<p>Want to know the hottest craze that’s sweeping young audiences? Not chasing trends with your brand’s marketing.</p>
<p>One of the most exciting parts of marketing to young people is their position at the center of the latest trends. Miss the latest happening on TikTok or some platform so cool it hasn’t been named yet, and your next campaign will never find the audience you need. However, hit the mark just right, and you can capitalize on the trend and score a big win for your brand, right?</p>
<p>Wrong. Unfortunately, you need more than trends and the right channel to deliver a successful campaign. The fact is, the minute you’ve heard about the latest trend, it’s already over. (Sorry.) That’s just how trends among young people work.</p>
<div class="insight-upgrade"></div>
<p>To connect with your audience, stop asking about the latest trends and focus on the underlying factors. In this white paper, you’ll learn:</p>
<ul>
<li>The right questions to answer when marketing to a young audience.</li>
<li>Why the factors influencing your target market are more important than the trends they follow.</li>
<li>How to place trends in context to reveal what your audience really needs.</li>
<li>Why marketing to the hot new channel for young people won’t move the needle for your brand.</li>
<li>When to ignore the published trend forecasts and listen to experts with experience.</li>
</ul>


If you’re discussing a trend in the youth market, that trend is likely already over. Discover how to get ahead of trends and effectively market to youth.  

White Paper: How Your Brand Can Get Ahead of Youth Trends

Don’t chase trends: A white paper on marketing to youth

Chasing trends to promote your brand isn’t just exhausting, it’s ineffective. Download our whitepaper now to learn what to do instead. Enter your email for the link.

Thank you!

Get our whitepaper on how to get ahead of trends and effectively market to youth

Whitepaper - 6/2022 - Don't Chase Trends


“If you’re not growing, you’re dying.”

Voices as varied as Tony Robbins and William S. Burroughs have expressed some form of this idea. And from the perspective of your brand, who could argue? Growth is essential to any business. However, as your brand looks to increase sales, you face two choices:

Do you double down on your current audience? You could always try and capture a bigger share of your existing market, or sell current consumers more products.

Or do you pursue an entirely new audience and find the growth you need by expanding your fanbase?

Both directions have merit, and uncovering the right course for your brand requires a blend of art and science. But you don’t need a high-priced consultant to unpack reams of data to identify new demographics with potential interest in your brand.

What you do need is to look at your brand identity and dedicate time to discovering where its values overlap with any audience you pursue. Otherwise, any money you dedicate toward audience expansion is effectively dead-on-arrival.

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## Core questions any audience expansion effort needs to answer

Expanding your audience isn’t as simple as turning on a tap to produce more sales. If you want to generate more revenue from your current fans, you need to consider three factors:

1. **Satisfaction:** How likely are they to stick with your product?
2. **Likelihood to recommend:** Are your fans talking with friends about your products?
3. **Total addressable market (TAM):** Does your brand have the potential to expand from its current sales reach?

Targeting your marketing toward [building a lasting connection with fans is critical](/insights/how-do-you-build-a-generational-brand). Even the most popular brands can quickly fall out of favor as its audience ages or as new trends arrive. Before long, you need to consider new areas of expansion.

Before attempting to expand into a new audience, you should understand the gulf that exists between your data and a successful campaign. [An assortment of software tools](https://blog.hubspot.com/service/social-listening-tools) and trend reports can aggregate anonymized details to indicate a huge TAM that’s potentially open to your business.

Imagine opening reports that indicate Quebec loves your brand, and so does Central America. Great news, but what should you do with this information? Numbers aren’t enough to develop a message that will connect with consumers. The larger question for your brand is, once you’ve identified the right audience, how do you reach them?

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## Understand a new audience’s needs before expanding your marketing priorities

Whether your brand settles on pursuing an audience of college-educated women gamers or [a broad pivot to young fans](/insights/marketing-tips-young-target-audience), finding the right creative is often the trickiest part. Too often, brands will get caught up planning how to adjust their offerings in order to capture a new market. For example, think of how many brands adopted “EXTREME” logos and gaudy color schemes to court the youth market in the X-Games era.

