The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
1. Word-of-Mouth Referrals 
One of my companies runs events for millennials, and the strongest marketing tool we have is word-of-mouth referrals. Nothing is stronger than a friend telling another to check out this great event they attended. It’s even better that it’s free!
– Darrah Brustein, Network Under 40
2. Doing Fun Stuff As a Company 
We’re a marketing agency that employs a millennial majority. We recently took our company bowling to celebrate our company anniversary. While bowling, I looked around and noticed that the majority of our employees were on their phones, Snapchatting, Instagramming, texting — essentially broadcasting their experience. Doing fun stuff for employees and clients is cost-effective and engaging.
– Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
3. Facebook Pixel 
Not only does retargeting millennials via Facebook Pixel happen within Facebook itself, but the advertising network of the world’s largest social network also reaches millions of other online properties where millennials hang out. By logging Facebook visitors using Pixel, you can reach out to this audience cost-effectively knowing exactly what products they are interested in and keeping them engaged.
– Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors
4. Facebook Live 
To target young millennials, we give insight into our culture and the people we surround ourselves with through Facebook Live. As a millennial myself, I figure most millennials are on their phones, so why not give them something to watch? We do two types of content via Facebook Live: interviews with local friends that have strong brand followings, and content featuring fun stuff that we do.
– Kenny Nguyen, Big Fish Presentations
5. Exclusive Content for Facebook Groups 
There’s an incredible number of highly engaged Facebook groups that are consistently growing. We’ve been creating free guides, courses and e-books to just offer tons of value to these students. The results have been great: increased website traffic, sales, social media engagement and appreciation. Give something out that’s valuable and watch your presence online increase significantly faster.
– Krish Chopra, Nurse Practitioner Clinical Rotations
6. In-App Coupons and Discounts 
Millennials are open to trying new products or services if they can save some money in the process. My company is focused on quality and speed over price, so I use in-app coupons to get millennials to try my services. This is a cost-effective tactic because I only need to give away part of my margins to get a new client. Once they are in, I provide the best service so they come back for more.
– Tommy Mello, A1 Garage Door Repair
7. Social Media 
Social media marketing is especially cost-effective as it really only involves an investment of your time. Plus, it’s a great way to engage millennials. Respond to each and every comment and run interactive contests and polls as well.
– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
8. Giveaways and Contests 
Giveaways and contests still work to engage an audience of all ages, including millennials. Offer experiences, rather than products, that millennials can take videos and photos of to share with friends over social media. They will also tag you and help generate awareness of your brand.
– Adelyn Zhou, TOPBOTS
9. Segmented Marketing Campaigns 
Millennials, like all generations, do not comprise a single demographic. It’s shortsighted to assume they share preferences and interests across the board. Look at the real characteristics of your actual customers instead of targeting according to age bracket. Run marketing campaigns that center on age, income level, gender and other potential variables.
– Erik Huberman, Hawke Media
10. Giving Back 
At our company, it’s the small, human touch points that really drive success within our client base, and most importantly our millennial staff (which represents 95% of the company). We do bi-weekly charitable “give back” sessions and volunteer with organizations like The Road Home, Ronald McDonald House, Rotary International, etc.
– Kelly Ehlers, Ideas That Evoke
11. Video Content
Video is a great way to have a lot of content that is driven toward millennials. Once you become comfortable with the camera being on and your phone being at the ready to shoot some content, it can become part of a routine as normal as sending an email. To become more comfortable with this without hiring a coach, try mini-shoots daily. Editing becomes the biggest battle!
– Matthew Capala, Search Decoder
12. User-Generated Content 
We rely on user-generated content to reach millennials. This audience prefers to learn from their peers and doesn’t trust advertisements, so the best way to reach them is to let their peers do the talking. We do this by getting customers to create testimonials (written and video), as well as posting on social media and tagging us. This is an endorsement of our brand to all their friends.
– Brooke Peterson, Causely
13. Partnering With Niche Influencers 
Influencers are a great way expand your reach and connect with millennials, but many people make the mistake of trying to find influencers with a wide reach rather than a deep one. Focus on influencers in a relevant niche and prioritize high-quality content. Get specific and focused in order to stretch your dollars and efforts further. Nurture those influencer relationships and you’ll see great results.
– Kyle Goguen, Pawstruck
