Greek Millennials Perspective on Marketing Effectiveness!

An exclusive research on Millennials (plus infographic).

What kind of marketing do Millennials really want?

People born roughly between 1981 and 1999 are commonly known as the Millennial generation, Generation Y or GenMe. As for Greece, the current population is 10,746.74 million and the Millennials consist nearly one fifth of the total population, namely 2.02 million. Amazing, don’t you think?

Millennials are also a significant part of the wide web audience in Greece. The daily internet usage rate in Greece in 2016, for the millennials group, was approximately 89–93 percent. A huge number!

Millennials are one of the most talked about generations in the marketing industry and they are a commonly targeted generation in marketing. How come? Simply, due to the vastness of the generation, its growing impact on the society and increasing buying power. But, are these 18-to-36 year-olds worth the effort? The answer is yes! Marketers and brands need to step up their game in order to keep up and engage with them because they make up 25 percent of the country’s population.

As a millennial myself, born in 1986, I know how we operate. But the opinion of one is simply an assumption rather than trustworthy data. After all we are living in the age of data. Thus, during my diploma thesis for my MBA studies, in order to better understand this extremely important consumer and the impact of the most widespread marketing tactics upon them, I went straight to the source and conducted an online survey targeted to the consumers!

The voice of Millennials, on a new comprehensive study solely for the Greek individuals!

In the infographic below, you will see only one part of my research that refers solely to the Millennials. After I collected the entire data, I just filtered out the Millennial segment within the survey responses (18 to 36-year-olds) and the findings I came across are somewhat amazing. You can also find the whole research in another article of mine by clicking here.

The findings of this exclusive research will give you an analytical approach on which marketing tactics grab Millennials’ attention, attract their business, and influence their buying decisions. Don’t forget that we are living in a period of time where the inbound vs outbound marketing battle is on the rise. Every possible, reliable and comprehensive data source that come up must be thought as gold in the hand of every marketer!

The complete inbound vs outbound marketing survey upon Greek millennial individuals is available to you and the findings you will be presented are very intriguing and useful for your marketing approach.


What kind of marketing do Millennials really want?

The research objective is simple, do Millennials require special attention and radical changes in the marketing response?

Questions on the horizon

What do millennial consumers really want?

Are the well-known marketing tactics and channels still an effective ingredient of the marketing mix? Better yet, is inbound marketing any better in the eyes of the consumer? Does outbound marketing have any force upon the consumer’s decision making?

But the most important of all is, what kind of marketing Millennials really want? What they are longing for in order for something to attract their attention and interest?

Methodology

In May 2017, I conducted an online survey of more than 500 Greek individuals. The only restrictions of this survey were consumers to be internet users and over 18 years old. The participants of this survey were asked 13 questions regarding their opinions on recent engagement with various marketing and advertising media and tactics that marketers are using nowadays, such as Traditional Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Content Marketing e.t.c.

Important notes before you continue:

  • This survey is based on a previous research conducted for the US individuals by Franctl & MOZ that had teamed up to examine various marketing tactics’ efficacy and efficiency in 2015.
  • Within the survey questions the clarification of “traditional advertising” term was defined as TV, radio, billboards, and print ads.
  • I provided participants with visual and verbal examples of terms they may not have been familiar with, such as display ads, ad retargeting, and sponsored story links.
  • Due to the fact that nearly three-quarters (374) of the sample were aged 18 to 36 (also known as the Millennials), I used that group survey responses for further analysis (the one you will see below in the infographic).
  • The majority of Millennials respondents were female (63,9%).

Overview

Here’s a glimpse into the findings:

  • Most likely to have a positive influence on buying decisions: Online search, Customer reviews, Social media, Traditional advertising and Online articles.
  • Most likely to have a negative influence on buying decisions: Mobile app ads, Press releases, Paid search and Email marketing.
  • Most effective to attract their business: Appearing in search results, Direct mail and Posting on social media.
  • Popular methods for self-education: Online search, Visiting a company’s website and Customer reviews
  • Most-noticed digital ads: Social media ads, Display ads and Mobile app ads
  • Best outbound channels for grabbing attention: Traditional advertising, Social media ads, Direct mail and Email marketing.

A few notes:

The consumers appear not to choose content as their first choice, although 74,06% said they had read an online article within the week of being surveyed, but I think there is a reason why that happens. Just think about what social media would be without content? Consumers don’t recognise marketing tactics such as Social Media Marketing, PPC, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing e.t.c. they simply choose the most intriguing channels, either online or offline, at their own unique perspective.

Millennials want to form their own opinions about a company, a product or a service rather than be served a cold marketing message.

Is Traditional Advertising tarnishing? I don’t think so!

The insights may give you a new perspective on approaches you may not have considered before or may have believed to have dubious efficacy. For example, you may be just as surprised as I was to see how effective consumers find traditional advertising and direct mail.

Furthermore, these findings may simply reinforce the efficacy of your current marketing mix or what you already know about consumer behaviour and give you another much broader perspective upon your marketing efforts!

An exclusive research on which marketing tactics grab Millennials attention, attract their business, and influence their buying decisions.

Enjoy!


Marketers need to adapt to millennials’ needs and wants. Learn what they respond to and what matters to them but keep in mind that Millennials want to form their own opinions about a company, a product or a service rather than be served a marketing message.

Now that you saw the analysis of the data, try asking yourself . . .

What kind of marketing do Millennials really want?

Thanks for reading! I hope that the findings of this survey has helped you see things from another perspective. If you liked this article do not forget to clap and follow me to keep in touch.

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Sosipatros Birntachas

Written by

Digital Marketer with a passion for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sbirntachas/

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