While millennials (also known as Gen Y) may not be “digital natives” to the degree of the Generation Z population born since, they came of age during the digital revolution. They’re highly tech savvy and witnessed the proliferation and widespread embrace of mobile phones, social media and Internet-based, well… everything.
As a marketer, it’s the buying power of the generation that makes it loud, clear and obvious you need to understand the keys to marketing to millennials.
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Breathtaking stats presented in a report from Futurum Research says by 2020:
50% of the world’s workforce will be millennials
The buying power of the generation will reach $1 trillion
Do millennials all behave the same?
It’d be naïve, of course, to label a generation representing close to 2-billion people a single demographic. However, it’d downright irresponsible not to study the common behaviors of this massive segment of the population, attempt to anticipate their preferences and execute marketing strategies accordingly.
Now, please understand, I’m no millennial. I’m a boomer. But I’m a marketer that does my research, so I read a ton of content to put this post together and concluded experts have extracted a significant number of common insights bound to help you prepare to master millennial marketing.
Let’s unravel the ones I know to be true now.
Getting inside the mind of the millennial.
There’s no magic bullet for marketing to millennials, but understanding the following ideas will certainly help you understand more about who you’re dealing with.
Tough tech love
Millennials appreciate tech because they saw it grow up as they did. They’ve also seen numerous networks and devices bomb (e.g. MySpace, Vine, Google+). Though most are power users of digital do-dads, they’re less addicted than the Zs.
When you get right down to it, they don’t blindly swear allegiance to every last digital tool, but instead, favor services that offer practicality, utility, fun, savings, and convenience.
In short, millennials value technology when it delivers value.
And so:
Ensure the ideas you plan to market to millennials have an obvious purpose and highlight their value.
Advertising adversity
New media has helped make millennials master fact-finders. It’s made them relentless rejecters of traditional advertising, which they both filter and ignore. Their BS detectors are strong. Their trust is far more challenging to earn than generations before them.
They’re receptive to authenticity and customer experiences that are consistently rewarding.
And so:
Don’t sell to them. Rather, make them feel like a part of a community.
Buying in an omnichannel world
Millennials get into hybrid marketplaces. That is, they appreciate brands that enable them to live on both sides of the line, experiencing the best of both digital and analog as they shop.
And so:
Enable customers to connect channels, touchpoints and experiences throughout the buyer journey. Brick and mortar locations should serve not only as points of sale, but more importantly, customer experience outposts.
Loyalty ain’t dead
No doubt, millennials shop carefully and are ready to change allegiances when they’re less than satisfied, but they shouldn’t be perceived as adverse to brand loyalty. They’re known to be tribe-driven and therefore seek validation from like-minded peers.
And so:
Strive to create person-to-person engagement across channels and deepen relationships.
Making a difference matters
Millennials are eager to be active participants in making the world a better place. Far more so than boomers, millennials are willing to pay extra for products and services from companies dedicated to social and environmental change.
And so:
Prioritize the values that are important to your business, industry and consumer and lead with them to activate an audience.
Expectations on the social scene
Millennials crave engagement via social media, but that should not be mistaken for being faithful to everything you blast forth. They tend to have fine-tuned authenticity detectors and reject content they deem to be superficial. They don’t want to be marked to via social; they want to be supported.
And so:
Your brand should pursue the most human and authentic paths possible with a combination of social listening, engagement, community and content. Don’t just offer social media; be social.
Phone first
Millennials are mobile consumers tapping mobile devices for hours each day. Research indicates they spend more time interacting with their phones than other people.
Advertisers have reacted accordingly. Mobile ad spending has dwarfed desktop. But here’s a rub, a serious one…
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I’ll process this data for you fast: According to comScore, a 49% gap exists between share of minutes on mobile versus share of e-commerce spend.
And so:
Execute a mobile-first millennial marketing strategy taking advantage of digital technologies that ease the path the pu