Obviously, this approach very often comes off as disingenuous. You don’t want to be the brand whose message comes off as [a convoluted version of introducing yourself with, “How do you do, fellow kids?”](/insights/4-tips-better-youth-marketing) You want to identify areas where your brand’s products organically overlap with what your audience is looking for.

Sometimes, brands get lucky. The shoe company Crocs was effectively dead with defiantly chunky, plastic shoes with limited appeal confined to kayakers and gardeners. Then, the brand started incorporating plastic charms into the shoes that allowed for personalization, and the idea took off among a new generation.

They have since leaned into this renewed popularity as their data continued to demonstrate the brand was experiencing an unlikely renaissance. But Crocs remain the same shoe even as they found a new audience.

Instead of attempting to reinvent your brand’s identity to suit a new demographic, your brand should look to groups with values that overlap with your brand. Then, you can uncover their motivations and angle your unique selling proposition toward its ability to satisfy those needs.

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#### One-on-one research is key to successful audience expansion

Getting to know your audience is crucial before leaping into a new market. You need to dedicate time and energy to listening on social media channels to understand your audience’s needs.

But along with social listening, you also need to examine your target demographic with one-on-one research. For example, we worked with a major gaming brand on an initiative to expand its reach among young women. We looked at the core message of the brand and tried to find areas of overlap with the problems this new audience was looking to resolve.

Along with applying social listening to develop early insights, we interviewed women in the target demographic. We never asked direct questions about the brand, but we talked about their needs to overcome anxiety and claim “me time.”

We focused the resulting campaign on the way the company’s portable console and its current titles allow for quiet moments of escape and relaxation. We didn’t encourage the brand to change, or develop new titles that could appeal to women. The brand’s story remained consistent while tilting slightly to accommodate a new perspective.

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## Know your brand before making a move to a new audience

Targeting a new audience requires more than building a full understanding of who they are. You also need to know your brand and how it’s perceived in the marketplace. The right outside marketing agency will ask the right questions of stakeholders and deliver a vital, objective perspective of your audience and messaging.

As your brand considers its many options to pursue growth, you can’t afford to rely solely on promising data and undercooked research. At We The Collective, we can help you uncover the deeper motivations and behaviors of your target audience by asking the right questions. Before you decide where to spend your advertising dollars on a new audience, [we should talk](/contact).


Successful audience expansion for entertainment brands requires more than market research. Learn how to uncover deeper consumer insights to grow your brand.

3 strategies to expand your entertainment brand’s audience

Look beyond the numbers before your brand pursues a new audience


When you start working with an outside agency, there’s a moment that can feel like the disconnect between fast food commercials and what you get at the drive through. Look at how they photograph the burgers, for one. The melted cheese, the fresh lettuce and tomato piled high. That would really hit the spot, wouldn’t it?

Then, you pick up your order and it looks like a sandwich that was found behind a vending machine then hit with a hammer. It not only doesn’t taste right, it’s simply not what you ordered.

Too often, large agencies serve up a similar disappointment. In the beginning, you meet a brilliant team who promises to deliver the solution your brand needs. Then once it’s time to get to work, the picture changes. Instead of collaborating with the people you know from the meet-and-greet, your project has been passed to a different team. They may be skilled, but you want the experts you were promised. And sure, you can speak to the CEO about it — are you free in three weeks?

When you need a sundae, you should get a sundae. And you shouldn’t settle for an agency’s B-team when your brand needs specialized expertise to move the needle for your project.

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## How hiring a specialized agency minimizes buyer’s remorse

Much like the difference between Applebee’s and your favorite neighborhood restaurant, [bigger isn’t always better when it comes to creative agencies. ](https://www.wethecollective.com/insights/full-service-or-specialized-agencies "Full service or specialized agencies")But when you’re trying to find a creative partner who will deliver a difference-making campaign, size isn’t your only consideration.

