Oh Baby! What Happens When Millennials Become Parents?
By Natasha Fleury, Marketing Partner, Generator Inc MarketingMillennials are the dominant consumer and a huge focus for brands everywhere. With 80 million in the U.S., we’re hard to avoid.Research demonstrates Gen Y is different from Gen X in several ways including motivation, expectations, and attitude. But what happens when we become parents? What takes priority then? How do purchasing habits change? What do views on family look like? How do Millennial parents use social media?We work with dozens of family-focused companies and have compiled a few tips for brands when marketing to the 22 million Generation Y parents in the U.S. right now.No connecting, no buying.Millennials are one of the most compassionate generations in history. Speak to that compassion by painting a picture of how your brand will help them. To this group, that’s far more compelling than sharing results.
When you show that your brand understands mom’s pain points, such as not spending enough time with her family, she feels heard and understood. That puts you in the position of a partner she’d like to do business with. What’s more, a Baby Center study found that ads are 62% more likely to capture mom’s attention if they are relevant to their child’s age. This lets you connect on a more literal level with photography and storytelling.Informative, authentic content builds loyalty.Millennials want to be heard, have personal connections with brands, and are deeply inspired by others. A Forbes study found 43% of Millennials need to trust a company first. Build content that speaks to their current approach on parenting. For example, Millennial mothers have ditched the “Tiger Mom” approach; they are playful, hands-on and carry nostalgia for a simpler life.Social media isn’t passe. Where are Gen Y parents finding this trust and loyalty we mentioned? Social media, of course. Parents on Facebook are especially avid users: 75% log on daily, including 51% who do so several times a day. This is a statistically significant difference when compared with non-parents, of whom 67% log on to Facebook daily, including 42% who do so several times a day.A recent study found 59% of social media-using parents say they have come across useful information specifically about parenting in the last 30 days while scrolling through social media. What comes next is sharing, liking, pinning, tweeting, snapping, forwarding, and commenting.That equals more engagement for your brand.[author] About the Author: Natasha is a passionate professional with over 13 years of experience in marketing and communications. She and her partners manage a marketing agency at Generator Inc. Their clients include include start-ups without a designated marketing team, CMO's with project queue overload, and entrepreneurs who are trying their best to do everything. [/author]
