Today we have another guest post from Vanessa Van Petten, entrepreneur and teen author of the parenting book You're Grounded!. If you work in youth media or marketing and would like to pitch an idea for a Ypulse Guest Post, just email me.

How to Get Teens Attention: 5 Things Marketers Must Know!

There are so many products, companies, books, programs, trips, websites and gadgets that are marketed at teens and tweens you wonder how anyone sells anything!

Now, I might be a little bit biased, because I am a proud Gen Yer, but I think that this generation of teenagers are extremely internet savvy and, more importantly, keenly aware of marketers. So for those of you who are trying to catch the fleeting attention of screen-hungry net-geners, here are a few things you should know about us:

1. We Know You Want Us
Lets face it, we are awesome. The teen market is growing exponentially each year and so is the amount of allowance we are allowed to spend on things. We know you want our attention and it usually makes us even more picky.

2. We Usually Know When We Are Being Marketed To
I think, and this is purely my opinion, that compared to previous generations, we are much more aware of product placements, advertorials, public relations and other sneaky PR techniques. The reason for this is because all of these things have really increased and been exposed during our younger years. We also are exposed to way more advertisements per day than ever before -- advertising is a part of our life and now invades our schools, internet experiences, family outings and even textbooks! (there is a new push to put advertisements in school hallways)

3. We Know When You Are Funny/Interesting/Useful...and when you are not.
Entertain us, don't just advertise to us, or at least do not make your ad/PR piece/ commercial feel like a pitch. Usually, we are happy to watch your commercials, play around on your site and watch your videos--if they are funny and entertaining. In fact, if you are creative, or interestingly viral, teens will pick up your cause with you and do your marketing for you (see number 5).

4. We Know When You Treat Us Like 'Young Adults'
Please, don't talk down to us. Even in teen and tween TV shows, sometimes the plots are so transparent and "feel good" that they become unappealing, we feel like little kids. So what do we do? We turn to way too mature adult shows like "Gossip Girl" because we want to feel older. We know we are not adults yet, but we are dealing with our own adult like issues, so it is nice when companies don't treat us like kids -- but more like almost-adults.

5. We Might Adopt You We Know This is Your Number One Goal (or at least it should be)
Honestly, we love to discover things that feel grass-rootsy, non-commercial, non-corporate and original. If you manage to make your product or pitch feel this way, where we can give you kudos for uniqueness, we will "adopt" your product as if it is our own. I stick by my favorite brands, email my friends about new updates, wear their shirts and post on my blog pushing their products. (Think Apple: many teens will pay to advertise for them!)

I know that not everyone will agree with my observations and ideas about this generation, but I these are the generalizations that my teen friends and I wish advertisers knew.

Posted by anastasia