If you believe the many articles in business publications of all kinds, the Millennial generation is holding captive a trillion dollars of spending that no one can figure out how to get to.
When I read what the “marketing experts” are telling us is our problem in reaching this young group of treasure hoarders, I think to myself, “Huh? What’s the big deal?”
Here’s a quick sampling of some of their “wisdom” –
- Millennials don’t want you to waste their time
- They grew up “connected” and want to be reached digitally
- Don’t make it hard for them to read your message . . . or to respond
- Engage them mentally
- Be found where they are; don’t expect them to come to you
And my favorite – Be sure you add value to the conversation; don’t “sell” them
Wow. Be still my heart. Who’d have thought it? Prospects want to be spoken to intelligently, in easy-to-understand ways, and via easy-to-access media.
Who really thinks Millennials are the first, or only, generation that wants this? Aren’t successful Sales & Marketing teams using this approach to make money across the board, to all markets, and to all ages of customers today?
The “black box” to marketing successfully to Millennials is NOT the marketing and sales process.
It’s the task of learning to understand them and the way they think. How do they prioritize their lives? What resonates with them? What motivates them? What media channels do they populate and for what purposes? These insights and more are what we must pursue.
Yet, isn’t that the same set of questions we ask ourselves of any group we market to? That’s our Holy Grail for everything – understanding our target audience thoroughly, so we know how best to reach them and what messages we should use.
This situation reminds me of the movie, “Kung Fu Panda.” In it, the Dragon Warrior is the only person who has the right to view the mystical, magical, secrets-of-the-universe-bearing Dragon Warrior Scroll, When Po actually achieves his Dragon Warrior status and gets to open the scroll, he’s dumbfounded. There’s no message, no drawing, no key to infinity. Just a reflective backing that shows him an image of himself.
Later, it’s Po’s father who inadvertently provides the key to understanding the scroll. Po’s father, seeing how depressed Po is, finally shares with him the family secret to his special noodles – that actually, there is no secret sauce. He does nothing special! He just tells you he’s done something special. What you perceive is shaped by what you believe. Po puts two and two together and realizes that the scroll is telling him it’s his belief in himself that is the key to the strength of the Dragon Warrior.
What’s this got to do with “Marketing to Millennials?”
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! If you’ve been successfully marketing and selling to prospects of varying generations so far in your career, and you understand the principles of user-centric thinking, you’ll be able to market to this young generation as well. You have the tools in hand to do the research and learn what you need to in order to build a marketing outreach that rocks the Millennial universe! You can do this. It’s NOT magic!
Every generation believes it’s “the one that no one understands.” Yet somehow, we figure it out and the business world soldiers on.
Marketers and Salespeople – Believe in Yourselves! You CAN reach this generation, just like you’ve figured out how to reach every other generation.
Now, go forth, learn, attract, involve, close, and thrive!