One of the largest components of planning a successful public relations campaign involves determining who you’re trying to reach and how you’re going to reach them. One demographic that has been driving marketers up the wall is millennials – kids and young adults aged 9-to-29. As a millennial, I’m sick of hearing about millennials.
There have been numerous books penned by non-millennials that throw around stereotypes about how millennials act, their purchasing habits and how they receive communication (Fast Company has a great article, “A Millennial’s Guide to Millennial Guides,” that chronicles a millennial reading some of these books). Apparently, the consensus is that millennials:
Hi, I'm every millennial. I'm not afraid to subtly fight the man by pairing a nice suit with a pair of Chucks. In case you're wondering, I'm a Mac and not a PC.
- Need to be told they’re special and everyone gets a trophy
- Are wildly uninhibited thanks to the assumed anonymity of the internet
- Are incredibly self-centered with no respect for authority
- Attempt to delay adulthood by taking longer in college and living with their parents
- Are profoundly shaped by new technology
I think most of these sweeping generalizations are a load of you-know-what, although I will agree that most millennials are technologically savvy. However, this fact seems to be tripping marketers up left and right.
Marketers are targeting millennials through technical channels with vigor, but not many companies are getting it right. It’s great that marketers have caught on that a lot of millennials are on social networks and get text messages, but it’s important to go one step farther and figure out how your target audience actually wants to receive your messages. Personally, I feel a sense of outrage at text ads. I have to pay for that text, and if I don’t want to see an advertisement, it’s pretty safe to assume I don’t want to pay for it.
For example: Victoria’s Secret PINK is one of the brands that has successfully leveraged an online channel to reach their target audience. PINK has a very successful, very active Facebook page, and it’s not a coincidence that PINK’s target audience, college-age women, is one of Facebook’s largest user groups. (Keep in mind that when Facebook first started it was only for college students.) It just makes sense that PINK gets a lot of views on Facebook.
If you're using the same tactics to reach both of these gentlemen, you might need to rethink your strategy.
PINK is not using Facebook to market to millennials. They’ve got a much more targeted audience: females, 18-25. I feel certain that their marketing team has drilled the group down even farther based on factors like disposable income, hobbies, etc. Can you think of a product that every person aged 9 to 29 would want to buy? Not just the majority or a few of them, but all of them? I don’t think that such a product exists (unless something crazy happens where we live in a world where you have to buy oxygen), which is why instead of trying to market to millennials, it is my personal belief that you should market to a much more specific group.
If you think that it is possible to have one campaign suitable for the entire group of millennials, I’d love to hear your opinion. As a millennial, I’m going to continue thinking that I’m right (and special) until you prove me wrong.
Thank you!
As a fellow Millennial, I have to agree that a lot of the stereotypes I’ve read about in these so-called guides are completely misplaced. Instead of looking at all the supposed negatives of our generation, let’s look at the positives. We can multitask better than our parents and grandparents, we are more empathetic (which may be the mark of youth rather than a generational trait), and we’re used to getting things done quickly and as efficiently as possible.
Let’s take the points you brought up about how people view us versus how I think they ought to view us. Millennials:
* Need to be told they’re special and everyone gets a trophy//recognize that everybody has a talent and something to contribute, and that nobody should feel less-than what they’re worth
* Are wildly uninhibited thanks to the assumed anonymity of the internet//are more forthright and direct in their communication and delivery
* Are incredibly self-centered with no respect for authority//challenge norms and push boundaries, often with a positive end result
* Attempt to delay adulthood by taking longer in college and living with their parents//are more educated and economical
* Are profoundly shaped by new technology//and know how to use it better than you do
While I’ll disagree with some of these (I think that we respect authority where needed, but aren’t afraid to challenge it, for example), I think the older folks tend to look at my generation with some negative, pessimistic outlook instead of embracing what makes us so special.
And if you don’t like what we’ve become, tough luck. You’ve got nobody to blame but yourselves.
Skylar, those are some great ways to view the positive aspects of some “negative” traits. I think that in some cases, authors targeting millennials feel the need to justify their work styles by deeming other generations troublesome.
I look forward to seeing the future workplace when the millennials being to reach C-level positions. I bet it’ll be fun.
Great article! Well-made point about reaching your ACTUAL target market and not just the label of the generation. I personally connect with the whole ads-via-texting thing, which infuriates me as well!