All marketing honchos know the importance of ‘Understanding your customer’ in buying and selling businesses. If not, then creating new opportunities to make them think, act and purchase would have been pass. Selling will become more complicated as we try to prepare brands for Gen Z, a cohort who is motivated by peer group and fast logic. Ahead of the millennials they will live for brands that accept their mindset.

No doubt, greater innovations and new products will drive the way Gen Z will live. Although products will retain their core values, their brand statement and purpose will need a reroute. The Gen Z or The New Millennials—whatever we wish to call them—are already entering the consumer market. It is time marketers understand the wants, needs and messages of such customers. Here are the top four traits they need to look out for:

Compared to Millennials – Similarities and Dissimilarities: Unlike millennials, they are the internet baby, money conscious i.e. they know where they are investing, well measured and are highly optimistic about their financial future. Like millennials, they love tech, social media and inquisitive about brands and their statement.

Need a different social media engagement: They have grown up amidst social media platforms. They talk Instagram, Snapchat at the new level. Try to involve and actively engage them with a relatable original content. Track your audience and formulate strategy that best suits any particular social platform.

Mobile optimized communication: You have to be active all the time. Of course, your brands should be able to smear through all the tech devices that the new millennials would be living with. Gen Z is the most mobile-oriented consumer group, living in a “heads-down” mindset. Your noticeable window will lessen with time and hence your slated jargons might not work and impress. Hence, active participation, in-depth personalization and influencers might be the new cues to explore.

They love stories: Gen Z audiences are less inclined to engage with strictly, brand or sales-oriented content, but want added value from the brand on current events and the latest stories. Your brand needs to have a unique take on a story that is cool because Gen Z prefer cool products over experience.

Take to an authentic influencer marketing: Gen Z is highly directed by influencers, but you have to choose an authentic one. They love to be associated with anything that’s popular rather than unique. Celebrity influence precedes emotional connect.

Marketers fighting for the attention of Gen Z will have their work cut out for them, and will need to move from the old model: Demographic- and publisher-centric to the newer, more efficient data- and technology-centric model. Brands need constant updating, cool stories and active engagement platforms, otherwise it will become stagnant and lost.