How To Sell To Millennials
Want to know how to sell to Millennials? Easy, you don’t. Millennials typically equate traditional selling methods with spam and they mentally trash it as soon as it crosses them.
Millennials have grown up in an era where they are bombarded with advertisements and companies trying to pry every last dollar out of their pockets every waking second. Consequently, they have developed nearly impenetrable blinders to advertisements and have a keen sense of sniffing out bullshit. They are practiced at realizing the gimmicks and games companies try to run them over with. Thank the internet and the countless photoshopped images and reports of famous people dying. Come on now, we know that isn’t real.
The way to get into a millennial’s buying path is by having an amazing product or service that is discoverable. Also, Millennials make decisions based upon their own judgements as well as valuing their peer’s opinions. Word-of-mouth marketing has never been more powerful than with Millennials. They are a very independent generation that takes pride in discovering and making their own judgements and they aren’t afraid to express and share their opinions. They are a bit rebellious when you try to force thoughts or decisions upon them; thus, traditional marketing falls on a deaf ear with them.
Millennials like the thrill of discovery. They are a textbook example of being a class of individuals that prefer the sensation of buying, not being sold. They have the world at their fingertips with their smartphones and they know how to use it to instantly yield them the best results.
From Google to Facebook to Pinterest and more, they have created mediums where they can source answers to their questions, discover new finds and poll their inner circles for opinions, to sharing and promoting great services and products with a few simple clicks or taps. Millennials take pride in sharing their discoveries, having that sense of the “I’ve found it first” mentality. Great examples of products that embrace and thrive off this logic are Pinterest and Product Hunt. Their whole philosophy is around discovery.
Let us not overlook companies like Slack, Snapchat and others that go from zero to millions of users what feels like overnight without a formal marketing or advertising budget. People are always astonished how these tech startups can grow into multi-million users in the matter of a few short months without a marketing budget. It is because they understand how to sell to Millennials. One must provide them a product or service that is of value to them, one that they would be proud of sharing. This is the approach we are taking with Whiteboard.
The creme of the crop always rises to the top, regardless of the size of their marketing and advertising budgets. Millennials value word-of-mouth because they aren’t going to stake their reputation on products or services unless they are truly valuable and worth putting their name behind. If they do promote or support a product that is not worthy, they risk a part of their pride and credibility in their social circles as a trusted source of information. It is like an unspoken creed that they follow. Not all of them are all about sharing discoveries on a consistent basis, but for those that are, they want to be known as a credible source and have a sense of affirmation from their peers from their new findings.
So instead of trying to directly solicit and sell Millennials, provide them with value, something that they will consume, will enjoy and want to share with others. Provide them a medium of discovery. Create and distribute content that allows them to dig deeper. If they are intrigued by what value it is you are providing, they will take the time to learn more and discover what it is you are providing. If they decide that what you have is truly worth their dollar, they will become loyal customers and share it with others; it is what Millennials do.
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