving retail landscape, brands have to work harder to engage consumers—especially Millennials—who are increasingly making significant purchasing decisions online. This generation prioritizes quality, status, sustainability, and unique brand values, with 88% influenced by social media. By 2030, Millennials are projected to control 55% of the global luxury market, while Generation Z will account for an additional 30%.
This highlights the urgent need for effective digital strategies to maximize sales. Outdoor brands must transition from a business model based primarily on in-person sales to one that embraces a digitally-integrated approach, as rising generations are heavily influenced by digital channels.
To effectively reach younger generations, a multi-faceted strategy that incorporates both organic social content and paid advertising is crucial. This allows brands to reach the consumer in many different ways along their purchasing journey.
Creating Engaging Organic Content
Start by nailing down your audience by looking at your first-party data. Is your audience newly married, or growing a family? Are they homeowners looking to renovate? Where do they live in the country? These questions can help you better understand your current audience and how you speak to them, or opportunistic audiences and what will resonate with them. Keep that first-party data in mind, as we use it again later in our paid social strategy.
Then, you need to create dynamic content, like reels, videos, static assets, and user-generated content, to keep your audience engaged. When it comes to outdoor cooking, consumers love to see tutorials, recipes and testimonials from real people. Making your page approachable and authentic will increase engagement and drive loyalty to your page. Partner with relevant influencers in the outdoor cooking space who align with your brand values, as their endorsements can introduce your products to a broader audience.
Our client, Hestan, had a goal of showcasing women in grilling scenarios to broaden interest and demonstrate that grilling is accessible to everyone. Our team at Ramey brought “Girls Can Grill,” led by award-winning pitmaster Christie Vanover, on as an ambassador for Aspire by Hestan and saw impressive engagement with her content.
Result: This will lead to a community of people that look to you when they are ready for a new purchase, or even need new outdoor recipe inspiration.
Leveraging Paid Digital Advertisements
Paid social and digital advertisements are another way to further promote your brand and more specifically target potential customers.
Leverage first-party data to create look-a-like audiences: As mentioned above, first-party data is beneficial in organic social but even more crucial when it comes to paid advertising. You can leverage your first-party data to create look-a-like audiences (meaning you can take the characteristics of your customers and reach other customers that “look” and act just like them). This allows you to reach a whole new audience that may not even know you exist.
Use a multi-tier media strategy to push them further along the consumer journey: Since the rising generations are so digitally-native, you need to reach them anywhere (and everywhere) that they visit. This can be through META paid ads, programmatic display ads, OTT, and other digital platforms. For example, when they are shopping on their phones, checking the weather app or watching HULU, they need to see your brand across all touchpoints. This will allow you to be top of mind when it comes time to purchase.
Create seamless purchasing experiences: When young consumers are ready to buy, they are eager to buy quickly. This is where brands need to ensure they have a user-friendly website that fulfills consumers’ needs through easy-to-navigate dealer locator or eCommerce platforms.
Ready to Drive Results?
At Ramey, we specialize in creating tailored digital strategies that blend compelling content with targeted advertising, driving both brand awareness and sales. Let us help you connect with the next generation of outdoor cooking enthusiasts through an integrated approach to social and digital marketing.
Let’s talk about how we can elevate your brand and boost conversions—schedule a conversation with our team today.
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