Welcome the Millennials! | Your Old Methods of Marketing Suck!

It first started with the "Baby Boomers".  They were a generation of people born in the post world war II era, roughly between the years of 1946-1964.  They were a people group who grew older and began to completely dominate and influence a culture - from fashion decisions, to political views, to purchasing decisions, to marketing messaging.  However, recently, this Baby Boomer generation has begun to retire, pass away and, put quite simply, have decreased in population and influence.  Then, there was "Generation X", which didn't have much of an identity……. and quite frankly, I can't define them either so lets move on.  Enter: "Generation Y", or  more affectionately known as, "The Millennials." This generation, much like the Baby Boomers, has become the most dominant portion of our population and they are expanding.  And, like the Baby Boomers, they are changing the way we dress, the way we market, our political and cultural views and, most importantly, the way we communicate.  As it pertains to real estate, they have even become the largest group of home buyers.  So, in case you haven't gotten the memo, your old methods of marketing to them and communicating with them, most likely, SUCK!  It's the equivalent to being The Flintstones living amongst the Jetsons. And, newsflash, it's "not so easy, a caveman can do it."  So if you're not partaking in this huge paradigm shift, then you're on your way to losing… especially in the real estate market.  So let's define this people group, shall we?

The Pew Research Center released a report in March of 2014 which defines The Millennials as a generation that is disconnected from "the institution", has a strong sense of community and are extremely socially aware.  Most reports concur that they encompass individuals born between the years of 1981 and 2000 (ironically, I am considered a "Millennial"… I don't know, I found that interesting.)  They are also referred to as "Generation Me" because of the strong sense of entitlement and narcissim (But, that's so not me though.. just thought I'd clear that up.)

The NAR (National Association of Realtors) released a very intriguing report about the impact of The Millennials on the homeownership market and here's what they found:

•Largest share of home buyers at 31% and smallest share of home sellers at 12%

• 76% are first-time buyers
• Buying primarily for desire to own a home
• 19% live in urban areas—largest share amongst the generations
• Biggest neighborhood influencers: quality of neighborhood and convenience to job
• Commuting costs are very important to 37% of Gen Y buyers
• Plan to live in home 10 years
• 74% say biggest benefit from an agent is helping them understand the process
• 20% had a difficult time saving for a downpayment à among them 56% said student loan debt delayed saving
• 17% had to stall home sale because their home was worth less than their mortgage
• Most likely to think their home is a good financial investment: 87%  

So now, the next question is: if they represent the largest opportunity for the housing market, what are the best ways to reach and communicate with the Millennials?  Newsflash: Your Old Methods Won't Work Anymore!! Here are a few key avenues of communication that you will have to implement and master in order to stand out with The Millennials:

1. You must make your marketing and content dissemination "Mobile Device Friendly":  Just from 2012-2013, web content access via mobile devices went from 18% to 27% and it is growing rapidly!  And because we live in a rapid, "microwave" society, if your content can not be easily accessed and read on these devices, you will be quickly ostracized and blacklisted by this sect of people.


2. They are beginning to prefer Instant Messaging and Texting to Phone Calls: According to the Pew Research Center, some 83% of American adults own cell phones and three-quarters of them (73%) send and receive text messages. When asked how they prefer to be contacted on their cell phone, research found that 31% said they preferred texts to talking on the phone, while 53% said they preferred a voice call to a text message. Another 14% said the contact method they prefer depends on the situation.  And, as texting becomes progressively easier, expect it to continue it's rapid growth trend among Millennials.

3. Use the Convenience of File Sharing: Bloated servers and crowded inboxes are issues that have infected all organizations. Infocentric Research recently deemed searching for files through the wastelands of old documents to be the biggest time waster. File sharing platforms are one of the first significant technological achievements developed by The Millenials, with many being launched at the beginning of last decade. Consider using these platforms for sharing large files: We Transfer and SendSpace.  And for online files storage, these are generally accepted medium: Google Drive and DropBox. All of these medium are generally free, but may incur fees depending on huge sizes.

4. Must have a strong, multi-platform Social Media presence: We've all seen the ridiculous statistics about the billions of people on the Big 3 social medium: Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.  However, there are some other medium that are growing astronomically to be considered major players such as Pinterest, Instagram, Linked-in and Google Plus.  Consider social media presence as a huge cocktail party where you can meet anyone you want to know and communicate with them at anytime.  How cool would it be to go to hundreds of networking events and build relationships with key buyers and influencers on a daily basis?….. wait for it….. wait for it.... THIS IS IT!!! Whether you think it's dumb or not, you need be here and you need to interact with the people regularly. It's a prime opportunity to brand yourself, frequently touch your market, and most importantly, listen to your customers.  And if your challenge is the consistency of posting and having a presence on all of these medium, no sweat!! There are some great multi-platform sharing apps that will allow you to not only share content across multiple platforms, but they also allow you to auto-schedule your posts for the optimal times of viewing by readers on that medium!  Try these: HootSuite, EveryPost, Buffer, and Feedly.

Contact me if you have further questions or need anymore information.  I also love to hear your feedback if this information has been helpful to you.  Peace and increase!!

When it comes to Real Estate, Think Hurst First!