How to Successfully Navigate the Millennial Marketing Maze
The way businesses and brands are marketing to the most prolific generation of our time…is like trying to use the post office to mail water in a plain paper envelope.
Millennial’s invented Social Media… which has transformed the world. They drive mobile commerce…, which is the future of communications and marketing. They are the entrepreneurs of the future who are here today. They are a unique and powerful generation of 80 million strong with over 1 trillion dollars in immediate spending. Their impact is exponentially growing at a rate unequaled to any generation of our time.
Born between 1980 and 2000…
Inheriting a different world with some of the most challenging issues that ever hit any generation. Millennials have gown up in a time with rapid change giving them a set of priorities sharply different from previous generations and most of those generation would feel totally overwhelmed. Not the millennials. This is the most technically savvy, multi-tasking, smart, intelligent, and most amazingly fluid generation of our time!
They grew up with 9-11, 60 trillion dollars of gov’t debt, student loans that would crush the average superman, and a future by most peoples standards would look bleak and dark.
These group is 92 million strong and growing…meaning they are moving into economic, political and commerce circles faster than ever before. These are young people that naturally work from any coffee cafe, hotel, park or apartment in the world and not only will get the job done in plenty of time, but will exceed your expectations most of the time. Do not try to pen these magnificent young people to work from 8-5 in a “toaster cube”. Not going to happen. Nor should it.
This generation is Independent… powerful… curious… fun… impatient… caring… unique… remarkable… generous… innovative…loves to travel… and are so effective with collaboration using mobile and social media in ways that makes the baby-boomer networking groups seem like child’s play.
They see the world with an open mind — accepting diversity in gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation in an entirely different way than any previous generation of existence. This generation exercises freedom that even our founding fathers would be proud. Mess with a millennial and I assure you another million people will hear about before you get up in the morning for your cup of coffee.
Their generation is gifted with a passion for accomplishment and an inner social conscience. They have an enormous passion for helping others. 80% of this generation donated over $ 100 each whereas the national average from others was a mere 34%. Is this the same generation where we read those sound bites of entitled, lazy, non-motivated, self absorbed, etc. from news feeds across the nation. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As I said earlier, this generation invented Social Media…think of the global implication of Facebook! Think smart! Think Amazing! Think Innovative!
February, 2015, Harvard Business Review said this… “And for more than two centuries, every time we’ve feared that our country has expended its capacity to reach new heights, we turn to each other for inspiration and realize that collectively our capabilities are immeasurable. It’s the promise of human ingenuity…”
This is the promise of the Millennial Generation.
More to come…Robert Curtis Smith June 20, 2015.
