How to reach Millennials

Reading time: Less than 1 minute

This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post on how to reach Millennials with your writing…

I was born in August 1957 which puts me in the middle of the pack for the baby-boom generation (1946 to 1964). Many of my readers are baby-boomers and many of my clients are as well. The people who buy my books, courses and one-on-one coaching tend to share my life experiences and worldview as well. That’s the way business and marketing works.

But I know my services are useful to more than that specific group of baby-boomers, no matter how familiar they might be. What about Millennials (born 1982 to 2004) for example?

Millennials are an especially interesting group. I know because I have three children who fit the category and, every day, I learn more about their preferences, their life choices and what they think is important. The difference between our two generations, in many ways, seems greater than the difference between me and my own parents (and that chasm seemed particularly acute, well, at least it did 40 years ago.)

As a result, I read a post on how to reach Millennials by Neil Patel with special interest. You might want to read it, too. The headline is: “How to Implement a Marketing Strategy That Speaks to Your Millennial Audience.”

In summary, Patel says that Millennials are:

  • entrepreneurial
  • more interested in renting than owning a home
  • well-educated (more than a third have at least an undergrad degree)
  • charitable and socially responsible
  • distrusting of traditional marketing

To reach this generation, he suggests:

  • making sure your website is mobile (they love their phones)
  • using social media (they spend lots of time on it)
  • understand their great interest in travelling

Here’s how Patel concludes his analysis:

“You need to change your marketing strategy to target this group. They are educated entrepreneurs who pay rent and want to live a flexible lifestyle. Millennials don’t want to work standard nine to five jobs. Be charitable and socially responsible to increase your chances of getting support from Millennial consumers. Rather than using traditional advertising methods, try to create social proof instead. Establish a strong mobile presence, and leverage social media platforms to your advantage as a primary distribution channel.”

If you want to learn how to  reach Millennials, give some thought to Patel’s shrewd advice.

An earlier version of this post first appeared on my blog on June 4/18.

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