in the extraneous benefits of a purchase. For example, on top of the usefulness of a product or service, is there more to be gained from the brand or ownership in the long-run? This is one of the reasons why creating relationships with Millennials and establishing yourself as a trusted brand are so important to both acquiring new customers from this market and keeping them committed over the course of their consumption lifetime.
❯❯ Ownership is not a priority. Major, long-term financial commitments are not as important to Millennials as they were to previous generations. In a world where the share economy and on-demand services have exploded, ownership is less important than access. The sharing economy (see Chapter 12) plays a major role in the Millennial consumer cycle.
The sharing economy, which is covered in detail in Chapter 12, is the market for shared goods and services, giving participants in the economy access over ownership. Millennials have gone through the stages of consumer maturation during a recession era, which has led to significant financial conservatism. Companies or products that fall into the share economy, such as Uber or Airbnb, allow Millennials to access the goods and services they need, when they need them, without requiring them to pay the price of ownership.
❯❯ Millennials are willing to play the waiting game. Just because ownership is not as important to Millennials doesn’t mean that it isn’t on their radar screen. Millennials are more patient and willing to wait for the right time to buy. This, once again, is because of the accessibility granted by both the sharing economy and on-demand services. Almost everything is accessible at the touch of a virtual button, so the necessity to own isn’t quite what it used to be.
❯❯ Brand loyalty goes deep. Previously, when making a sale, recognition and a strong brand were all that mattered. Now, it’s the relationship between the Millennial and the brand. Also, referrals matter more than ever. Millennials care what their friends and family say. Customers trust referrals more than traditional advertising.
❯❯ Quality matters more than price. Millennials are a particularly price-sensitive bunch primarily because they became consumers during the Great Recession of 2008. Price sensitivity combined with a heavy education debt load means that they are cautious spenders. When they do decide to make a purchase, the focus is much less on price than it is on quality. Millennials want a product that lasts as well as a long-term relationship with the brand in question.
You need to be aware of certain characteristics to take advantage of Millennials’ communications habits:
❯❯ Millennials are over-sharers. Millennials share everything they do, want, or think, which is great for marketers. It provides a wealth of data and information that you can use to construct highly targeted, personalized marketing messages and campaigns.
❯❯ You learn more by studying Millennials than you do from asking them. Thanks to the over-sharing nature of Millennial consumers, you can find answers to any questions you have or didn’t know you had by analyzing your data. (For information on effectively analyzing your data, see Chapter 4.)
❯❯ They trust each other more than they trust you. Every year, worldwide public relations and consulting firm Edelman releases the Trust Barometer, indicating consumer trust levels in different groups. For the past several years (after the Great Recession), the highest level of trust is placed in peers, friends and family, and industry experts. That means that brand is not on top of the list of resources consumers look to when they need a trustworthy answer. This statement is particularly true of Millennials. They want to hear unbiased, honest opinions from people in their inner circles, likely on social media.
❯❯ The buying cycle is not linear. The buying cycle has an endless number of touchpoints. You have control over some of them while the audience creates others. The key is to note where your prospects connect with your brand so that you can plan to be there. (Chapter 9 covers a complete omni-channel marketing strategy.)
Touchpoints refer to the various interactions that a consumer has with a brand throughout the buying cycle. Touchpoints can vary by medium, creative design, and content type, such as images or video. In traditional media, such as television or print, far fewer touchpoints are in the buyer’s journey. When you consider new media, like social networks, mobile, and other digital platforms, the number of touchpoints can skyrocket over the course of the buyer journey.
❯❯ Mobile matters most. Mobile is where Millennials spend the majority of their time. They connect with each other and connect with brands. If you don’t have a mobile strategy, you’ll lose out on the tremendous potential it provides and likely face extinction in the near future. The generation that dictates how markets operate is telling you to think mobile first, and you need to listen. (I cover the details of creating an effective mobile strategy in Chapter 10.)
Leveraging Millennial Influence
The connectedness of the Millennial market may require you to create more complex, interwoven communications strategies than you’re used to. It also means that you have a new marketing tool at your disposal – the consumers themselves. Taking advantage of influencers and utilizing your brand advocates is a powerful strategy.
Influencers are consumers who have amassed large, loyal followings on various social platforms. High star power actors are one form of influencer, but for Millennials, those that hold the most power are consumers who have built organic followings by sharing great content. An example of a modern Millennial influencer would be a consumer who has built a YouTube following by sharing reviews of a particular line of products. The influencer gains trust above the brand because of the implicit honesty and integrity of these reviews.
Consumers aren’t as interested in traditional advertising messages as they once were. Of course, paid campaigns still serve a major role in the consumer buying cycle, but identifying influencers within your existing audience is more important.
The following sections offer a few helpful tactics for finding influencers.
Create a loyalty program
Loyalty can’t be bought, but it can be encouraged. Establishing a loyalty program is an excellent way to
❯❯ Encourage repeat business
❯❯ Increase customer lifetime value (CLV)
❯❯ Build a relationship with your Millennial audience
Because relationships are crucial to the survival of your brand, a loyalty program will help build those relationships. Hopefully, those relationships will lead to the cultivation of brand advocates. Those advocates can then help build your brand by introducing it to new circles of consumers.
Customer lifetime value is defined as the net profit generated by your brand based on the entire relationship of transactions with a customer.
Identify your brand advocates and brand defenders
The goal of any brand should be to turn prospects into customers and customers into brand defenders. A