It is true that lots of business houses are encountering difficulties when connecting with the millennial generation (aged between 18 and 34 years). These children belonging to generation Y where raised on gadgets & the web — and they are indeed some of the most influential early adopters of emerging technology.
The onus is on you to get the millennial not only interested in but also excited about your product or services. They are in the market to buy houses and some of them have kids and purchase things just like their parents, grandparents and generations before did. However, their buying pattern is strikingly different than ever before.
These people of Y generation seldom read newspapers and periodicals and thus do not see the press ads and are not also patient to view television commercials. They are unused to billboards, telemarketing and other types of traditional marketing.
They would rather text or send a Facebook message to you than talk in person. They prefer to see your virtual face using Skype or a Google+ Hangout but never your real face.
But as a marketer, you can ill-afford to overlook the Millennial growing in numbers – becoming the largest generation with the greatest combined purchasing power of $2.50 trillions worldwide.
This means that brands and retailers cannot afford the luxury of ignoring them. They must inevitably access the Millennial Generation and devise ways to crack thus marketing riddle.
Generation Y will account for 75 percent of the global workforce by 2015. In other words, it will not be long before they control the global marketplace.
Interestingly, this generation will be seriously affected losing their phone or computer than losing their car. They will be deeply committed to social media and ‘word of mouth’ will be the primary influencer for their purchase decisions. Besides, bulk of them will make purchases using their smartphones.
So what do you need to do to sell to Millennial? If you are a marketer, and expect to continue as one, you must realize two things.
- The traditional marketing methods will not work with the Millennials.
- The Millennials would discover things using the tools they feel comfortable with (i.e. – smart phones, social media sites, reviews, blogs, forums, etc.)
You must evolve your marketing strategy bearing in mind the above two factors.