For years companies have been focusing on selling to Millennials; now, the Millennials have taken over the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers as the largest consumer population in the United States. They were born in analog, grew up in digital and formed social networks.
Millennials are growing older, joining companies and starting their own businesses.
While B2C organizations have various marketing strategies to reach these potential buyers, B2B companies are tasked with figuring out how to market to the 40% of Millennials with direct influence over the purchasing decisions at a company.
On the B2B side, Millennials are driven by similar decision-making factors faced in the consumer world.
Unlike previous generations, Millennials will often start their research by asking peers for their thoughts. Just as Millennials seek advice on which restaurants to dine at, they also ask their social network for recommendations when researching CRM platforms, wholesalers, etc.
While social networking is one way to reach the Millennial gatekeeper, there are a myriad of other ways to find them.
How do you include the Millennial mindset in your marketing strategy? Here are a few tips:
- Stop calling. Actually, this is good for any generation. In a Business2Community study, across the board, cold-calling was one of the things all generations hate about sales. Instead, most respondents in the survey preferred to have access to information, and the more information you can provide, the better.
- Get social. Surprisingly, social media is considered important amongst all ages, especially baby boomers. Social media is relationship building and many decision-makers want access to companies via social networks.
- Generate content. Interactive and digital content as well as webinars rank high on the types of content your potential prospects are likely to use in the early stages of their purchasing decision.
- Tell a story. Millennials enjoy a good, short story. Right now, video content is not being utilized in B2B marketing as much as most experts think they should. Millennials like brevity, and a digestible narrative in the form of Snapchat stories, 140-character tweets (or, now 280 characters) or YourTube videos is the best way to share yours.
Finally, Millennials care about the authenticity of a company. With a generation interested in what a company stands for and who actively decides where to spend their money, community involvement and company values also play a major role in the purchasing decision they make for the businesses they work for.
It is important for the successful B2B companies, just like B2C companies, to adapt as the generational shift into the workplace continues. The key to getting in front of the buying committee begins with engaging the Millennial gatekeeper.
