Generation Y’s population is 77 million strong. They were born between 1977 and 1997. They have a $200 billion annual income, and according to Donna Fenn, they are the entrepreneurial generation.
This high-tech, high-energy, fast-moving generation has different ideas about money, music, fashion, education, food and just about any other area you can think of. As such, they require special marketing and branding. It’s not the same ole same ole with Gen Y.
New Rules of Marketing
In her new book, Upstarts How Gen Y Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit From Their Success (McGraw-Hill, 2010), author Donna Fenn wrote, “They’re tough to please, but their entrepreneurial peers are doing exactly that in virtually every sector of the economy. They know that Gen Y has some needs that are fundamentally different from those of previous generations.”
Fenn offers six tips to marketing to Gen Y including:
- Learn where and how to reach out Gen Y. Getting to know them and then talking in a way that makes a difference is vital. This group is highly social in nature and word-of-mouth trumps just about any other form of marketing.
- Scrutinize existing product lines to find points or characteristics that may bother or irk Gen Y.
- Think customization versus mass production. This generation is extremely individualized and responds negatively to mass-produced products.
- Sell products and services online. Must do, end of discussion.
- Draw in customers using product testing and market research versus the same old if we build it they will buy it assumptions.
- Offer content that is interesting and entertaining and not the standard hard sell.
Brand Marketing
Fenn tells readers, “Upstarts have created some of the most important and innovative brands in recent times: Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Yelp, Threadless, and Etsy, to name just a few.”
She goes on to say that these brands have more in common than just being online and is more about sharing of information and creating communities.
She reiterates that branding in no longer in a company’s control. People will gather around and support a product or service that they feel an infinity for.
Fenn offers the following branding tips:
- Use customers to spread brand awareness.
- Brand the culture of the company by listening and responding to the voices of the employees – support their causes and they will support the culture.
- Use creativity when expanding the brand – forget the same ole same ole branding techniques.
- Brand your mission by making a positive impact on community.
About the Author
Fenn has over 20 years working with small business trends, is a community leader, and blogs.
Through her research on Gen Y, which relied heavily on social networking on the net, she found eight types of Gen Y entrepreneurs:
- Extreme Collaborators
- Technology Mavens
- Game Changers
- Market Insiders
- Brand Builders
- Social Capitalists
- Workplace Renegades
- Morph Masters
Her new book provides valuable and usable insights about a generation that is positioned to take charge of the world and make changes never experienced from previous generations.
If a company wants to target market Gen Y, it has to match its style of marketing to that of what impacts the generation. Fenn’s research and her resulting book can go a long way in finding just the right methods.
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