Millennials aren’t killing business, they’re innovating it

Millennials don’t care about your brand; they care about what it represents

From Retail to Travel, the off-online path-to-purchase amongst this group is synonymous with relevancy, efficiency, consciousness and value for money. And whilst the youngest Millennials may be having a night cap to the end of their university careers, many others – such as Britain’s youngest MP Mhairi Black (22), leader of the Austrian People’s Party Sebastian Kurz (31), the world’s youngest female leader and Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern (37) and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (33) – are progressively validating the strength of their power and influence in all aspects of our daily lives.

Marketers who succeed will proactively assess the impact Millennials may have on their market from a macro-economical perspective and also as social influencers which could effect bottom line campaign results. Case and point, the infamous #GrabYourWallet and #DeleteUber Millennial driven owned and earned social campaigns. The key takaway – Reevaluate your current strategy, see where you can discover new opportunities, and plan ahead.

Learn to cope with a ‘mobile-only’, rather than a ‘mobile-first’ mentality

Mobile-first, est. 2014 – 2017. In the United Kingdom 77% of young consumers would opt to leave their wallet at home instead of their mobile, while 70% can imagine a future where 100% of purchases are done digitally (LivePerson, 2017). To sparsely survive, smart marketers’ will reactively galvanize and adjust their digital strategies. However, this alone will not guarantee long-term success as the shift to a mobile-only world will be swift and implacable. More than ever, this will leave advertisers fumbling to tackle accurate measurement of campaign outcomes using a multi-touch mobile attribution model. Although most social clicks happen on mobile and conversions on desktop, Millennials, and indeed most consumers, are known to consume media across multiple devices at any given time. This is another largely untapped source of insights, one that can make the difference between smart budget allocations and wasted marketing spend.

Take a ‘future is now’ approach to marketing

According to investment bank UBS, Millennials are prone to start businesses eight years earlier than their parents and target gross profit margins more than 30 percentage points higher. Understanding young consumers’ ever-evolving attitudes, habits, interests and preferences will likely forever be essential feats to inform future marketing strategy and tactical campaigns which encompass the proclivity to deeply engage them as consumers.

Brands will need to offer products and services in such a way that mirrors how young consumers live their lives – connected, socially aware and adaptable – while implementing a cross-channel-device marketing strategy.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that, increasingly, young consumers hold an incredible amount of power and influence. From the time they eat breakfast, flock through the trenches of the underground while navigating in and out of a multitude of social apps, to the time they drift off to sleep with their mobile phones securely tucked underneath their pillows at night, young people are pioneering digital transformation, adoption and dictating what all consumer generations should expect from brands.

Irisini Davis, Marketing Director EMEA, Marin Software

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