10 Reasons Millennials Should Work in Marketing
10 Reasons Millennials Should Work in Marketing
One only has to look as far as a list of characteristics of a genuine millennial to find 10 reasons millennials should work in marketing. For better or for worse these labels (characteristics) that identify young adults or generation y in today’s society between the ages of 18-34, seem to map out a population that is more ready for careers in marketing then any of the past and probably future generations.
Why Generation Y
Even those generation y labels that may be considered negative seem to bend and mold at just the right yawn to make flat and boring rhetoric (advertising we have experienced and see on a daily basis,) theoreteteicaly explode and sync, not off key but rather in tune, with today’s most coveted potential prospects. With a offbeat thought, probably meant entirely for something else, a generation y can succeed in taking a product from a mere idea on a clouded mind to a high priced, sold out, name brand success. The following are 10 reasons why millennials should work in marketing.
1. Technologically Advanced
2. Progressive
3. The highest growing population of hirable workers
4. Able to establish brand authority with ease
5. High self-esteem
6. Nomads
7. Collaborative mindset
8. Go-Getters
9. Compassionate about today’s issues
10. Socially savvy
Generation y was born with technology in their hands
When thinking generation y the words technologically advanced don’t even have to come to mind. They are already present. This is the age of technology and those branded generation y are cheek deep in it. To be great at marketing and to make it your life career, you have to have more than a basic understanding of technology. You have to eat, breathe, sleep and live technology. Yesterday’s algorithms do not work today and one million other people already tried the latest program with the same rate of success as you. Today a spin or a hack must be found for that program in order to end the day finishing first instead of just in the middle. To do that, you must know the ins and outs of technology, keywords, designs, programming, and anything and everything that can give you an edge. Who has it and was pretty much born with it? Generation Y. Yep, remember the first fat tablet and that little chunky kid sitting on the bench punching buttons that looked like computer code to you (yes apps.) That’s the kid you want in marketing now.
Generation y is progressive in their way of thinking
One of the problems with advertising today is that it hasn’t changed much over the last 50 years. For the most part advertising has gotten brighter, more pixilated, and bigger, but so has the mute button as well as the fast forward button the remote. Commercials just don’t do it anymore. The real advertising is in content marketing and this progression is exactly where millennials work best. Millennials understand that hearing is no longer what customers want. Customers want content that they can read, see, touch, research and authenticate. That doesn’t mean that visual entities are a thing of the past, not by a long shot. However, the focus has changed to images, graphics, and resources that make the information credible. This is what keeps customers reading. This is what makes a customer buy, when they have established enough trust in what they can authenticate for themselves.
It takes a narcissist
Part of establishing trust with a customer base requires being acknowledged as an authority on the subject. Millennials are known narcissists. Vocabulary.com defines a narcissist as “someone only concerned with his or her own interests. Being as within the next five years millennials are expected to make up more than 50% of the workforce, this is a good thing. They know what they want. What they want, they get and according to Psychology Today, “Narcissists tend to have high self-esteem,” which in the world of marketing where the word “no” is often overlooked because it is heard so often, high self esteem makes for an employee who will not stop in order to prove others wrong and succeed in the newest campaign.
Go team go
Generation y does not sit at a cubicle behind a desk for 8 hours a day doing monotonous office work. These young people are nomads who love the word “collaborative.” It is another part of their ego that makes them want to shine but they must have someone to shine to. Enter collaboration. Ten times the amount of insight, ideas, and answers put together by minds that all want to be heard and known as the best. This can give advertising an edge for today’s population that makes a millennial more than earn his salary.
“I do care, I just show it differently”
Circling back to the fact that millennials were pretty much born to work in marketing, is the idea that they are naturally socially savvy. They can spread the newest trend faster than a speeding bullet. In this they show that they do care about making others happy. They don’t want to share a failure, they want to help out their fellow mankind by making life easier for everyone. A little bit of success just drives them to Tweet and Snap a bit more. However, unlike an older generation there is not a learning curve involved here. As stated before this all comes naturally. Generation y has been on Facebook and emailing emoji’s to thousands of new followers daily since you last saw him sitting on that bench while you were handwriting a draft of a proposal to your boss on canary yellow, school ruled, standard notepads. Do millennials even own a piece of paper? A pen? Ridiculous. Hire a millennial made to work in marketing and watch your company turn its revenue and customer base on its head.
