Marketing to Millennials is the focus of many marketing professionals and businesses, nowadays. With rapid advancements in everything technology, U.S. Millennials are very engaged with digital technology and social media, understandably in much bigger numbers than generations before them.

Who are the Millennials?
Also known as Generation Y, they are young adults between ages 18 and 34. Most researchers generally use birth years from the early 1980s to 2000 referring to them.

The U.S. Millennials, with their $1.3 trillion in annual buying power have the attention of all marketers across the board. Add to that their diversity: nearly 43 percent of Millennials are non-white and, at home, some 25 percent speak another language in addition to English.

Millennials Are Changing the Face of Marketing Forever
How they are doing it?  Spending habits, brand preferences, values, personalities, and the general outlook they have on life. In addition, millennials engage with brands, extensively, at a personal and emotional level, unlike any generation before them. They expect a two-way, mutual relationship with brands and the companies behind each product and service. They need reciprocation.

Millennials influence the purchases current customers and future prospects make. Their power is magnified when they take on to social media to express themselves about recent experiences in retail, while trying other goods, or services that did not meet their standards.  

Expect that $1.3 trillion number to spike as millennials are now arriving at their peak buying power, and growing bigger.  

By 2030, millennials will likely outnumber baby boomers 78 million to 56 million. See the full report, by BCG Perspectives here.

Marketers must accept them as the indicators of big changes in future consumer behavior. Being avid users of portable devices connects this generation to brands wherever they go. 67 percent of millennials report that they use smartphones to access the Internet.  59% of millennials use social media to find information — compared to only 29% of the age 35+ crowd.

How to Market to Millennials

Beef up Your Mobile Marketing: 85 percent of U.S. millennials use their smart phones. Better make your landing pages mobile-friendly, simplify your offer, and get to the point.

Go Where They Are: research the social groups, and lifestyle (rather life stages) they associate with, and reach them there. See the personalities they follow on social media, and causes they care about. Millennials place importance on their social identities. They are not dictated that much by the stage in life they are in.  

Engage: To do this, you need to be relevant, genuine, and prepared. Bringing solutions, useful information and offer alternative options to what this massive group is looking for. Provide them with the type of knowledge and content they can use. When millennials see these needs met, they take the next amazing step voluntarily, and that is spreading your message to others online and elsewhere.  This type of sharing, a modern “word of mouth” is what business owners and brands dream of.

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In short, millennials respond to Easy-to-understand, clear, and accurate information (reliable content). They appreciate high-resolution photos and graphics. Think quality! Be prepared and willing to engage them and be engaged. This is a generation that likes to be a part of a two-way exchange, once they give feedbacks or comment on the things that caught their attention. If these activities apply to your products and services, then your transmission has started.