Marketing to Generation Y

It seems to be that Generation Y is giving headaches to everyone. Businesses are afraid of going down if they don’t get to Gen Y market fast. But the problem is that it is not so easy to get to them anymore. They are not like the past generations, they don’t respond to the same marketing and advertising strategies. In fact, Generation Y is not responding to any of the usual marketing strategies, and companies are trying to come up with new ideas. That is why they are desperately trying to understand this new market that, due to its great size, is and will be responsible during a few years, of a business success or failure.

Marketers have come to understand certain facts about Generation Y, and they are helping companies to create new marketing ideas. Among the things that they know are: Generation Yers don’t watch television as much, they don’t like reading at all, and they enjoy community life a lot. These are the three most important facts about Gen Y that companies have to understand to begin creating new strategies to reach this market. As Gen Yers have been greatly exposed to new and fast technology, one of the main things they look for is fast service. They also want cheap prices, good quality and most important, they want to have an experience.

One very important characteristic of Generation Y is that they pay a lot of attention to real things. They don’t like being lied to or being manipulated. If a company tries to lie or manipulate them, the company could never be taken serious again, because Gen Yers want to be taken serious and respected. As mentioned before, Generation Y enjoys community life, especially enjoy time with friends a lot. Thanks to social network places, this generation is a lot more in contact with friends, and they spend a lot of time together. Companies should give importance to this fact because they should try to get to Gen Y by marketing to specific groups. As I read on one article, mass marketing doesn’t work anymore for this generation, companies have to separate and determine specific groups and try to get to them individually.

Meeting and reaching the Gen Y market in concerts, sporting events or social networking sites is a good example of how marketers can divide them into smaller groups and try to reach them separately. That strategy has worked for a lot of current successful companies. To conclude I would have to say that definitely Gen Y is not an easy market. They value authenticity and want always a good experience from the product they get. What companies have to do is stop trying to understand this market with information that is out there and start asking them what they want. This generation appreciates truthfulness and would certainly like to know that everyone wants to know what they want. Companies have to not only analyze them, but understand and appreciate Generation Y´s view towards life. Maybe if they understand how Generation Y thinks it´s going to be easy to reach to them.