Marketing to Millennials

Marketing to Millennials, Reach the Largest and Most Influential Generation of Consumers Ever, by Jeff Fromm and Christie Garton, Amacom 2013 

Fun facts about the Millennials (people born in the 80s) that help make sense of how to sell to and work with this creative, but puzzling generation:

·        84% of Millennials report that user-generated content on company websites has at least some influence on what they buy, compared to 70% of Boomers

·        Millennials (now in their early 30s, teens and 20s) are the largest generation in American history, having now beat the Boomers by one million

·        80 million Millennials buying power totals approximately $200B per year, not yet their peak spending

·        Millennials are early adopters of new technologies, and that habit dictates where successful retailers will reach them

·        Millennials want to be active partners, indeed collaborators, in the brands they love.  Don’t expect that talking at them will work when they want to be co-creators and believers

·        Millennials are highly influenced by their peers.

·        Millennials are quick to spot a fake pitch or product.

·        Millennials shop differently.  At the time this study of 4000 millennials was conducted, almost 70%, compared with less than 60% told The Boston Consulting Group that the convenience of shopping online is very important to them.

·        50% of Millennials, compared with barely 20% of Non-Millennials, use their Smartphones to research products and services

·        50% of Millennials say they tend to make impulse purchases, compared with 35% Non-Millennials

There are times when the Mill Girl has said, "go ahead take it, do it, give us your new music, take over (but leave us our 401ks please)," and Marketing to Millennials is an encouraging review of what makes this generation special, fun and so encouraging.  But this group is not actually a homogenous group and getting to the heart of their tastes and habits requires more social media big data analytics and quiet observation because the Mad Men type advertising “push” approach falls flat.

Instead, authors Fromm and Christie highlight how to appeal to this intriguing and wealth-creating generation, with eight new rules of customer engagement.  Bear in mind that as an employer, these guidelines will also help position your HR and improvement strategies.  Where continuous improvement, quotas and Management by Objectives (MBO) worked fabulously well with the post-WWII Boomers, they are not guaranteed acceptance or success with the Millennials.  So here are the authors’ new rules of customer engagement:

1.      Because Millennials are early adopters, interact with them on emerging social platforms and engage them with state-of-the-art digital