Here’s the Scoop

Today’s teenage girls can prove elusive in terms of what they want out of life, let alone out of their closet! With the relaunch of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR’s Sisterhood site, we aim to remove some of the clutter and propel teen marketing forward, decoding what drives today’s teen girls to make decisions when it comes to purchasing goods and services. Factor in teen girls’ complicated and misunderstood relationship with social media and their credentials as the first fully wired generation, and you’ve got a lot of questions that need to be answered when it comes to marketing to today’s teens.

We’ve got answers to many of the questions. In Spring 2010, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR surveyed 100 U.S. girls between the ages of 13 and 18 about their spending and communications habits. Our research reveals that the teenage girl contradicts almost all cultural stereotypes in those areas. But the core finding of the white paper is more sociological than statistical: Tearing down another false platitude, the paper proves that a sense of intimacy with a select group of friends and family drives almost all their social interaction—including shopping, which the study characterizes as a core social activity for teenage girls. The findings helped ERWW PR launch the award-winning Sisterhood initiative, a social media lab and agency-within-an-agency that’s by, for and about teen girls (with plans to launch a similar initiative about boys). Download a copy of the white paper here.

The teen girl demographic is a consuming force to be reckoned with. The U.S. Census Bureau has reported that the average teen has $2,634 of annual income from allowance, part-time work and gifts, in addition to the $5,496 of parental money an average teen spends each year. All that amounts to more than $216.3 billion in yearly purchasing power for teen girls and boys combined.

Plus, eMarketer estimates that 96 percent of teens are Internet users, with the majority online daily and spending more time online than with any other media. So although it sounds as if today’s teen is constantly engaged in some form of social media endeavor, the truth is she is doing so with purpose and a target. Teens tend to burst in and out of connectivity, so it’s important to note that when they go online, they know what they’re looking for—unlike most of us, who aimlessly search the Web for hours on end. In our white paper, we also found that today’s girls are going online for friendship and for a space where they can conduct their social relationships.

#Bottomline: At ERWW PR, we’ve found that strategic messaging is more important than ever in this crowded and decidedly social landscape.

Teen girl shoppers also know exactly what they want when shopping online, and they know how to find it. They’re proud of their individual style in a world gone “Brand Me” (but most look to role models rather than the cool girls at school to decide what’s hot). They’re hunters in skinny jeans and Converse sneakers, seeking out what they want at the right price. And they’re more than willing to share a good deal with their friends, but they won’t necessarily broadcast the information for the world to see. It’s that private circle of trust that we mentioned earlier that girls today create—not an endless network of people involved in their everyday lives and thoughts. In fact, they like to go positively analog when it comes to sharing information about great deals: by word-of-mouth, no Internet connection required (although a phone helps).

Most striking is that teen girls, like most people these days, want to talk about the brands that are important to them. They even want to talk with the brand as they talk about the brand with one another. We call this a trialogue, and knowing how to enter into such a conversation is greatly affected by texting (teens’ social media du jour). As a marketer, you need to know how to talk to these girls and become part of their inner circle.