Why Attempting to Target “Millennials” Doesn’t Work
Go to google and type in “marketing to” without hitting return. What is the first suggestion to pop up? It is almost certainly “marketing to millennials”, and running the search populates plenty of articles (and an entire website) promising to help you capture this coveted demographic. As a millennial and a marketer, I always find it amusing when I read articles that claim to know what it is that makes me want to buy from somebody. Though, as our generation enters into careers and can finally start being heard regarding what we want, the traditional attitudes in marketing and the workplace are beginning to change. This article on Entrepreneur is a good example of this.
In this article, I’m going to take things a step further and make a suggestion I am sure veteran marketers will balk at: get rid of the “millennial” demographic, just drop it from your reporting and strategies entirely. Quit worrying about getting “18 – 32-year-olds” and instead focus on getting in touch with “people”. This article will explain why trying to hit this broad category just does not work the way it used to, and help you make a better buyer persona going forward.
We’re Too Independent
Sit down and try to imagine who a Millennial is, what that person does. There are some things that are fairly common: generally more accepting of things like gay marriage, and we are more adept with computers, but that is not enough to understand how to market to a person. You need a sense of how they communicate, how a person spends their free time, and what their day to day life is like.
Let’s take video games for example: most of us do, in fact, enjoy playing video games. In fact, according to an article by Forbes, roughly 57% of Millennials play video games at least three times a week. However… that still leaves 43% of this generation out of the equation. Furthermore, as gamers such as myself will tell you, discovering that people play video games three times a week is like discovering that people TV three times a week. It tells you the exposure is there but tells you nothing about the consumer itself. Video games, after all, constitutes a variety of genres such as puzzle games, fighting games, role-playing, first person shooters, action games, adventure games, and more! As such, that statistic is worthless in your marketing efforts (unless you are trying to justify video game product placement or advertising of some kind).
That is just one example of how independent Millennials are. I can speak for myself and say what it would take to sell to me, but what works for me does not work for many of my coworkers (a workforce composed almost exclusively of Millennials). You might be able to figure out where to find us, but don’t waste time pretending you will know ALL of us – we are all unique and have our own ways of looking at the world.
We Know Your Tricks
There is a reason content marketing and other forms of online advertising that do not look like the advertising of old have started to take off. This is because we grew up watching TV and browsing the net, and we know what ads look like. We are familiar with popular brands, we are familiar with their messages and how they phrase things. Most Millennials might not know what a “call-to-action” is, but you describe it once, and they will be able to point it out in every commercial they have ever seen. We know what marketers are doing, and we have grown weary of these tricks. This is what makes content marketing important – because it does not look like advertising and, when done right, looks like something interesting that people might actually want to read.
Many of us automatically shut down when we see something that looks like a sales pitch. Granted, when shopping we expect the sales pitch at some point, but many of us demand authenticity from that pitch. If we feel like we just walked onto a used car lot, we are not going to trust you. Once that trust is lost, there is little you can do to win it back. If it seems like you are just trying to reach out to our generation with the same old tactics, only somehow “updated” to look more “hip”, at best we’ll share the ad as an example of what not to do.
We Hate Being Controlled
This is something that employers are starting to learn about Millennials in the workforce: that we like to feel like we are in control. Contracts, restrictions, obligations and anything that makes us feel like you want to dictate our actions is the surest way to alienate a Millennial. The note about independence above is not just regarding our lack of uniformity, but also an aversion to being dictated to. When advertising behaves as compulsion rather than suggestion, it stops working. In fact, it may have the opposite effect and turn us off from that brand.
What to do About It
OK, so you know what not to do, you know that trying to target Millennials directly is a bad idea. So what can you do about it? What is a better way to go about this? My suggestion is that you first drop the “age” section from your buyer personas if you are still using that. Many techniques that work on Millennials will work on other demographics as well and can be adapted to traditional mediums. Here are a few ideas in that regard.
Think Personalities, not Demographics
Remember that they are called “buyer PERSONAS,” not “buyer statistics.” Instead of saying you are targeting, for example, Hispanic males aged 18 – 34, focus on personalities and professions. Income is a good measure since your product does carry a price, and $100 represents something different for different income brackets. However, what you really want are personalities, you need your persona to get into the head of your consumer and learn how your target audience makes decisions.
Here is an example of how you might break down your target audience using this approach:
“Our market is highly rational and logical. They are not interested in emotional appeals and want to know what we offer, how it solves their problem, and what makes their problem worth the money we are demanding to solve it. They are not looking for a big cause to push them into a sale, but if they hear we spend our money towards nefarious ends they are unlikely to buy. They will evaluate the value of the product based on how many hours of work the price tag represents to them, how many hours a day they spend dealing with a given aggravation, and how easy it is to ignore the problem.”
The above paints a clear picture of what you need to do to capture that person’s attention and get them to buy. Based on the above, you probably can get away with a simple breakdown of features and basic reputation management. Now consider this next possible market:
“Our market is prone to flights of fancy, greatly concerned with their health. Suggestible, tends to believe the first thing they read. They want their every dollar to help some big cause, and make purchasing decisions based on charities a company donates to. Very price sensitive, looking for a bargain even if they do not offer all the features they desire.”
These two summaries are very different, and obviously for very different products targeting very different customers. However, is there anything about these summaries that suggest a race, age group, or profession? The fact is, a marketing campaign that concerns itself with age or race is missing a critical part of what makes us human: our personality.
Be Genuine
When you are producing your advertising materials, be genuine and honest. If your ad copy makes you sound like a salesman, you will lose the trust of your target audience, and they go to somebody else. Remember that before they buy your product, your customers only have your word that their problems will be solved by what you provide.
Another way to sound more genuine is to inject a little humor, perhaps some of it self-depreciating. There is a fine line between sounding humble and sounding incompetent. Only dip into a self-depreciating style if you are confident you can pull it off without looking like you do not know what you are doing. The best guideline I can offer, in general, is to write the first draft in the same way you speak. You can worry about making it read well in the editing phase, and if you do your editing right you will find the balance between sounding stuffy and sounding too casual.
Offer Freedom
Above all else, make it clear that the consumer is in control of their decisions, not you. Even the illusion of freedom can go a long way towards people preferring you over another brand. If somebody wishes to unsubscribe from your newsletters: make it easy for them to do so. Make your guest checkouts (if applicable) as easy and intuitive as checkouts for a registered guest. If you offer a service, do not make that service confining or restrictive, offer people something that they can easily integrate into their everyday life.
Above all else, avoid compulsion. If you try to compel people to buy, you may get a few sales, but as soon as they realize they do not NEED what you are offering, they will go to a competitor who offers greater freedom. Your terms of service should not be a straitjacket, and should instead allow the consumer to do what they want – even if you do not particularly like that course of action. Now, you can encourage action by demonstrating the benefits of doing what you want, but always leave the final decision up to your customer.
When you get right down to it, the trick to marketing these days is to have a product that solves a problem your customers are having, and does it better than the competition, then showing your product in action. This fundamental principle of business survives while all others come and go, and that is something that should stand true in your marketing efforts. Don’t worry about targeting age groups, instead target people. Focus your marketing efforts on those ideal customers to start, and then worry about the rest when you can afford to implement targeted, personal approaches.