After all, a firm may be small but have plans for growth and global domination. Ambition is great, but your brand will see the best results from an agency with a size and scope that allows them to focus on the work. You need the kind of attention that’s possible with a boutique creative agency.

At We The Collective, we’re not entirely comfortable with the “boutique” label. It conjures images of cavernous stores with six items on a rack that you’re afraid to touch. [We’re a specialized, digital-focused agency](https://www.wethecollective.com/insights/how-to-hire-a-creative-agency "How to hire a creative agency"), which means our size and area of focus are both chosen with intention. We’d rather take on less work than lose focus on interesting projects aligned with what we do best. But more importantly, we want to ensure what we do for our clients always reaches a consistent high level.

A specialized agency doesn’t have to dilute its work by taking on work just to cover the costs of a huge overhead. Instead, we can focus on the craft as well as whatever it takes to find the right solution for your brand’s problem.

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## Specialized agencies don’t have the overhead of second-tier teams

As you’re considering the right agency for your brand, you may feel drawn to a high-profile name that will turn heads in a meeting. But as you collaborate with a big, international agency, you may grow self-conscious about ensuring you’re getting the right work.

Maybe it’s not the first time you’ve teamed with them for an online ad, which means the work has started to feel a little routine on their end. Or maybe your brand lacks the same name recognition as the other companies on the agency’s roster. Whatever the case, your project has been passed down to teams with less experience, which gives you a sneaking suspicion that your needs are a lower priority.

At a specialized agency, there isn’t any room to support a B-team. When agencies increase their capacity to take on more projects, they wind up with extra roles they need to keep busy. As work gets passed around, the creative team assigned to your project may not have the skills you need.

We’ve consciously designed our agency so everyone has a common goal and the singular purpose of creating great work. In the end, your brand benefits most from our determination to ensure your brand always receives the right people for the job. At We The Collective, we only have an A-Team.

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## Boutique agencies have to be selective about internal teams

When you’re working with a specialized agency, the team has to be selective about the projects they take on. After all, only so many people are available to ensure the results still reach a high level. But that same need to be choosy also works in your brand’s favor when it comes to the quality of the team.

As work gets divided among more people, creative teams grow bloated and unwieldy. Eventually, it becomes easier for those working on your project to find places to hide. After all, coming up with great ideas is hard. A bigger team allows some of its members to fly under the radar and produce average work for your brand.

Our goal is to ensure everyone working on your project is excited about the project and eager to make great things. [Plus, we want to build long-term relationships that allow our work to grow in new directions and constantly improve.](https://www.wethecollective.com/insights/outside-agency-accelerates-brand-creative "Why your agency should be pushing you toward unexpected creative ideas") As the collaboration goes on, that same team continues working with you and further evolves with your brand.

Ultimately, we have no choice but to hire people who are at the top of their game and hungry for more opportunities to perform at their best. With that kind of team, your brand gains the assurance it will receive the experience and insights your project needs — and the next one, too.

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## Why specialized agencies generate faster, stronger results for your brand

Operating as a boutique agency is a choice that’s a reflection of how we like to work. But a smaller, more focused organizational structure offers real benefit to your brand as well.

At We The Collective, our specialized approach prevents extra organizational layers from diminishing the clarity of what we’re trying to do. At the same time, the absence of those unnecessary structures increases your level of clarity throughout the process. Not only are you working with the same team you first met from when the collaboration began, you also have direct access to everyone connected with your project.

Whether you need to speak to the CEO or your project’s developer, you don’t have to navigate any extra layers to get the information you need. Since your team is smaller, you don’t have the overhead of playing a game of telephone. Instead of contacting the producer to reach the right developer, you communicate directly with the person you need. Consequently, you receive the targeted solution your campaign needs that much faster.

Does that sound like a collaboration that will deliver the results you need for your brand? [Let’s cut out the complications and get started.](https://www.wethecollective.com/contact "Contact We the Collective")


It’s nice to be able to brag about working with one of the top entertainment marketing agencies. But do they fit your brand? Don’t settle for B-team creative.

Don’t chase trends: A white paper on marketing to youth

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