Target Your Marketing to the New Generation
Amy Walsh, Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust
Millennium Generation, Echo Boomers, and Generation Y (Gen Y) are just a few names that potential clients born in the early 1980s to the mid 1990s are identified by. Why is this group so important? The answer is easy. Gen Y has been recognized as the largest consumer group in the U.S. according to Harris Interactive. Gen Y has an annual income totaling $211 billion and saves up to $39 billion. With those thoughts, we as marketers and bankers drastically have to re-evaluate how we go about securing Gen Y business.
Gen Y clients are looking for the “it’s not your parents” type of bank. When trying to attract the Gen Y demographic your typical means of marketing will probably have to be altered. With that thought, the following are a few facts that are important and may help you become more Gen Y savvy.
• Multi-tasking. Gen Y does not just read a book they also are text messaging, listening to music and perhaps searching the internet all at once. This generation is not one to concentrate on just one task at a time. Gen Y believes in multi-tasking.
• Electronics. To be able to multi-task Gen Y relies on all things electronic. Whether it is their mobile phone, ipod, wireless notebooks and computers, Gen Y is always connected. Their phones are even multi-tasking. Their phones are cameras, mp3 players, an internet connection and a computer.
• Instant gratification. Because Gen Y is completely electronic they expect instant gratification. When applying for credit cards or even a loan, they do not want to wait a week for approval. They want their answer now.
• Independent and highly influential. Gen Y is also not as likely to look to their parents for advice in financing. They are more likely to do their research rather take what is said at face value. Because of this research, parents are actually looking to their Gen Y child for advice. Why? Gen Y understands electronics, they are not intimidated by them, and with this resource they gather much more information than their parents ever could.
When forming a marketing plan keep these four character traits in mind. Gen Y is a tremendous demographic that will be changing many aspects of our industry. Websites, using pod casts, mass e-mails and instant messaging are just the beginning of what we will begin to use in the future to reach Gen Y.
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