Don’t get too hung up trying to think like a Millennial – Entrepreneur Academy

Marketers and business owners alike have fallen victim to what has been termed, quite effectively, as the ‘Millennial Bug’. This means being overly caught up in trying to put yourself in the headspace of the 18- 37 year-old modern day Millennial. If you have just taken up our mobile app business opportunity, you may already have found yourself trying to think like a Millennial as you undertake your first app design projects.

You aren’t alone and there is a reason why so many entrepreneurs fixate on the ‘Millennial Bug’. Millennials do represent a quarter of the UK and US population after all. This generation is proclaimed to be the agents of change. They reached adulthood in a time of rapid technological advancements and new-found media interaction. This generation has also witnessed innovation taking place right before their eyes and has been able to reap the benefits of these advancements. As such, the way Millennials interact with brands and behave as consumers have both changed considerably, challenging the status quo.

After all, this generation has been empowered with the ability to leverage advanced technology. It has also been given a greater voice as individuals and consumers via the rise of social media. At the same time, Millennials have endured what can only be described as a perpetual feeling of distrust - an awareness that as consumers they are data and numbers to larger organisations and brands.

As such, marketers and businesses as a whole have put a huge emphasis on dissecting and understanding what makes this new generation tick. This generation is the next high earners and will continue to shape the markets around them for some time. But has it all gone a little too far?

At the end of the day, for most businesses unless you are planning some kind of super advanced psychological marketing angle/strategy, do you really need to be fully immersed in the mind of the Millennial? Certain things will always be paramount when it comes to creating a strong trustworthy brand, app or indeed business:

·Sell quality products and services

·Deliver on your promises and set expectations clearly

·Treat your customers like people and not just numbers on an order form

These are all areas which every brand or business should be making sure they get right on a human level, regardless of who they are selling to.

The real difference with Millennials and audience communication is where they are. We all know by now that while email and search still yield results, social media has become a major platform for brand discovery and advocacy. So of course, you’ll need to adapt how you focus your resources when it comes to communicating but your message and your overall approach do not need to be an intricate Millennial mind web.

Build trust, be transparent, respond to your critics, speak to your customers as people and never underestimate the power of professional and friendly customer service. Millennials don’t have to be over complicated monsters.