Digital CPG Blog

Gen Y moms want more than just the basic tenets when purchasing products. In essence, they want to be part of something larger and like they are contributing to positively changing the world on those social, environmental and health factors. Here’s how to capture their global do-gooder interests:

• Engagement is key. Don’t just market your wares, engage your customers — online and off — around your efforts. This group wants that dialog online, so be accessible and embrace your customers for their opinions, congrats and complaints. But these women also crave real-world connections, so mobilizing them to join your brand in taking offline actions builds sustained loyalty.
• Walk the talk. Authenticity and transparency are tantamount. If you are just getting onto the green spectrum, don’t fret (you are moving in the right direction), but be transparent about where you are and where you want to be. Getting your own house in order through your business practices, product development and charitable efforts builds trust.
• Market with meaning. People in this demographic consume information constantly and at a rapid pace. Incorporating relevant, useful educational content deepens the brand/consumer connection and gives them something to propagate as a way of adding value to their lives and the lives of their peers.
• The power of incentives. Moms are still the primary budgeters and spenders in the household, so deals and incentives are effective tools; but they also grew up in the gaming generation. To resonate with these tech-savvy women, consider incorporating gaming mechanics into your marketing. Tying the incentive to offline action, such as making positive lifestyle changes, adds some social currency to the deal.
• Impact is paramount. Coupling attractive rewards with competitions, challenges and pledges that tie to meaningful action can generate extended engagement. Making that action measurable and trackable satisfies this generation’s desire to make a global positive difference and measure the impact.

How has your brand brought social and environmental causes into your online marketing efforts?

If you’re trying to fake it until you make it with cause-related marketing, stop. Consumers are seeing right through it.

“The annual Goodpurpose study of corporate involvement in social issues found consumers are expecting more from companies, reports AdWeek, “with 62% saying it is ‘no longer enough for corporations to give money; they must integrate good causes into their everyday business.’ The research indicates consumers will reward such social engagement, with 72% saying they are “more likely to purchase a product from a company that supports good causes and has fair prices than a company that simply offers deep discounts.”

Sometimes it seems, doing good leads to good profit. There’s a great opportunity here for CPG companies as well. When study respondents were asked to identify the causes they’d like to see companies engage in, “alleviating hunger and homelessness” topped the list, cited by 89 percent.

Efforts to give back don’t have to start big. Why not let your employees have a day off to volunteer? A simple initiate such as that is sure to spread lots of goodwill this season.