The New Generation of Marketers

In defence of the millennial professional

In light of an outrageous millennial-bashing job advert by Tea House Theatre that was so shockingly hostile towards potential young employees that it made the headlines, I felt obliged to stand up and say something. This is why I put together all the reasons why I think millennials make the perfect marketers and some advice (coming from a millennial) for employers on how to attract and nourish millennial talent (hint, Tea House Theatre: not by being obnoxiously disrespectful and hostile).

Here we go, reasons why millennials are the perfect marketers.

We are digital natives

Do you reckon that one day the term ‘digital marketing’ will become irrelevant as this will be the only kind of marketing? Even if that never happens, I am sure everyone working in marketing today is well aware that a deep understanding of digital is an absolute must.

Let me tell you something, us millennials don’t know the world pre-digital, digital is all we know. We were raised with it, we matured with it and we know our way around it.

We can keep up

In the fast-moving world that marketing lives in today, it is no wonder that the industry keeps banging on about buzzwords such as next generation marketers and agile marketing and that marketers from near and far are preoccupied with finding ways to quickly adapt to change and evolve.

Well, who is a better agile learner than someone who is expected to change x number of jobs and geographic locations and, in many cases, cultures throughout their lifetimes? Who is better equipped to cope with rapid change and face a whole new world of opportunities than a whole generation of people who reject the stability of al possible institutions and societal norms (understand marriage, gender identity, home ownership, etc.)?

Complain about millennials as you may but the truth is that we were made for the times we live in and we are the way forward.

We don’t tolerate waste of time

There has been a lot of talk about millennials being entitled and arrogant when entering the job market. In fact, there has been so much bad talk about millennials at the workplace that respectable marketing publication Campaign got fed up and set up Next Generation Power 100 to honour young high achievers in marketing. While I believe there might be some ground for those accusations, let me tell you how I see things.

We know time is against us. We know we are not very likely to reach important life milestones at the pace at which our parents did and we don’t necessarily like this. At least not all of it. I might be OK with having my first baby at the age of 35 but I definitely wouldn’t want to still live with housemates by that time. I might be OK with not owning a home but I would like to know that I will have enough savings to be able to retire.

Times are different now and most of us millennials understand that society doesn’t owe us a home by the time we hit 30 and a holiday villa by the time we are 40 but we still want to make the most of the precious time we were given on this planet. That is why we want things to happen fast, that is why we won’t settle. When you think about it this is not a bad morale to have.

We are inbound marketing natives

I would argue that all millennials are inbound marketing natives. Inbound marketing has been around for long enough, before smart marketing software company HubSpost claimed it and shaped it into what it is today. I believe that with the change in communication technology, came a change in information access and with that a change in what we expect from marketing and advertising. Millennials were born into this change.

Millennials can’t imagine wasting time on either receiving or creating the sort of disrupting and, at times, downright annoying marketing that simply doesn’t work anymore. As a millennial, I don’t tolerate any brand who spams my inbox or voicemail or creates self-centered, self-promoting messaging. This means that I understand the way people access information and their expectations of brands have changed and that I am prepared to explore new ways of marketing to meet their changing expectations.

This is great, but…

John McTigue of Kuno Creative says that young people don’t have the ability to speak well. Growing up with texting and messaging apps, young people prefer to text rather than phone their friends. How does that reflect on their ability to verbally communicate ideas to clients and colleagues? Now, that, I think, is a very valid point and should be a genuine concern for employers in the marketing industry which is all about efficient communication.

Employers should invest in harnessing this essential skill in young employees. As a millennial marketer clear verbal communication was something that I struggled with and something that I was lucky enough to be mentored in. Here are the things that helped me build my verbal communication skills and my suggestions to employers:

Let young team members take over internal meetings

Start nurturing your junior employees’ verbal communication skills by asking them to lead the weekly team catch up meeting. Give them enough notice to prepare for it and let them guide the team through the agenda. This will give them a good exercise in keeping a discussion organised, politely addressing concerns, acknowledging each team member’s priorities and being considerate towards their time and issues.

Encourage your millennials to speak to colleagues in person

With all sorts of office technology such as Slack, Teamwork and various messaging apps it is very easy to bring in-person communication to a minimum even with people you are sat next to. If you see your millennial marketers shunning talking to colleagues and sending emails and messages instead, ask them to walk up to their colleague’s desk next time. This will make them appreciate the benefits of verbal communication and how much faster and more efficient in can be compared to typing in messages.

Give them the stage

It is a lot more exciting to be given an opportunity to broadcast yourself or prove yourself publicly than it is to be asked to take over an internal meeting. If you see the potential in your millennial marketer, take a leap of faith and ask them to get involved in a project which requires some form of public speaking. They will be motivated by your trust in them and will work hard to impress you.

If you do video tutorials as part of your own marketing, get your inexperienced communicators involved in this. I found that the safe environment of a semi-scripted video was the best starting point for me to build my speaking skills. Once they have built up some confidence and have the ability to deliver a smooth presentation under pressure, you might want to move on to more demanding situations such as a live broadcast or webinar.

Give them encouragement when they make mistakes

Ok, so you have let your millennial employee take over an internal meeting or even a client meeting but their lack of confidence shows through and they become too nervous and make a mistake. This happens, but if you fail to address it, a millennial might feel disheartened and lead them to keep their mouth shut whenever possible which will, of course, be of very little benefit to them. Acknowledge their mistake after the meeting, show them that mistakes are understandable and offer them help or advice to make sure they don’t make the same mistake again.