Rewriting the Marketing Funnel: How to Ace Gen Z Marketing in 2024 

For years, marketers have been using a predetermined consumer path to model their marketing practices off. Yet, Gen Z has completely destroyed this traditional manner of thinking. Creating an entirely new way to ace Gen Z marketing in 2024.

Recent studies have revealed that Gen Z desire different things from their brands than the generations that came before them. These younger users want brands that feel real, tangible, and personable. They do their research, and are not simply going to click purchase on an item because they have bought from that brand before. 

With the traditional consumer path on its way out, how can brands adapt to this new world? 

Let’s dive in.

GEN Z MARKETING IN 2024: WHAT IS A MARKETING FUNNEL?

First, the basics. 

The marketing funnel is a set of four stages that represents the contact between a brand and the consumer. Most importantly, the marketing funnel is from the perspective of the company. 

In contrast, the consumer journey, or consumer path to purchase, represents the steps that consumers take on their way to buying a product. As such, it is from the customer’s point of view. 

@djerfavenue

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♬ Chill Noons – Kronicle

Thus, when the consumer journey shifts, the marketing funnel must shift in response. Gen Z’s new path to purchase requires brands to rewrite their Gen Z marketing in 2024, in order to meet consumers where they are at most successfully. 

The traditional consumer path was as follows: awareness, interest, desire, action. Marketers catered to this path to purchase by prioritising reaching as many consumers as possible, via generalised, sweeping adverts. 

Yet, this consumer path was made for the old world. Gen Z are pathing a new frontier; a new world, which requires a new way of marketing. 

GEN Z MARKETING IN 2024: THE MARKETING FUNNEL 

The Gen Z path to purchase could not be more distinct from the traditional consumer path. 

Gen Z has grown up on the internet, leaving them with substantially different priorities and understanding than the generations that came before them. These younger consumers are armed with advanced internet literacy, which has given them an elite understanding of value, production and more. 

With their many apps and endless search engines, Gen Z are an exponentially curious generation. They seek inspiration at every corner, and as much information on what they are purchasing, and the brands that they interact with. 

For Gen Z, making purchases is not a simple step-by-step process. It is, instead, an infinite, ever evolving cycle of inspiration, exploration, community, and loyalty. 

Which for marketers, is just a tad more complicated to hack than 4 simple, chronological steps. Yet, this does not mean that Gen Z marketing in 2024 is impossible; they simply need to be catered to on their own turf. 

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♬ original sound – asos

Inspiration 

Inspiration is an integral part of the Gen Z internet experience. 

These users are constantly bombarded with inspiration all day long, with brands, influencers and celebrities all providing fodder for new ideas via social media. 

In fact, 3 in 10 Gen Z consumers use social media platforms for inspiration, and they are 11% more inclined to do this than any other generation. 

For Gen Z, the internet is a way to constantly seek style inspiration, and influencers are a major part of this. 57% of these users believe that influencers create new trends, in comparison to just 36% of millennials who hold this belief. 

A fantastic example of this is Hailey Beiber’s skin care line Rhode. A major influencer herself, Bieber takes to her accounts prior to a product launch to create a micro-trend, such as strawberry skin. By the time her product is launched, users are perfectly primed to purchase and fill their urge to engage in the trend. As such, Rhode skincare as a brand is perfectly tapping into Gen Z’s need for inspiration and adoration of influencers. 

@rhode

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Moreover, via social media, Gen Z has the world at their fingertips. From interviews backstage at Miu Miu fashion shows, to J.W Anderson releasing a tutorial on how to create their famous Harry Styles cardigan, Gen Z have more access to media and retail companies than ever before. 

This has blurred the line between media and retail companies. For example, Half Magic is a makeup company created by TV production studio A24 and makeup artist Doniella Davy (who famously did the beauty looks for Euphoria). The company has recently released a makeup kit inspired by the Sofia Coppola film Priscilla. This is an excellent showcase of successful Gen Z marketing in 2024. 

@halfmagicbeauty

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♬ 1901 – Instrumental – Phoenix

Ultimately, understanding how Gen Z finds inspiration, and how they interact with brands along the way is essential to grappling with this phase of consumption. By engaging with influencers in meaningful ways, creating experiences that play into users’ desires, and tapping into trends on social media, brands are able to be a part of Gen Z’s inspiration conversation. 

