By There’s a reason that the biggest brands across North America are obsessed with marketing to millennials.
75.4 million. That’s the number of people born between 1980 - 2000 that are currently living in the United States alone (Pew Research). This doesn’t even include the 9.5 million currently living in Canada (Environics) and the 13.8 million living in the United Kingdom (The Guardian). Millennials are now beginning to outnumber every other generation, and it’s time for business owners to start paying attention.
There are a few specific stereotypes that millennials are often labeled with, such as laziness, narcissism, entitlement and so on. Yet, while everyone has their own opinions on whether these stereotypes are fact or fiction, one thing is undeniably true. Millennials grew up surrounded by technology.
As I’m sure my millennial readers are accustomed to, we’re usually the first people turned to when someone needs help with technology. With tech playing such a major factor in millennial lives, the consumer behavior of this generation has changed, and so must the marketing and advertising efforts of businesses.
So, what makes millennial consumers so different than the others?
Millennials talk
After we make a purchase, we’re going to talk about it. And we’re probably going to do it online. If we have a great experience at your business, we’ll post about it. If we have a bad experience at your business, we’ll post about it.
We love to use our fancy technology to talk online. We prefer to go online and see what our peers say about your business rather than read what your marketing team is spouting.
We trust our peers
Advertisements aren’t as effective as they used to be because millennials can see between the lines and past your marketing budget. Millennials turn to what our peers are saying about you when making purchasing decisions because it’s authentic. We aren’t afraid to share our experiences online, which is why 33% of millennials refer to blogs before making a decision, and 43% rank authenticity over content in their consumption (Forbes).
Engage with us
Millennials are going to talk about their experiences online, whether good or bad, and that isn’t going to stop any time soon. So when we do share our experiences online through blogs, social media and review sites, engage with us! 62% of millennials are more likely to be a loyal customer is a brand engages with them online (Forbes). No matter what is being said about your business online, it’s important that you respond. Millennial posting about a bad experience? Apologize to them. Millennial posting about a great experience? Thank them.
At the end of the day, engage with your millennial consumers online and be authentic.
Millennials don’t need fancy advertisements
Marketing to millennials can be particularly difficult because we care much less about advertisements than other consumers. For this reason, it’s best to leave your flashy transitions, annoying jingles and expensive actors at home. When surveyed, only 1% of millennials said that an advertisement would make them trust a brand more (Forbes).
We’ve grown up in the age where we can watch TV, movies and other forms of entertainment on demand, which means that we get to optimize our entertainment experience. Maximum entertainment, and minimum advertising.
Millennials are becoming the most influential group of consumers in the world. The buying power of millennials is increasing as more of us move into the workplace, which means that general consumer behavior is going to change too. Your clients’ businesses must begin to adapt to this new age, and begin marketing to millennials.
It’s clear that your business's online presence is only going to increase in importance. If not acted upon now, it may be too late before your online presence cannot be salvaged due to the consumer behavior of the millennial generation.