By 2020, Pew Research Center® estimates that millennials will overtake baby boomers as the largest living generation. Also known as Generation Y, millennials are defined as individuals born between 1981 and 1996.
This segment of the population has an extraordinary amount of buying power dispersed across a wide array of potential product offerings. On the younger end of the spectrum, some millennials are still students who potentially receive financial assistance from their parents. On the older side, millennials are already starting to take care of their aging parents while raising children of their own. Accordingly, a breadth of industries stand to gain from successfully targeting and attracting millennials.
Navigating a new playing field
Currying favor with millennials and building loyalty among them requires very different marketing tactics than those employed for baby boomers. As digital natives, millennials are a very tech-savvy demographic. The overwhelming majority own mobile devices, maintain multiple social media accounts and shop online.
Unlike baby boomers and other preceding generations, millennials also tend to be less receptive to traditional advertising. In place of interruptive marketing such as TV commercials and banner ads, the millennial generation associates more with value-add campaigns such as content marketing and experiential marketing.
Millennials also look for very different value propositions than other generations. They crave a seamless, end-to-end customer experience, preferably with brands that share their views on social issues. For example, millennial consumers are especially drawn to companies that espouse sustainable practices.
True to form, the Leading Bank for Business*, Comerica Bank, has researched and documented some of the core strategies - from social media management, to influencer marketing outreach to email marketing - that B2C and B2B businesses will need to adopt as they attempt to attract millennial customers.
The sooner your brand acts, the better.
*Comerica ranks first nationally among U.S. bank holding companies with greater than $70B in assets, based on commercial and industrial loans outstanding as a percentage of assets, as of December 31, 2024. Data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
This information is provided for general awareness purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as legal or compliance advice.
This article is provided for informational purposes only. While the information contained within has been compiled from source[s] which are believed to be reliable and accurate, Comerica Bank does not guarantee its accuracy. Consequently, it should not be considered a comprehensive statement on any matter nor be relied upon as such.
