Move Over Baby Boomers!

Monday, November 7 2022

Karen Tippett – Make way! At 27%, Millennials are now the largest segment of Canada’s population. Millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, grew up in a vastly different place than older Baby Boomers.

Wireless technology has replaced traditional TV and radio. Smartphones are a thousand times faster than mid-1980’s computers. Hand-held devices give access to information, social media, text, voice, and email messaging. If it’s on television, you can see it on a phone.

Move Over Baby Boomers

If you want to shift your focus to sell to Millennials, start by understanding them. In addition to being tech savvy, Millennials:

  • Are well-educated.
  • Expect quick, efficient messaging.
  • Check information they receive.
  • Want work-life balance.
  • Value financial stability over wealth.
  • Want flexible workplaces that rate achievement over facetime.
  • Are socially responsible.
  • Shop on-line and their #1 choice is Amazon1.

Baby-Boomers were known for:

  • Anti-war, civil rights demonstrations/riots.
  • Rock n’ Roll.
  • The Women’s Movement.
  • The Sexual Revolution.
  • Credit cards, buy now, pay later lifestyle.
  • Dramatically different clothing and hair styles.
  • Recreational drug use.
  • Common-law living arrangements.

Wow! The differences are mind-blowing! (Baby Boomers coined that phrase).

Marketing to a New Generation

Every generation rebels. Baby Boomers were expressive, sometimes dramatic while Millennials lead change in a “quieter” fashion but are just as effective. If Millennials are in your target market, they must relate to your messaging. Consider the following:

On-line Presence:

  • Your website must be clear, concise, and correct.
  • Reflect the Millennial belief system, highlighting your commitment to employees and organizational social values.

Make it easy to connect:

  • Keep online messaging simple.
  • Phone inquiries need a brief list of choice options.
  • Respond quickly to enquiries – ideally in minutes, not hours.

Collaborate:

  • Work with your Millennial prospect toward a Win/Win outcome.
  • If they don’t become a customer, try to help them anyway.

Be Truly Transparent:

  • Don’t rely on succeeding by manipulating information or circumstances with dishonest excuses about delivery delays, omission about essential details on products and services – it was always a bad practice, but it’s intolerable among Millennials.
  • Don’t waste their time and don’t underestimate them.

Trust is essential to all relationships and may require more effort to sustain with Millennials. If there are doubts, your competitors are just a click away… move over baby boomers, the new majority has things figured out just fine, thanks.

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1Millennial Online Shopping Habits – eCommerce Trends by Age (junglescout.com)