Whether you’ve just launched a startup, are running a growing business or have opened your doors long ago but are now seeing lackluster results from your marketing efforts, one of your main considerations now may be how you can understand the millennial experience.
Millennial is the term given for people who were born between 1981 and 1996, according to recent Pew Research data as noted in Esquire. People who are categorized as millennials grew up at the dawn of the Internet era. They have had to adapt to changes in technology that their younger counterparts have grown up taking for granted.
Facts About Millennials
Before you can successfully market to them, it pays to learn about some key millennial demographics:
- Age range 22-36
- Grew up in a healthy economy that later declined
- Came of age at the start of the Internet era
- One-third have a bachelor’s degree, according to NPR
- Average income of millennials is $35,592 per year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics quoted by SmartAsset
- Millennials are tending to delay marriage and having babies, with the average first year of marriage 27 for women and 29 for men (from women aged 20 and men aged 23 in 1960), per NPR
What Do Millennials Value the Most?
Millennials tend to want something exclusive that will make them feel like a group set apart from others, noted HubSpot. Since they spend 25 hours or more online, make sure to meet them where they are. Use social media channels to announce goods or services as well as to provide information that your audience might be interested in, even if it has little to do with your business or product line.
Millennials do not appreciate gimmicky sales techniques. They are looking for something that is unique and easy to locate with their smartphones.
Challenges Millennials Face and Their Effect on Buying Habits
To become more familiar with the millennial experience, it’s useful to understand the unique challenges they face and how those challenges affect their lifestyle choices as well as their purchasing habits.
Remember that millennials came of age during trying economic times, and they will naturally seek to get the best value for their money (and not to get better things for less money), according to HubSpot.
It’s also worth noting that millennials favor doing business with companies that do good in addition to doing business. If you donate back to the local community or have programs such as for each pair of shoes that you sell, you will donate a pair of shoes to a needy child, you should promote these details to show your value and encourage millennials with similar values to stick with you as a customer.
A millennial will just as likely ask friends through social media about what product to buy, doing research with their crowd instead of making all the initial cost and value comparisons themselves through reviews.
Given the amount of foot traffic your business currently gets from millennials and likelihood that this demographic will account for a large amount of your bottom line, it makes perfect sense to craft marketing messages that will resonate with this particular age group. And the way they get the message will be crucial too. Since millennials spend so much time online, it would behoove you to take advantage of social media, using Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook and so on to reach them where they are.
In turn, since millennials are so devoted to staying connected with one another and sharing information with peers, you can expect to see word of mouth (via social media, email, text and other updates) spreading from them online about your company.
Make sure that you continue to not only communicate through your social channels, but that you also have at least one staff person assigned to monitor them for praise as well as criticism so you can address them immediately.
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