Breaking through the noise to the Millennial generation

Ask any marketing professional what they think of the Millennial generation, and chances are, you will get a different answer each time. These individuals, with an age range of 18 to 33, account for 68 million individuals and offer a widely different range of tastes, interests and buying habits across all business spheres, and finding a means of cracking the code has been the marketer’s white whale for the past decade. Here at Adaptive Imagination, we think that businesses should key in on these key factors.

Stacking up against other groups
In light of the economic downturn and a tough job market, Millennials stack up in varying ways when placed against other groups like Generation X (birthdates ranging from early 1960s to early 1980s), the Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and Seniors (those over the age of 65). In terms of overall income and targeting strategies, there are three key pieces of information to keep in mind:

–  6 million Millennials live qualify as affluent (households that gross more than $250,000 per year) or have a net worth of $1 million or more.

– In terms of total personal income dollars, Millennials are in third place among the age groups in total personal income dollars, bringing home about 18 percent of the total income.

–  Millennials also rank third among the age groups in estimated net worth (accounting for 21 percent of total worth).

What can marketers make of these numbers? First and foremost, the truly affluent group makes up a much smaller piece of the pie when targeting Millennials, which leaves a much larger group of middle class workers and those still trying to find a way in a crowded job market. That wealth disparity, coupled with the fact that most have lived through a major financial recession, should be a reminder to marketers that this generation has had to work exceedingly hard for opportunities and to a large extent, only a small share of the cream has risen to the top.

Marketing messages
With the monetary influences in mind, it’s vital that marketers find a means of tailoring their message to the lessons of the past several decades by remembering the environment this generation grew up in, as well as the technologies that emerged from it. According to a 2010 Intrepid Study of Millennials, 48 percent said that word-of-mouth influences their product purchases than TV ads, and only 17 percent were prompted to buy a products based on one of these advertisements.

It’s important to remember that in so many ways, social media has actually replaced word-of-mouth and is a primary form of communication. Millennials don’t like to be reminded that they’re being marketed to. Despite how much dispensable income each group may have, the message and how it’s delivered is far more important to the Millennial generation than a slick catchphrase or tagline. Time will tell how this generation will shake out, but in the age of social media and an economy that is reinventing itself, Millennials will evolve right along with it.