By Ella Flores
Ahh, millennials, the most misunderstood and mislabeled generation. Millennials are often mistaken as Generation Z who were born in the late 1990s and are now in their teens. Millennials, on the other hand, are already adults, and the youngest among them will be 22 years old in the year 2018. This means to say that they are part of the business buyers, and they are big contributors to the shape and behavior of the market.
That being said, watching the behavior of millennials and understanding this market group is vital information for the future of your business. Exploring the millennial mindset, studying their buying decisions, and investigating how print ads play a role in their behavior — even in this digitally disrupted world — is key to higher profitability for your business.
Millennials are even termed as the “most informed generation” ever, being exposed to so much information growing up on the Internet and being able to read more than any other generation. Although most millennials are labeled as entitled, whiny, spoiled, or too sensitive, they are in fact the generation that is the most educated. This environment has made them agile and adaptable to drastic technological changes that other generations find hard.
Exposure to the Internet has also made the millennials very critical to everything they see online. The booming digital world that this generation grows up in doesn’t seem to impress them that much, and they don’t see the Internet as an “authority” they can trust all the time. Contrary to what most people believe, millennials prefer to read printed materials and they think of paper or any physical document as evidence-tangible and trustworthy.
Print Is Trust
Getting the attention of millennials might seem like a challenge because they are used to an omnichannel world; however, with the right mix of data from research and science, print has the capability of winning in the marketing world.
Compared to digital records, print is considered by millennials as a more official way of making an announcement. Millennials also became wary of data theft that happens often remotely, which makes it extra difficult to track, thereby creating a culture of digital impunity. That is exactly the reason why millennials prefer to keep printed documents over digital data. It is safer and secure to hold printed materials as the thief would need physical access before they can get it, which is something typical thieves are not willing to go for.
Choosing the Right Printed Tactic
To drive profitability through print, businesses should first ensure that they are giving their customers the convenience to choose the channel they are most comfortable with when making transactions, any time, anywhere, and any way they wish it to be. That means, providing accessible media that can be accessed online and offline.
Second, businesses should carefully study the preferences of their market, and offer the right services or product that are applicable and useful for them. Millennials are likely to know what they want, so having enough data and a considerable amount of research will help you craft your print ad strategy.
Although the majority believes that direct mail offers do not produce a significant impact, it is actually a more efficient tool than email offers. Email promotions are sometimes ditched to the trash the moment they arrive in someone’s inbox without even being looked at. Sending your customers promotional emails sometimes just doesn’t work on its own. Reinforcing your ads using printed promotions such as direct mail will give a considerable boost to all your advertising efforts.
Print Has a WOW Factor
Going beyond digital and sending direct mail or printed documents to your customers will be appreciated and is sure to stand out. As studies suggest, customers will no longer be looking at price or brand name as a major decision-making factor; the greater chunk of buyer’s buying decisions influencer would be the quality of customer service.
Going to print nowadays is considered going the extra mile. Print is costly and requires more time and effort compared to digital data, so sending printed kits and well laid out printed documents are sure to be a WOW factor for customer service.
Takeaway
Millennials are known to be people who read reviews and listen to other people’s opinions about their own experiences with your brand. And that would greatly shape their opinion about your company. No, don’t mistake this for the fake reviews you need to have on your website or on product/services review platforms.
Word-of-mouth marketing comes from people they might know or people that are closely associated to them, so streamline your target market per geographic location, and choose a specific location where you can send out direct mail and see if it works. If it is successful, then you can do it on a bigger scale later on.
Photo credit: Bundled brochures from Tom Nance/Shutterstock