Exploration 

Exploration encapsulates Gen Z’s unique urge to understand products and brands as much as they possibly can. 

This is not a new phenomenon; the skin care industry has been particularly rocked by Gen Z’s need to pick apart ingredient lists and brand production protocols. This has caused the skincare industry to shift their Gen Z Marketing in 2024, creating more campaigns that focus on the ingredients in products and the science behind them. 

These consumers want the ultra-specific details of products from brands; and they want them now. Gen Z wants brands to give them unbound access to the price, the materials, the mechanics and the fit of products. 

As a result, this younger generation is more interested in using social media to research products and for product discovery, rather than purchasing. Exploration is so important to Gen Z, in fact, that 70% of these consumers only trust brands after they have researched them. 

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♬ original sound – HANNAH | UK UGC Creator

Therefore, for successful Gen Z marketing in 2024,it is essential that brands have excellent online and offline experiences that cater to Gen Z’s increasing awareness of value, production and more. This can be achieved through quality customer service, brand transparency, and user-generated content (UGC). 

UGC caters to the 40% of Gen Z users that seek out reviews from online influencers during their exploration phase. This kind of content comes across as valuable and trustworthy to consumers, building faith. 

Community 

The key to appealing to Gen Z consumers is making them feel part of a community. 

Statistically, Gen Z are the loneliest generation. Brands who are able to make these users feel seen, heard, and as if they belong, have top-notch Gen Z marketing in 2024. With 54% of Gen Zs saying their top brands are those that establish community, simply selling a product is not enough. Gen Z wants a universe. 

Building a universe for your brand allows users to feel as if they are a part of something bigger. Events surrounding your brand such as pop-ups at festivals or in-store concerts not only establish a firm brand identity and universe, but also encourage users to build a community. 

@uniqloeurope

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By creating a brand universe filled with multiple touchstones, and expanding the connection between you and your audience far past making a purchase, brands are able to establish brand loyalty. 

Madhappy, a LA-based clothing brand is a great example of how brands can cater to this phase of consumer purchasing. The brand doubles as a wellness community, providing consumers with mental health resources and support. Madhappy also organises community events. 

Loyalty 

Brand loyalty, to Gen Z, is not about repeat purchases. It is, instead, about establishing respect for a brand in a reciprocal relationship. 

This younger generation desires relationships with brands that feel two way, and respectful. They want brands to entice them to purchase with offers and experiences, vying for their attention. 

Gen Z believes that brand loyalty is more than simply buying from a brand repeatedly. 54% of these consumers believe that brand loyalty is as simple as telling their friends about it, and 40% believe that loving the brand at all is enough to qualify them as brand loyalists. 

Therefore, UGC is once again integral to this phase of the Gen Z consumer journey. Effective UGC establishes the notion that after consumers have made their purchase, they are still a part of a brand’s universe. 

@thefrankieshop

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The Frankie Shop inspires Gen Z loyalty by posting consumer made content to their accounts. Their Instagram and TikTok are filled with everyday users wearing and styling their products. By championing UGC in this manner, the brand builds Gen Z trust; the consumers feel like valued customers and important members of the brand’s community. 

Thus, establishing loyalty, and acing Gen Z marketing in 2024. 

GEN Z MARKETING IN 2024: MOVING FORWARD 

Ultimately, Gen Z marketing in 2024 revolves around an entirely new consumer journey. 

Brands were once the centre that the consumer purchasing path revolved around. Gen Z has flipped this script, making people the centre. Thus, to successfully cater to this new consumer journey, brands must be where people are.

They must be in the loop of inspiration, exploration, community and loyalty; on TikTok joining in on trends, creating immersive experiences for consumers to engage in, boosting UGC on their Instagram accounts and more. 

Understanding this new path to purchase is the key to successful Gen Z marketing in 2024. They are a completely new generation, with a unique set of ideals, wants and standards. 

Tapping into these, and establishing genuine connections with these consumers, is essential to Gen Z marketing in 2024. 

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