Lazy. Entitled. Egotistic. Narcissistic.
Those are some of the more positive words used to describe Millennials.
Say what you will about them, but one thing cannot be denied: Their purchasing power.
Estimates peg $1,000,000,000,000 were spent by this generation in 2015 alone. That’s 1 TRILLION dollars. $2.7 billion per day. $31,000 per second.
That’s a lot of money.
Add in the $30 BILLION they’re expected to inherit and the stakes become even more mind- boggling.
The importance of understanding this generation from a marketing standpoint can’t be underscored enough. So what do we know?
Diverging Similarities
This may come as a shock, but there isn’t a factory that manufactures Millennials. And if there is, that’s flat out spooky.
According to the Council of Economic Advisors, this is the largest, most diverse generation our country has ever seen. It’s time to start treating it as such.
IRI recently broke down the 18 to 34 demographic into six different faces, ranging from “New Traditionalists,” who maintain similar values to Baby Boomers, to “Confident Connectors,” who exhibit the stereotypes thrust upon the generation as a whole.
While it would be unwise to think of them as a homogenous, single-minded entity, this generation does have many similarities:
- They’re typically brand blind
- Half try to buy from companies that contribute to general societal well-being
- Most importantly, 99% think advertising is a thinly veiled lie
In Millenial speak, that last stat is totes cray-cray.
Now, how to overcome that?
A Mix of Old and New
66% of Americans own a smartphone. Millennials account for 41% of all smartphone usage. As such, app based content, such as short (e.g., 10- to 15-second videos) is a must. Native advertising is equally a given.
None of that’s shocking. It should be apparent.
What IS shocking? Consider the following:
- Email: It’s the preferred method of contact for Millennials — more than any other generation. Think about that the next time you formulate a marketing campaign.
- Traditional marketing: Up to 65% respond favorably to “traditional” marketing, such as loyalty programs, circulars and coupons — especially Groupons and the like.
- Privacy (for a price): Millennials are willing to give up a portion of their online privacy in exchange for more relevant advertising, coupons or other discounts.
It goes on and on. Understandably so.
There are 13.9 million results for “marketing to millennials.” Everyone wants to get a grasp on the psyche of the generation whose spending clout will literally change the economy as we know it sooner than later.
What else did we learn? We’d love to discuss our findings with you.
Contact us so we can devise a plan for you to get your share of that untapped purchasing power.
