How to Market to a Sceptical Audience (THIS IS NOT CLICKBAIT)

I think it’s fair to say that today’s society can be quite a sceptical audience.

With so many so scammers, exaggerators and time-wasters out there it is understandable why audiences may be much more cautious about what they click on and what they give their attention to. No matter what form it be in, whether that’s emails, news articles, informative pieces, YouTube video titles, or others, they will ignore it if it is obviously suspicious. More and more people are wary of the veil of the internet and even certain marketing strategies.

Gen Z and Millennials are hugely internet savvy and are instinctively used to filtering a lot of information on a daily basis and then narrowing it down.

People hate clickbait. Additionally, people hate any form of deception, and are extremely cynical of green-washing, clickbait-y headlines or misleading information, unfulfilled promises and other exaggerations or manipulations and are swift to recognise any spammy techniques. Furthermore, in many instances, the issue is not always the presence of false or useless information, it is the way in which it is presented to an audience.

So many informative sites, news pages and marketing campaigns aimed at Gen Z today seem to be quite over-dramatised and have a patronising tone which Gen Z have said they do not like. Instead of feeling patronised or talked-down-to, young people still want to be informed via traditional methods and ‘Smart News’. For example, a Gen Z panel said that they don’t trust clickbait articles for news, they enjoy getting current affairs from Newsbeat on the radio and reliable and in-depth shows such as Good Morning Britain, they realise that there is a lot of misinformation on Instagram and other social media platforms and will only trust news on Instagram if it is from verified sources or trust-worthy Instagram pages and prefer when they feel like it is an ethical source of information.

When the Gen Z panel stated that they trust Good Morning Britain and Newsbeat, they also mentioned that there is undoubted scepticism with sources such as the Daily Mail which they described as a media outlet that uses “sensationalist tactics”. Trust or distrust for news and media outlets can be compared to the way audiences perceive marketing tactics too, where if they are perceived by their audience to be too false or sensationalist, the audience will just as likely be dissuaded.

These crafty approaches backfire. Gen Z know that these tactics, work, or used to work, which is why they don’t fall for them. Increased awareness surrounding the issue of sketchy marketing tactics has taught people to justifiably be very sceptical of websites or marketing campaigns with questionable URLs and titles, etc. Those who employ these methods may be under the impression that they increase audience traffic, audience attention and convert sales and interaction but it could strongly backfire in many ways, with the biggest repercussion being brand reputation, which is worse. Many people will be quick to hit “unsubscribe” if they’re feeling spammed or that a brand has a questionable reputation, or even mentally unsubscribe in which they will just steer clear in all possible ways.

When marketing or putting out news or information, how can you market to a sceptical audience?

· Be Sincere and Direct. This should be the key to your marketing strategies and your audience will highly appreciate this. People can sense pushiness and can equally sense sincerity and are more likely to better receive your information if they feel that it is genuine.

· Provide Social Proof. This could come in the form of reviews or testimonials and is very helpful in gaining trust because people tend to trust the opinions of people that they can relate to.

· Keep a Narrative Going. Staying consistent will greatly contribute to gaining and keeping your audience’s confidence as they will know to will expect honesty and transparency from your brand and won’t expect any sudden shady tactics.

· Keep a Dialogue Going. Whilst staying in the minds of your audience and communicating well with them, not in an over-bearing or patronising way, you will be better able to get your good intentions across.

· Be Transparent. Being transparent with your audience also involves making sure your products, services, marketing strategies and the words you use reflect what you claim to be such as how inclusive, environmentally-friendly you say you are and how much value you are truly offering.

· Be Relatable. Relatable never gets old.