The Millennial Generation Comes of Age

Posted by Paul Christ March 05, 2010

Labels: Customer Behavior, Marketing Strategy, Targeting Markets, Trends

Marketing to the Millennials (New York Times)

Many regular visitors to KnowThis.com will be highly interested in this story since you are the subject of the story. The focus here is the so-called Millennial generation, defined as those who are mostly in their 20s and came of age at the beginning of the 21st century. In marketing terms coming of age means that this group is now important purchasers and represent a huge and attractive market.

Like other named generations (e.g., Generation X, Baby Boomers, etc.), Millennials exhibit behavioral characteristics that tend to be unique to their group and, consequently, this behavior is of interest to marketers. For instance, they exhibit an “always available” behavior that is associated with being the first generation to grow up with regular cellphone access. These different behaviors lead to the demand for products and services that differ from those sought by other generational groups.

This story looks at the key values of this generation and offers suggestions for how companies can effectively target Millennials. The discussion on the use of social media by this group is particularly enlightening.

One of the most evident changes is social networking, which is embraced by 75 percent of the Millennials, compared with 50 percent of the Generation X members (ages 30 to 45) and just 30 percent of Baby Boomers (aged 46 to 64).

How does the purchasing power of Millennials compare to that of Generation X and Baby Boomers?

Image by nimble photography