The millennial generation is coming into its own. With around 10,000 baby boomers reaching retirement age daily, that puts even more millennials into leadership positions in organizations of all kinds and sizes.
The millennial generation officially began in 1981, and their oldest members are nearing 40 years of age. It stands to reason that more millennials are entering middle and upper management in their respective organizations. Translation? They are integral to the buyer’s journey at all levels and phases.
What also stands to reason is that more B2B tech marketers should address their audience in a way that aligns with how millennials consume content, their demographic make-up, and buying behavior.
Facts about millennials
Millennials are a more racially and ethnically diverse group compared to baby boomers, have a higher level of formal education, and are more open to change. On the whole, they are seen as more upbeat, less religious, and less inclined to marry than older generations.
Millennials are the first gaming generation, with popular game consoles from Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox found in nearly every American home. Millennials embraced the internet in their childhood but many just missed out on the mobile – social boom, although texting was becoming widespread as were mobile music devices like the iPod. In short, they were on the tip of the digital revolution and are savvy users of technology, but did not grow up in the era of instant gratification brought on by social media apps, streaming video services like Netflix, and same-day shopping services like Amazon Prime.
It also turns out that millennials are far less passionate about professional sports, especially football and baseball, compared to older generations. Soccer, on the other hand, especially the English Premier League, is popular among millennials, as is the NBA.
The workplace attitudes of millennials differ greatly from previous generations with millennials placing more value on things like work-life balance, volunteerism, and employer feedback. They also believe in corporate social responsibility, preferring familial values ahead of corporate values. Millennials were far more likely to consider a career in public service or jobs in alignment with their passions, even if it meant taking a cut in pay.
B2B tech marketing must evolve
With all of these differences between millennials and older generations like baby boomers and Gen X’ers, and realizing that millennials will soon make up a dominant tranche of senior leadership in the workforce, it’s time that B2B tech marketing began to reflect the values, predilections, and habits of this influential generation.
What this means for a specific B2B tech brand can only be answered with a thorough introspective look at its marketing content, channels and activities, buyer personas, brand values, and communication style.
Does your marketing collateral appeal to millennials or does it follow the tried-and-true format and style that has been in use for decades? Are you appealing to the aspirational nature of millennials, using terminology they relate to, engaging channels they plug into? Should you rely more upon video to communicate your marketing messages than written content given that millennials grew up with more TVs in their home and game consoles in playrooms than previous generations?
These are all questions every B2B tech brand should be thinking about with a greater sense of urgency. Baby boomers are retiring in droves and older Gen-X’ers are fast on their heels.
The time is ripe for CMOs in B2B tech companies to direct their marketing staff to revamp their B2B tech marketing strategy and remake it in the image of millennials.