insights | 10.10.2025

How to market to children (and their parents) living in Luton

Article topics

Understand who you’re targeting
Choose the right marketing channels
Be ethical
Don’t try too hard
Xigen: The digital marketing agency local to Luton

Did you know that Luton has one of the youngest populations in the country?

36% of people living in Luton are under 25, and 22% of those are under the age of 15.

(Compare this to the national UK average, which is 29% and 17% respectively.)

Why might this be the case?

Luton is close to London, making it an appealing place for young people to live and commute to work. Not only this, but local universities like the University of Bedfordshire attract a large, young, student population too.

If you’re a Luton-based business, this may mean your target audience is likely to skew younger. With this in mind, there are a few things you need to consider in order to advertise to them effectively.

Let’s take a look.

1. Understand who you’re targeting

The first step in promoting your business to young people is to know precisely who you want to target.

After all, there’s a lot of difference between marketing to a 25 year old and marketing to a preschooler!

The under 25s currently span three different age groups, also known as generational cohorts. These are:

Generation Z: Generation Z (Gen Zers) are the generational cohort born between 1997 and 2012. Tech-savvy and socially conscious, this age group have a keen eye for a bargain!
Generation Alpha: Generation Alpha are the generational cohort born between 2013 and 2025. The first age group born in the 21st century, Generation Alpha are entirely digitally literate and obsessed with luxury products
Generation Beta: Born between 2026 and 2039, this cohort may not exist just yet, but it’s important to prepare! This age group will be fully literate and immersed in AI technology

In some circumstances, you’ll want to not only target the young person, but their parents too, as they’ll be the ones buying the product. For example, many Generation Alpha children have millennial parents.

Before you develop your marketing campaign, work out who your target audience will be. Look at your existing customers, check out who buys from your competitors, and ask prospective customers what they think of your business.

Find out more about the different age groups

2. Choose the right marketing channels

When you’ve identified your target audience, you’ll have a good idea of which marketing channels they use to check out the latest news, buy their favourite products, and catch up with friends.

The marketing channels you opt for as a business will also depend on your budget, business size, skillset, and the types of products you sell. There are also some safety measures you need to bear in mind.

Here are some of the marketing channels you might consider.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Children and young people use search engines like Google to find information for school projects, to learn how to do something, or just to answer the many questions they have.

Not only this, but smart speakers like Google Nest and Amazon Echo rely on search engines to answer queries. Six out of ten children said they used a smart speaker in 2021, and this figure has likely increased since then.

This means optimising your website content for the search engines is a savvy strategy. In particular, make sure your site is mobile responsive and loads quickly on smart devices. 99% of 16 to 17 year olds now own a smartphone, with over a quarter of kids aged 3 to 4 also owning one.

While SEO is always worthwhile investing in, many younger people are steering away from search engines. 64% of Gen Zers admit to using TikTok as a search engine, with one in ten saying they were more likely to use TikTok than Google.

Content marketing

If you want to appeal to children and young people, video marketing is the way to do it.

Why do they like videos so much?

Bright colours and catchy music are fantastic at getting young people’s attention. Video is also an excellent medium for storytelling and engaging kids who may not yet be able to read. Nearly a third of kids watch YouTube for over two hours a day.

Here are some of our top tips for creating videos that your younger customers will love.

Keep your videos short. Young people often have short attention spans or may be multitasking while they’re online
Make your videos fun. Even educational videos can benefit from being entertaining!
Consider user-generated content (UGC), created by existing customers. 60% of Gen Zers prefer to watch UGC if it’s available
Build a community around your content. Encourage comments, answer viewers’ questions, and use quizzes and polls to build engagement
Add captions and subtitles to your videos. This helps with accessibility, as well as young people watching with the volume down
Monitor your video metrics to see which type of videos children and young people engage with most

Social media

As you might expect, video-led social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube are popular with young people.

Many businesses think young people don’t use Facebook – but it’s more popular than you might think. 40% of 8 to 17 year olds use Facebook, which is still a significant amount, especially compared to the 20% that use X.

One of the benefits of using social media to market to children and young people is influencer marketing. This is when you partner with people with a dedicated social media following to promote your products or services.

Influencers are a brilliant way to target new audiences and establish trust in your business. And the great news is, it’s not as expensive as you might think. You don’t need a Mr Beast-level budget to appeal to influencers!

Bear in mind that there are age limits in place for social media. Young people have to be at least 13 to create an account on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. While younger children can use YouTube, parents must create an account on their behalf.

Email marketing

While email marketing is a powerful tool, it may not be the ideal one for advertising to children. This is because it requires collecting personal data. Children may not understand the potential consequences of handing their email address, home address, or date of birth to a business.

We recommend focusing your email marketing efforts on the parents of children, as well as young adults. If you want to use children’s personal data to market to them, this guide from the ICO explains what you can and can’t do.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

Like email marketing, PPC advertising requires the use of personal data to create personalised and targeted adverts. So certain types of advertising based on online behaviour are not recommended for children.

A safer strategy is to advertise to the parents of children, or alternatively, consider contextual advertising. This is when you target the content a child is looking at, rather than the child themself.

For example, you might place an (unpersonalised) ad for your product on a YouTube unboxing video.

If you sell products high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS), you may not be able to advertise in certain places.

3. Be ethical

It’s vital to be honest, transparent, and truthful, no matter who you’re advertising to. However, it’s especially important when marketing to a younger audience.

Studies show that children under the age of eight are likely to accept advertising as fact, making them more susceptible to marketing.

Some advertising can exploit insecurities in older children and young adults, potentially causing mental harm, while some dangerous ads can inspire copycat behaviour.

Levis Jeans got into trouble for publishing an ad showing young people holding lit fireworks, while Kellogg’s came under fire for showing ads for Pringles on a YouTube fitness channel aimed at kids.

Here are some things to bear in mind when advertising to children and young adults:

Review the Committee of Advertising Practice’s (CAP’s) guidelines on advertising to children
Avoid ‘pester power’ – encouraging children to pressure their parents to buy your product
Focus on the positive. Rather than implying that kids may miss out if they don’t buy your product, show how your product provides value and fun

If you sell products to adults, make sure your advertising doesn’t run the risk of appealing to children. A Hooch ad was banned in 2016 because it used a YouTube influencer who was popular with young people.

4. Don’t try too hard

And finally, we’ve all seen the ‘how do you do, fellow kids?‘ meme!

It’s essential to be honest and genuine when marketing to children and young people. This audience is a lot smarter than people give them credit for. Get it wrong, and you will get called out.

Thorough market research is vital – ask your target audience what they like and dislike. And remember that if you choose to use memes and pop culture references in your marketing, things move quickly – the average lifespan of a meme is just over four months!

Sharing the same values as your target audience and talking about them authentically can go a long way with your customers. 62% of Gen Zers want brands to be sustainable, while 69% want them to take a stance on racial justice.

Xigen: The digital marketing agency local to Luton

Marketing to children and young people can be challenging – there are a lot of potential pitfalls, and some marketing channels may be off-limits.

However get it right, and you can reap the benefits. Kids can become loyal to a brand as young as ten years old!

Be authentic, showcase your value, and remember that different age groups will want different things.

If you need a little extra help showcasing your business to a young audience, we’re here to support you. We have over twenty years of experience creating stand-out campaigns across a range of digital marketing channels, for local, national, and international brands.

Best of all, as a Bedford-based agency, we’re just down the road from your business!