Millennials do have a few personality traits on which the majority of marketers agree. The following sections outline the assumptions that marketers most often make when it comes to Millennial consumers. Some of these are correct, and some are misguided, as we discuss later in the chapter. A better understanding of them will help you develop content and advertising strategies that appeal to the true nature of Millennials.
Tech savvy
Millennials have been born into the digital age. They have grown up not knowing a world without extensive connectivity. Smartphones are standard equipment, and nearly the entire Millennial population of the United States has access to the web.
Millennials have been instrumental in the expansion of such services as social networking and helped simplify web and application development tools. If marketers can assign one characteristic to Millennials and be right, it’s that Millennials are the most technologically advanced demographic in the world.
Mobile
In addition to being the most populous generation in the United States, Millennials are also the most mobile. The number of connected mobile devices associated with Millennials almost exactly matches the size of the generation.
The way Millennials use mobile devices (see Chapter 10) and their dependence on them tells a much more important story. Millennials don’t separate from their mobile devices. In fact, most Millennials admit to never allowing their smartphone to leave their side.
Self-absorbed
You may or may not have heard of Millennials referred to as the Selfie Generation. High definition, front-facing mobile phone cameras and mobile applications such as Snapchat (www.snapchat.com) have normalized the self-portraits known as selfies. Marketers associate this behavior with self-absorption.
In 2013, Time published an article by Joel Stein called “The Me Me Me Generation.”. Stein wrote that while Millennials may be self-assured, determined, and, in some cases, even selfish, there is much more to them than that.
Lazy
Marketers have watched the rise of the on-demand economy (see Chapter 14) and assumed that its success has come from the inherent laziness of the Millennial generation. The rationalization for that assumption is that Millennials would rather use a mobile application to order what they need than go out and run errands.
Antisocial
Millennials love using social media and sharing their thoughts with the world from behind a screen. Traditional marketers see Millennials walking down the street with their heads buried in a phone and assume that they’re antisocial.
Educated
Marketers know better than to try to dupe Millennials with dated, cunning advertising tactics. That is because they recognize that Millennials are smarter than that.
Entitled
Millennials are viewed as a group that demands a lot from previous generations without offering much in return. This perception is rooted largely in the availability of content, resources, information, and necessities available free online. Since the launch of social networking sites and share-based resources (see Chapter 12), marketers assume that Millennials feel they deserve a lot because they have gotten so much free online.
Informed
When it comes to making buying decisions, Millennials have access to a plethora of information that previous generations did not have. The buying process used to rely largely on the word of the brand via traditional advertising channels. Now Millennials talk to one another and receive honest reviews about a product, service, or brand before making a purchasing decision. Trust in brands, executives, and even government has significantly decreased in recent years, which has coincided with a rise in the trust consumers put in experts and peers. This increased reliance on others means that marketers need to recognize the importance of relationships and the brand experience.
Lacking in loyalty
At one time, the name of a brand would guarantee a certain amount of loyalty. Now, marketers see Millennials chasing something that can be difficult to pinpoint. Whatever it is, marketers assume that brand loyalty has gone out the window. They believe that Millennials prioritize budgets over brands.
Price sensitive
Marketers believe that the lack of loyalty Millennials display is due to price sensitivity. There is irony in the fact that Millennials seem to insist on getting what they want, when they want it, but are apparently willing to wait to make any purchase until a price is found that meets a certain criteria.
Private
With hacks, data breaches, and the fear of Big Brother monitoring their every move, Millennials want to keep their information private. Even with their high degree of oversharing on social media, marketers assume that Millennials don’t want to share with brands for fear of exploitation.
Some of the assumptions marketers make about Millennials are accurate, with the data and research to back them up:
❯❯ Educated and informed consumers: The majority of Millennial consumers review blogs and review sites before making a purchase. According to data from Bazaarvoice, an online retail shopper network (http://blog.bazaarvoice.com/2012/01/24/infographic-millennials-will-change-the-way-you-sell), 84 percent of Millennials say that user-generated content has an influence on what they buy. The brand experience is extremely important to Millennials. They believe that they can find good information in the unbiased accounts of other consumers. Tailoring the experience to the Millennial audience segment is crucial. This connected consumer base has more power than even the most rich and powerful brands.
❯❯ Price sensitive, but will spend: Millennials became consumers during the greatest economic downfall that the United States experienced in nearly a century. Combine that with a high amount of student debt, and you have a generation of consumers that thinks before it buys.
❯❯ Highly tech-savvy and living mobile-first: Millennials live online and, more importantly, on their mobile devices. They are constantly connecting and communicating. Any brand that doesn’t take this particular trait into account and recognize that mobile is the new norm won’t survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
When you make assumptions about an entire demographic, you risk getting some things wrong. (Chapter 3 covers analyzing audience segments.) Here are some of the false assumptions marketers make:
❯❯ Millennials are not loyal. Millennials are, in fact, very loyal. The difference with Millennial loyalty is that it relies much more on the relationship rather than brand recognition. Identifying the traits of audience segments, developing content that caters specifically to those traits, and building lasting relationships are what drive Millennials to be loyal.
❯❯