Happy New Week to you all! I hope everyone had a blast Halloween weekend and now we can all start working off the 500 little pieces of candy we’ve ingested as we kept telling ourselves “it’s fine they’re little, so what’s the big deal?” We all do it and at this point I’m happy not seeing another fun size Snicker’s bar until this time next year.
With the beginning of a new month I thought it would be cool to do a four part blog series centered around Millennials. We hear the term a lot these days and as our current customers get older it’s important to start thinking about the next generation so we, as agency owners, can start planting the seeds for tomorrow. This blog series is going to discuss who the millennials are, how to speak to them(branding wise), where to find them, and lastly how to use social media as not only a marketing tool but also as a retention tool.
So rolling right into this let’s start to understand this new and strange audience. Millennials is the term put to the generation of folks who were born between the years 1977 and 2000. I was born in 83 putting me close to the beginning of this generation. Currently, we make up about 25% of the US population which means there are a lot of us! Especially considering we’re contending with baby boomers, generation X and generation Y. It’s also because of our sheer size and scope that millennials actually make up 21% of consumer discretionary purchases. What this means is that we are actually influencing how things are bought and sold for the generations that are older than us.
Think about that for a minute. Typically, we assume that it’s the older generations who really influence things but in this case it’s the opposite. It’s a big reason why you see more agencies adopting mobile applications, using social media, and creating great efficiencies to sell and service this demographic. If you don’t believe me, let me use Facebook as an example. Currently, Facebook’s largest demographic of new users is women between the ages of 45-65. When I asked my mom, who falls into this category, why she joined after decrying it for so many years. This is before she said that it was the best way to keep in touch with her kids and friends. Even my mom, who is techo-stubborn, finally gave up and now communicates with me through my preferred method of communication.
The next nugget of truth I want you to consider and walk away with is that currently 53% of millennial households already have children. The reason I bring this up is because as I spend time speaking with agents they tend to want to discount or outright not acknowledge millennials as viable buyers in insurance because they are too young and it’s not worth their time. If half of my generation has children it’s because we are growing up. With children comes jobs, home purchases, second and in some cases third vehicles, start up businesses, life insurance, etc…
It may not happen all at once but if we don’t treat this demographic seriously and if we don’t plant the seeds of tomorrow the plants of today will grow old and eventually pass.
I hope this sheds some light on my little generation and I hope you tune in next week to learn more. If you are serious about marketing to millennials feel free to give us a call and we can help you figure out to sell us more effectively!
