Who are the Millennials, you may ask?
They are the people born between late 1981-1994/96. We are all somewhere between the age group of 25 to 40 years right now.
One could safely assume, millennial characteristics vary depending on region, socio, and economic conditions.
Irrespective of all these factors, all millennials can be characterized based on their fluent use of media, communications, and digital technology.
Change is a part of Evolution.
But we Millennials are the first generation that saw too many changes in too little time, we are evolving faster.
We have grown up in an era of rapid change. We are not just earnest and optimistic but also demanding and fickle. Our expectations and priorities are very different than the previous generations.
We have grown up in the digital era where we have had access to smartphones and the Internet since we got into our senses. We had super supportive Helicopter Parents or the otherwise baby boomers.
The baby boomers OR generation X was not just vigilant but also skeptical towards all the developments they saw.
We consume more information every day and if we are the target audience for a marketing campaign, it’s important to pitch it the right way.
At Page Potato, we understand the need for SMART eCommerce marketing solutions that will appeal to your target millennial customer.
5 things that truly differentiate millennials from the rest
Millennials are impatient by nature and make use of technology to streamline processes
Impatient might be too harsh a term, we are an eager lot who aim to make the best use of our time. We like being efficient in everything we put our hands on.
Because of our inbuilt nature to multitask, we do not appreciate processes that aren’t streamlined.
Like for example, we embrace workflow automation with open arms. Which was a faraway dream for the gen X is just a number of clicks away from us.
In fact, we can help you set up marketing automation campaigns that will help you send auto-responding emails, follow-up messages, etc.
Millennials have started using Tech as their employees
Today access to wearable activity trackers is just around the corner.
This, in turn, encourages Millennials to use Artificial Intelligence(AI) assistants for their work.
We use a lot of software and tools to make our work easier on a regular basis.
Business owners are also making good use of technology to get in-depth marketing insights. If you have a growing start-up, we have a blog giving you a list of lucrative tools that will help you rope in more customers.
Millennials make use of technology for the convenience of work anywhere, anytime
With the convenience of workflow automation and effective communication channels, a Millennial doesn’t need to or want to be on a desk from 9-5.
Good work environments and the ability to work remotely are things that attract Millennials to a company.
With the pandemic putting the world to a standstill, work from home has become the new norm. Managers have to come up with innovative strategies to keep the employees engaged and productive.
If you have a team of millennials or even gen-x working under you, then I am sure this blog on “how to sort out toxic workplace culture” will help you out.
We are struck by wanderlust
This is another characteristic of a millennial, we are well-traveled. This is major because of the ease of booking tickets and knowing about the location conveniently on the web.
We use the internet extensively to know about a place we want to visit at a certain time and in a certain budget.
And in the true millennial style, you can actually blog about your travel adventures and promote them on social media. We love to keep up with the Instagram game!
Gen X only used to visit places that were certified to be favorable by other friends and family who visited the place.
Millennials depend on the internet for all their Financial and Retail decisions
We grew up in the generation when advertisements were just booming.
This frequent and usually senseless bombardment of Ads has made us skeptical about them.
Today we have the ease of price comparison, reviews, and product description, just at our fingertips. We are more likely to take reviews from a friend who is a user rather than believing in your promotional campaigns.
Millennials are a conscious lot who make informed decisions. They are less likely to be cheated on or duped as compared to Gen X.
This is because we base our decisions on statistics on the web and not on word of mouth.
And Page Potato is the perfect example of this. All our marketing strategies are backed by Google Analytics reports.
Our experts conduct detailed keyword research using AHREF to find a list of keywords that attract high traffic but are not as competitive in the market.
This way, you have a better chance of ranking higher on Google. We also run paid Google Ads to help boost your business and generate measurable results!
How chapters of daily life have changed across generations?
Millennials grew up in an age of globalization, technological shifts, and economic disruption.
This plays a major role in shaping our behavior and thought processes.
We are a super ambitious lot and depend a lot on technology for our major life decisions.
Our behavior and thought process influence our approach in all aspects of our lives. It is most certainly very different from how Gen X approached things.
Millennials and Workplace
This is one great generation of employees that come up with their own set of practical rules. You could say we are the trendsetters for a new type of work culture.
We value work satisfaction more than monetary compensation.
Work-life balance is one of our major requirements, unlike our predecessors, we aren’t likely to continue with unpleasant work conditions and show our discomfort over social media.
Ours is a generation of transparent workers with better work ethics and defined professional goals.
At the same time, happy millennial employees are the best advocates for their organizations.
Millennials and Technology
As our generation grew up with easy access to computers and the internet, we are much better at it than our predecessors.
We are updated with new operating systems, visual languages, and interfaces.
We are great multitaskers. Millennials depend a lot on technology to keep themselves updated. They learn about their field of work and how to be better at what they are doing on the web.
In a way, their dependency on technology for everything in their lives is equally scary and intriguing.
Gone are the days when you learned how to fix the refrigerator by reading the manual, today it’s all there on the web.
Millennials and culture
Our generation doesn’t go by the rules if they are obsolete. They question everything that they are told. It is only logic and results that make sense to them.
This generation has seen and been part of some major cultural shifts the world has been. It is a generation of open-minded people.
They stand up against inequality, injustice and make their voices stand out. We are a very liberal and tolerant lot.
Millennials and health
Wellness as a concept to us means a lifestyle habit and not just “not being sick”. Human longevity has increased for Millennials as more and more of us are making healthier lifestyle choices.
Mental and physical well-being is another priority of Millennials, unlike Gen X.
How is the Marketing Landscape changing with the tastes of Millennials?
Millennials form a major consumer demographic for online marketers because of their awesome ability to consume web-based content.
Online marketers today have to be particular about their multi-platform marketing strategies to reach out to this audience.
Mobile phones are certainly the best channel to reach out to Millennials, while still considering their Multiple Platform usage.
As consumers, Millennials give high priority to Value for money, Relevancy, and Authenticity. They don’t get impressed by Loud Advertisements.
An average Millennial today is more socially and environmentally aware than Gen X.
More brands should try associating & spreading awareness about social taboos as a part of their marketing campaign.
Most Millennials like their things to be personalized, one-thing-fits-all policy fails to impress them.
Each generation is different from the one that succeeds them and precedes them. There are too many factors that go into shaping a generation, like the political, economic, and social changes.
It is the evolution of the last 2 generations that played a vital role in defining our generation.
My great-grandfather was a Priest who believed girls belonged in kitchens. My grandfather became a teacher and convinced his unwilling daughter to complete college. My engineer father encouraged his daughter to try out unconventional career options.
We Millennials certainly face our share of criticism on grounds of morality and aversion to technology. We have our share of praises too.
It occurred to me that the 20-30-year-olds of today will someday grow older and be the X generation in the Era that is to follow.
We are growing, making our own rules, and setting our own examples. The generation that will follow will be smarter, but they certainly will have a generation to seek guidance from.
Millennials will either change the world or will at the least play a major role in shaping the leaders for the change.