Millennial marketers should throw out their lists
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from LoyaltyTruth.com, a blog published by Hanifin Loyalty.
How to solve the "Millennial mystery" for marketers is still hotly debated in business circles. All too frequently, pundits write articles centered on Top 10, seven or five lists of recommendations.
Sifting through the stack of material in my office, I had a revelation that the key to reaching a nirvana-like state in your own Millennial marketing efforts can be boiled down to just a simple Top three list:
- Stop making Top 10 lists to define your Millennial marketing strategy.
- Accept there is no recipe or formula that can reliably predict marketing success with Millennials.
- Understand that lists, recipes, and formulas that attempt to box in our precious Millennial targets are simply evidence to the people whose brand love we seek that we persist in our old school thinking.
As well covered in a recent Forbes.com article, the "kids" have grown up. If we defined Millennials as 19 to 29 in 2005, they're 28 to 38 now and seeking the same things their older siblings, aunts and uncles, even parents, have asked of their favorite brands over the years.
Solid value, product quality, good (better) customer service are what Millennials seek and their expressed desire for transparency and clarity from brands is something that every consumer wants. It might just be the Millennial legacy to consumer marketing that they were the first generation to summon the courage to clearly demand straight talk from brands.
No doubt that the information transparency enabled by the proliferation of the internet, mobile devices and WiFi connectivity has given Millennials the tools to learn more, share more and also to have their voices heard by brands in a more powerful way.
The question remains, what do we do with all that we have learned?
Looking into today's consumer markets, I see Sephora and Lancôme each centering their customer loyalty efforts on mobile and digitally driven strategies. I see Panera Bread "surprise and delight" its customers with a program that so far has avoided use of an explicitly rewarded currency. And I've seen companies as diverse as AMC theaters and Kickback Rewards/Phillips 66 making their loyalty programs work in real time with points being earned, redeemed and communication of new offers being made as part of the customer visit experience.
It is in this spirit that we are expanding the boundaries of contextual loyalty with each passing day. While there isn't a formula for whipping up a successful loyalty or engagement program with Millennials, there is a new sandbox in which to play. Remembering that our customers are human beings is a good place to start.