Most PHOs focus on the same age range: women 18 to 28, sometimes a little older. You’ve got outliers, like younger teens or women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy in their early 40s, but your largest client base will fall into that age range. Here’s the catch, though: the age you are serving stays the same, but the generation(s) within that age range do not.
The 18-year-old you are trying to reach today is not the same as the 18-year-old you worked to reach 5-10 years ago. She trusts different voices, uses different search patterns, has a different attention span, socializes differently, and has been impacted and shaped by different life and world events. She may still need your services, but how you reach her needs to be different, too.
If your messaging, visuals, and communication stay the same while her world changes, you slowly lose connection.
Who are you currently reaching?
Currently, women within your target age range are younger Gen Z aging into adulthood, older Gen Z in their early to mid-20s, and Younger Millennials in their late 20s and early 30s. These three groups are fairly close in age, but they differ in some key ways.
- Younger Millennials prefer a clean but slightly polished design and are willing to read more if you’re answering a real concern. Facts and clarity matter to them.
- Older Gen Z values authenticity and simplicity. Overly staged photos or corporate-sounding language turn them off
- immediately.
- Younger Gen Z skims, scrolls, and decides in seconds. They’re video-comfortable, overwhelmed, and expect content that gets straight to the point. Instead of trying to speak to each group individually, you can take a middle-of-the-road approach by: using clean, modern visuals with real, natural imagery; striking a warm, conversational tone in short paragraphs (or short sentences); talking straight and clear, without using the latest jargon.
This is just a starting point. Ideally, you would get to the point where you understand your target audience and start relating to them. The keys, though, are exposure, genuine curiosity, and repetition.
How to Stay in the Loop (Without Feeling Overwhelmed)
You don’t need to track every trend, and honestly, it would not help you if the result is you chasing trends. Instead, you need consistent awareness so that you can start intentionally connecting with your target audience. Let’s go over some ways to do this.
Talk to the demographic you’re trying to reach.
Be intentional about hiring younger people for paid and intern roles. In addition to picking the brains of your younger volunteers, you can also specifically seek new volunteers who want to keep you in the loop about the younger generations.
Watch what they’re watching.
This might look like scrolling through TikTok and Instagram Explore, watching YouTube shorts, checking out Google Trends, or reading through Reddit threads or Pinterest boards on relationships and women’s health.
Let the Big Brands do the legwork for you.
The big brands have the money, time, and workforce to research the same information you need - and then they apply that intel. Take some time to scroll through Canva's trending templates (Gen Z’s go-to design tool), Lululemon’s social accounts (massive Gen Z following), Aerie (body-positive, real imagery, warm tone), etc.
Tune in to the reports.
If you want to stay aware of changing design, behavioral, emotional tones, etc., trends, then check out Canva’s Design Trends, Pinterest Predicts, Google’s Year in Search, Instagram Trend Report, TikTok Trend Report, Hubspot’s Annual Marketing Trends Report, Nielsen Consumer Reports, and Gallup Youth & Well-Being research.
Ask your clients directly
Whether you’re asking on an intake questionnaire or waiting until you’ve established a rapport and your client is going through a parenting education program, asking your clients some questions could garner beneficial insights. You could ask them what apps they spend the most time on, where they go for quick information, what catches their attention when they are scrolling, and where they go for help first.
This is important information, but it’s also a lot - and you’re busy. Instead of trying to tackle everything at once, break this into small, manageable pieces. What can you pursue or integrate into your schedule now? Maybe you have time to look into some of the annual trend reports, or maybe you can grab coffee with one of your younger team members to pick their brain about how your brand differs from what catches their eyes. Making small, consistent changes will get you to where you need to go. Stay aware, stay curious, and stay saving lives.