Millennials, millennials, millennials. On and on marketing gurus rave about the importance of reaching them and continually offer advice on how to get the job done.
Insurers and independent agents know a lot about the age of millennials. And we know what they like.
But knowing those things don’t always translate to business.
Or so said marketing expert Michael Parrish DuDell at the recent Property Innovation Summit. And he starts with advising that you look to influence when it comes to millennials and not drive revenue.
In other words — DuDell who is a millennial — said mind share beats market share and eventually leads to market share. Size and business growth means very little to a millennial. What does is “how influential your brand is in the minds and in the hearts of your consumers because that is where that loyalty comes from.”
Realistically you have to think about revenue but don’t make it more important than being what he calls a “visible personality” in the millennial world. Put a different way, market share is where you are today. Mind share is where you want to be in the future and to be there you need to ask these questions:
• What is your story?
• How are you telling that story?
• How are you making your brand visible in society and not just in marketing campaigns?
“You have to really think about your business on the market share, the mind share piece and figure out what the right calibration is. For me, personally, in my business it’s 60/40,” DuDell said.
Next look at creating a seamless experience from online to offline. An Accenture study put it best and said, “68 percent of all millennials demand an integrated, seamless experience regardless of the channel. That means being able to transition effortlessly from smartphone to personal computer to physical store in their quest for the best products and services.”
In other words, they might shop for insurance on their mobile device and check out your website at lunch to get answers to a couple of questions, and then pop in the door of your office on the way home to seal the deal.
What’s important to millennials is a continuity between all the channels. They want to go from one to the other without having to start over.
Another piece of advice. Be yourself. Don’t try to market yourself as something you are not. You don’t have to be cool. You just have to be real. Millennials are very good at picking up on faking.
For older millennials 1990s nostalgia works. It — says DuDell — was a time of prosperity and optimism. So incorporate some of that into your marketing. Pick a gem from pop culture in that decade and build it into a marketing campaign that will resonate with the millennial.
“We look at our youth, and we are very sentimental about it, frankly,” DuDell said.
DuDell completed his millennial thoughts with this gem. Try to walk in their shoes. And know and understand the era in which they grew up. Technology was huge in their lives. They grew up with it and it grew with them. The economy was flourishing at an astronomical pace and they enjoyed it as did their parents.
“When you start to think about our need, our desire, our want for immediate interaction, immediate gratification, it comes down to this idea that we were raised on it. We were raised on the notion that we can have what we want when want it, especially as it relates to information,” he said.
Also it’s important to understand the financial condition of many millennials. Even those that are employed are struggling with money. Many are held down by student loan debt and are increasingly using credit cards that they struggle to pay off. So many need help from mom and dad or other relatives to make ends meet.
At least that’s the conclusion of a survey of 1,000 millennials by the Society of Grownups. It’s a financial literacy group. The study concludes — to no one’s surprise — that over half of those age 21 to 29 are getting financial support from a relative or relatives.
Don’t expect that to last.
Society CEO Nondini Naqui says 41% of the 21 to 29 age group say they plan on helping their parents later in life. Move the age to 21 to 45 and the number going to help parents in the future jumps to 51%.
“What's interesting about these millennials wanting to be able to provide assistance is that they are coming from a place where they have seen financial difficulty,” she said and added millennials aren’t alone in the financial squeeze. Generation X and the younger baby boomers are also struggling.
Here’s what else the survey found:
• 68% of millennials say they manage money better than their parents at the same age
• 72% say they’re better off financially than their parents at the same age
• 79% say they’re on track to meet their financial goals
• 71% think they’ll eventually receive Social Security benefits
Source links: Carrier Management, Employee Benefit News
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LIMRA — the Life Insurance and Market Research Association — checked in with Millennials and found less than half of them like being called a Millennial. Only 44% said the term fits. LIMRA’s Cecilia Shriner said the reason is likely because it’s a relatively new term. 
It’s going to happen. Pew Research said Millennials — those 18 to 34 — now outnumber Baby Boomers 75.4 million to 74.9 million. Within a decade, the Baby Boomer number will shrink even more. 
We keep hearing about the deep trouble insurance has as its workforce ages. By 2018 — a scant less than 18 months from now — close to 25% of the industry is going to retire. So hiring millennials — those who became adults around the year 2000 — is critical to filling jobs. 
Pew Research said in 2014 hard to figure out millennials — those aged 18 to 34 — are more likely to be living with their parents than in their own homes with a spouse or a life partner. Those figures were picked up from the U.S. Census Bureau and Pew says this is the first time it has happened in the “modern era.”
