by Melissa Levine, BKVÂ Digital and Direct Response
We at 60 Second Marketer found our own Millennial, Melissa, working hard at her job at BKV Digital and Direct Response. She had this to say about marketing to Millennials.
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As a Millennial, I was not brought up to ask why. I was taught to ask why not. A product of what’s been termed ‘hot-house’ parenting, I grew up believing no feat was unattainable with enough hard work and persistence. No team I ever played on ‘lost’; 8th place was still somehow worthy of a victory trophy. I mention this because failing is something those of my generation do not take lightly. We have never grappled with failure because we have been sheltered by it from our parents, our teachers, our coaches, our mentors. Now, we are at the age where we are entering into the workforce (at least those of us who are not out teaching English in foreign countries, or prolonging our youth by continuing on to graduate school). The playing field is no longer level  (much less win-win), the criticism is no longer politely padded, and the harsh reality of failure is always omnipresent.
While this new arena may be more challenging, it is also now more rewarding. No longer working for a grade, we are working for a paycheck. Finally – a tangible reward that gives us the ability to spend money at an unprecedented rate. According to Youth Media Marketing Networks (Y2M, www.y2m.com), college graduates, who number more than two million each year, purchase $40 billion in goods and services annually. We are hungry to see the world, to constantly acquire new things, to have new experiences, but most importantly to marketers, to share all of the above with our peers; more than any generation in the past, we are marketing either for you or against you.
You may be thinking—why should I, a successful marketer, read this blog? Well, why not read on…
Whether you like us or not we are on our way to making an impact on your company – both in terms of what we are willing to buy from you as well as how successful you are at managing us as employees. Ernst & Young predicts that by 2010 Millennials will account for more than half of its client-serving employees (Alsop 2008). Because of this, large companies like Goldman Sachs go so far as to conduct training programs that use actors to portray Millennials who assertively seek more feedback, responsibility, and involvement in decision making (Alsop, 2008). Yet, these training programs are run by members of an older generation whose world view often does not coincide with ours.
So this blog serves as a free dialogue to help provide insight and solutions into our ‘Millennial mindset.’ We are commonly referred to as Generation Y, and have come to the forefront recently as the generation that many older managers find perplexing. Born after 1980, we are the first generation to have constant access to information from around the globe. We are the first to experience such horrific random acts of violence as Columbine, the Oklahoma bombing, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We are multi-taskers who are highly educated, technologically advanced, driven and ambitious. We complete our tasks in a timely fashion (Shepard, 2004), as long as they interest us. We grew up with a constant influx of images, and therefore we crave variety. We see ourselves as intelligent and thrive on challenge. We are a generation that breaks the mold.
We acknowledge we are different and are open to discussion. We were brought up to speak our mind, to push the limits, to ask why not. Here’s your chance to ask questions, gain insight, learn something about Generation Y from members of Generation Y. Hey, Y not?
A recent study done at the 
Did you ever have a lemonade stand as a kid? Think back to where it was set up; probably on your street where potential customers would see you. No doubt you had a sign stating that you had lemonade for sale, and the price. You knew your lemonade stand would probably not do well alongside a rapid transit rail. Seems obvious. But still many companies haven’t identified exactly who it is that they want to market towards. As a result, are wasting their marketing dollars. Picture yourself standing by the rail track holding up a cup of lemonade and looking hopeful as a speeding commuter train whizzes by.
As marketers, we know how to sell a product. But have you considered that your website is a product also? Apply some of the techniques that you know so well in marketing to “sell†your website to your customers. Make it customer focused rather than company focused, by trying these techniques:
Meetings lose impact when no decisions, commitments, or next steps are captured. Too often, meetings end and everyone simply goes back to business as usual without putting anything that was discussed in the meeting into action, or without even knowing what they personally should do. If you keep the format for capturing what went on in the meeting simple, you have a much greater likelihood of getting it done and getting it distributed quickly. There is no simpler way to record what went on than by writing on a flip chart the WHO, WHAT, and BY WHEN of the directives discussed in the meeting.
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