25% of US population are born between early 1980s and early 2000s. These people represent the most active and promising generation called Millennial. Growing together with modern technologies, millennials with their lifestyle, wishes and expectations are different from their parents generation. They represent a new type of a customer, and marketers need to find an approach to them. Here are some pieces of advice.
Going mobile is a generation trend
If you ask a millennial about two things he or she would want to have on a desert island, the first thing will surely be a smartphone. The second one will be fast mobile internet. And not only to post photos with coconuts on Instagram. Modern mobile phones have become multifunctional devices, and millennials use their functionality on full. They look at smartphones screens while eating, meeting with friends and even working. According to Invoca research conducted among millennials, 40% of men and 33% of women prefer to buy everything they need online. Moreover, with the development of mobile payment systems, customers can not only look for and choose an item they want, but also pay for it using their smartphone only. This gives a lot of opportunities for companies to fit in organically into their digital personal space and become a part of their lifestyle. But how to do this?
Firstly, don’t ignore social networks. According to a 2014 study by Market Strategies International, millennials are about three times more likely than other generations to reference social media networks when making purchase decisions. It’s no secret that a lot of people spend more and more time while scrolling Facebook timelines, looking for interesting pins for their collections or commenting on Instagram photos. So why not present your brand there? The good way to do it is running targeted advertising campaigns.
When filling out social profiles, users share a lot of information about their age, geo location, job position, hobbies and interests, so you can show your advertising only to those who are potentially interested in your product or service. Thus, targeted advertising creates demand. But you have to understand that it’s not easy to win a battle for user’s attention. People usually don’t like to distract from social networks and open other pages, so you have to create a perfect and attractive advertising. Besides, we’ve got a detailed article on this topic.
But what about phone calls that are phones’ original purpose and still the main function? Well, people still prefer to call while making a purchase, because it’s:
- The quickest way to buy;
- Allows to speak to a real person and receive the answers to all questions;
- Necessary in case of expensive and complicated products.
And millennials are not an exception. As they use their mobiles to search for goods and services, they would rather call and thus avoid typing their credit card number on the uncomfortable mobile keyboard.
So, just to summarize all of the above, businesses should be ready to handle a big number of phone calls. Moreover, they should analyze them and benefit from this. Ringostat call tracking with its cloud-based PBX, intelligent callback and several types of different reports is an optimum solution here.
Create a content that makes a direct hit
The issue worth special attention is the type of content you propose to millennials. They’re always busy and have a lot of plans, they are used to read phrases of 140 characters and don’t have time and desire to look through the sheets of letters. So the content has to be easy readable and quickly absorbed. Win millennials’ attention with a short phrase, video or an image. Images work best here, so consider Instagram and Pinterest as the platforms of your business promotion.
Ask millennials to give feedback
Millennials are highly connected and open for communication. Social networks make them… well, social. That’s why they value user experience. A little feedback from a real customer of their age is more convincing than a widespread media campaign run by a company. That’s why get more comments from your real customers. Especially as it’s not difficult. Millennials are not passive readers, they share, comment, retweet and pin. Moreover, 70% of young people feel responsibility to share feedback with companies after good or bad experience. And they are 2.5X more likely to be an early adopters of technology. So you have to propose a product or service that will solve the problems of several socially active people, and they’ll make the best advertising you can expect.
Think about a high mission of your business
37% of millennials are ready to pay more if the product is eco-friendly, not tested on animals, or when the part of the price is donated to charity. 89% expressed a stronger likelihood that they would buy from companies that supported solutions to specific social issues. The new generation is conscious and has an active life position. If millennials believe in your mission, they’ll become your most loyal customers.
It’s not only about B2C
The young and ambitious millennials are now at the age of reaching the top of a job ladder. They hold key positions in companies or start their own businesses. To be more specific, 67% of young people want to work for themselves and 45% of them actually started a business. As millennials are open to everything new and ready to try different tools and services in order to boost their business performance, they represent a titbit of a targeted audience for B2B companies.
With a high probability you, our reader, are also a representative of millennial generation and you can agree or disagree with the things written in this post. Anyway, listen to your intuition and your millennial colleagues, and you’ll find the way to the heart of each customer.
