The Millennial generation is a huge, but tough to crack, market

If MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube and text messaging aren't what you typically think about when you think about ways to reach younger consumers -- those 20-something young adults who are coming of age and their even younger siblings -- you have work to do: Dubbed the Millennial generation, the next cluster of consumers is a market that is tough to reach and tough to sell.

For example, Millennials "do read, but they don't read newspapers in print," says Rich Gordon, director of new media programs at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, whose students have done research for this newspaper and others. "They'll read online. They're less likely to watch network TV" but more likely to turn to video-on-demand and DVDs, he says.

Adding to the how-to-sell-them conundrum, "Millennials are pretty savvy," says Brian Vander Schee, an assistant professor of marketing at Aurora University. "They've grown up with marketing messages" and therefore have become adept at filtering them out.

Clearly, the coming generation poses some challenges for businesses and marketers. Just as clearly, Millennials are too important to be ignored:

• Though there is some disagreement about the birth years that define Millennials, there are a lot of them: 79 million seems to be an accepted number, counting from age 28 to nine. That means there are more Millennials than baby boomers, 76 million of whom were born in the 1946-64 baby boom years.

• Like the baby boomers, Millennials do things differently. Coming back home after college where "helicopter" parents continue to hover over and protect them is pretty standard, for example.

The move back home is "common," Vander Schee says. "They're saddled with student loans and have no clear career direction. And their parents are OK with the move home."

Say you're a restaurant-bar owner seeking the younger crowd, an optometrist selling trendy sunglasses, a clothing retailer pushing hot fashions or some other small business looking for a younger market. How do you reach Millennials?

Vander Schee suggests going to the source. "Take on a student intern (and) get marketing input from someone in that generation," he says. "You can learn from someone who is part of that market -- and they can do a lot of marketing for you. Interns can reach into the media they (and their peers) are comfortable with."

Jackie Camacho-Ruiz has additional ideas.

"My generation uses technology to acquire information. We're constantly online, constantly getting text messages," says Camacho-Ruiz, owner of JJR Marketing Consultants, Aurora. (Disclosure: JJR Marketing occasionally asks my marketing firm to partner on client projects.)

In her context, a marketing approach that includes a MySpace page (which Camacho-Ruiz has created for clients), e-mail campaigns or a LinkedIn page where "business executives can get a page and post events" can work (though you should be aware of hints that Millennials may be turning away social networks where advertising has become intrusive).

Other Camacho-Ruiz ideas are a tad more traditional: E-mail campaigns, singles nights and radio station remotes.

© 2008, 121 Marketing Resources Inc.