Attracting consumer-happy Millennials today, tomorrow and into their 80s!

The future of old. If you’re 30 now, what can you expect at 80?

The baseline assumptions of future old people won’t be those of people who grew up in the 1940s, or even the 1960s. They’ll be shaped by people who came of age texting their friends, allowing their phones to track their whereabouts, and expecting to be generating — and receiving — information all the time … restoring elderly people’s social status by sharply reducing the number of things they can’t do and by giving them back some of their influence in the market. (source unknown)

People age, but their generational characteristics, formed by the historical events that happened during their youth, stay the same throughout their entire lifespan.

For example, this generation has been bombarded with marketing messages all their lives, so they know hype when they see and hear it. 84% of millennials do not trust advertising. (The McCarthy Group) Depending on your products and services, millennials want to trust the companies they deal with. When trust is broken, shopping stops.

The key to gaining trust with millennials is providing:

  • consistent product quality (like Apple)
  • Fair transaction practices (like QVC’s no-questions-asked return policy)
  • Fulfillment of marketing promises (like Pret A Manger’s quality food promise)
  • A place to voice meaningful opinions (like Amazon’s customer ratings)

If you want millennial business today and forever, you must know their values, attitudes, and lifestyle.

(From Marketing to the Millennial Woman)