Innovative Systems

May 2008
What Makes the Younger Generation Tick?

While attending a multitude of Telco marketing conferences, the topic of youth marketing often pops up. How do we attract younger customers? Will today’s youth become tomorrow’s telco customer? Some say that if you’re not into a wireless or video product, you should just write them off. I say, rather than assume what they are thinking and doing, why not ask them?

A problem with a youth focus group is the tendency for everyone to give the same answer. You can get around this with a divide and conquer mentality. Invite a group of youth in your exchange area to a pizza/gaming party where there can be a separate area to help isolate individuals.

Be sure you ask questions that have value for your telco’s long term planning strategies in technical and marketing areas. Save everything from these events and host them every 12-18 months. Keeping questions much the same in subsequent events (unless technology requires adjustments) creates a way for you to track trends.

Don’t limit your focus group to only high school students; include those in the 18-25 year old category. This will give you an idea of how the responses differ with the older age group.

I recently hosted a youth panel of the 16-24 year old age group and received some interesting answers to my questions. If you’d like a copy of the questions to use for your own youth focus group, feel free to drop me an e-mail.

You are invited to direct any questions related to marketing Innovative Systems AP products to either Scott Meyer (605.990.7202) or Lisa Johnson (605.990.7149).