The Millennials? No, it’s not a science fiction TV show or a new, bestselling novel. It’s my age group, those born from the early 1980’s until the early 2000’s. If you’re just now hearing about them, it’s time to start doing some research because their purchasing power is estimated to be around $200 billion in 2017, and around $10 trillion in their lifetimes. Also, the consensus amongst researchers is that tried-and-true marketing strategies for previous generations (i.e. Gen X’ers, Baby Boomers, et al.) will not work with Millennials. They are notably different in their purchasing habits and methods than previous generations.

Trust, for instance, is a huge factor for Millennials in their purchasing decisions. In fact, if Millennials want to make a purchase, Erin Mulligan Nelson of AdAge writes that “they actually trust strangers with relevant information and experiences the most when it comes to making purchase decisions. Some 84% of millennials said social opinions influence their purchase decisions, and 51% said they trust ‘strangers’ more than friends, according to a report by Bazaarvoice and Kelton Research.” While they are actively engaged in social networks, they don’t consult those arenas for help in making those decisions. Nelson points out that “…millennials seek out blogs, sites, and applications where experienced travelers share tips about the best hostels, deals on train tickets, and hidden restaurants.” You can see how reviews might become an important part of destination sites that seek to market to the Millennials.

For B&B’s, boutique inns, and dude ranches, getting to know who the Millennials are and how they think is important. With their vast purchasing power, it’s important to begin considering how you might tailor your marketing efforts to reach them. To make sense of my research about the Millennials and help you learn a bit more about who they are, I created the infographic below. Infographics are useful because they take lots of information and package it into digestible parts. So instead of a reading through a lot of narratives and charts, you get to see the main points drawn out, which can help you retain them and recall them. Younger generations like infographics for those reasons, because they don’t want to spend a lot of time reading, and yet, they want to be educated, as well. Infographics are ideal tools for quickly getting the gist of information you want.

 

View this infographic as a pdf or feel free to save it so you can read it later.

Keep these characteristics of Millennials in mind, and join us for our next post as we begin to explore some methods for how to market to the Millennials.