The millennial generation (roughly ages 18-34) will make up approximately half of the global workforce by 2020. In fact, millennials have surpassed Gen Xers as the largest generation in the U.S. labor force, according to Pew Research. Many of those millennials are now (or soon will be) influencing or making purchasing decisions. Don’t get bogged down in the chatter about millennial stereotypes – that could negatively affect your sales and marketing approach. However, there is a lot of solid research circulating that explains how millennials search for and prefer to receive information.
As millennials identify their top brand contenders, they can shift from researching products to researching vendors, therefore companies’ digital brand presence becomes key, according to a survey by Sacunas Inc., a B2B marketing firm. The firm surveyed 1,444 U.S. millennials who were either self-employed or working for employers either full-time or part-time.
“Millennials turn to social media, such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn, to investigate others’ experiences with companies of interest. Creating a unified customer experience is key to winning millennials’ business and loyalty,” the report states.
Sacunas advises companies selling to millennials should develop consistent product marketing content that reaches them on mobile devices as well as websites across multiple marketing channels. The survey found that 82 percent of respondents said mobile devices were important when researching new products and services.
The survey also found that millennials said video was an important content format when researching a new business product or service. Are you putting your value message on YouTube or another video format?
A study from IBM Commerce found much of the same results. IBM stated millennials want “data, speed and trusted advisors who are eager to collaborate.”
While millennials do place great stock in what their colleagues think, they also want to interact directly with vendors’ representatives—far more so than Gen X or Baby Boomers, according to the IBM survey.
IBM also found that 69 percent of millennials will post a positive comment on social media if they’re happy clients.
The takeaways for selling to millennials are be authentic and be responsive. If you’re not sure about their communication preferences, just ask!
Read about millennials and how they are changing B2B marketing starting on page 6.