Millennials as customers

Born between 1980 and the early 2000s, Millennials see themselves as being  tolerant, curious, positive, sharing, connected, flexible, innovative generation.

Millennials are well educated and see themselves as tolerant, curious, positive, sharing, connected, flexible and innovative.By 2025 will make up 75 per cent of the global workforce.

They are true to themselves and are the most-educated  generation. In 2011, 52 per cent of young adults (18 to 34 years) had a non-school qualification and 26 per cent held a bachelor degree or higher qualification. Go back 35 years to 1976 and only 30 per cent in the same age group had a non-school qualification and just 5 per cent held a bachelor degree or higher qualification.

Recent events, globalisation and happiness!

With experience of the world that goes back 40 years, the big trends and events that have helped shaped Millennials include the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the launch of Facebook, the dot.com bust, the 2008 global recession and Barack Obama’s election. The Black Saturday bushfires, Global Financial Crisis and Queensland floods weighed heavily on Australian Millennials.

Climate change is the top problem facing society in the next 20 years according to 300 Millennials interviewed in Australia for the Deloitte Millennial Innovation Survey.

Despite the threat of terrorism, natural disasters, economic catastrophes and climate change, 84 per cent of Australian Millennial respondents to the Viacom survey were happy (global average: 87 per cent). Nevertheless, 35 per cent were stressed (global average: 33 per cent).

Opinions on business

The Mind the Gaps Deloitte Millennial survey, which interviewed 7800 Millennials from 29 countries including Australia, showed Millennial respondents thought businesses needed to pay equal attention to people as they do to products and profits.

Seventy-five per cent thought businesses were too fixated on their own agendas and should be more focused on improving society.
The Deloitte Millennial Innovation Survey of 4800 people in 16 “markets” (covering at least 18 countries), provided more information on Australians: 70 per cent thought employee satisfaction was very important (just less than financial performance). Only 58 per cent thought their company helped society in some way or that they worked for an innovative company.

Working with Millennials

Millennials often have a broader perspective about supervisor-subordinate relationships, and want close relationships and frequent feedback from their boss. Their ideal boss is mostly a mentor (50 per cent), leader (40 per cent, confidant (30 per cent) and friend (23 per cent). The four qualities they wanted in a boss were: support (43 per cent), expertise (42 per cent), motivation (39 per cent) and fairness (38 per cent).

Millennials are optimistic and familiar with technology. They may be well placed to provide opinions on how to improve operations and marketing through technology. Like Generation X workers, they feel rewarded by work arrangements that offer more flexibility and new technology.

References

Viacom International Media Networks. ‘The next normal: an unprecedented look at Millennials worldwide’, 
http://sydney.edu.au/future-students/documents/career-advisers/events/2013/Sydney-Uni-2013-CAT-Conference-Viacom-The-Next-Normal.pdf

Rouse, M., Tech Target, “Millennials (millennial generation)” 
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/millennials-millennial-generation

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, UK, ‘Big demands and high expectations: Deloitte Millennial survey’, 
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/gx-dttl-2014-millennial-survey-report.pdf#page=2, p. 2

Viacom International Media Networks. ‘The next normal: an unprecedented look at Millennials worldwide’, 
http://sydney.edu.au/future-students/documents/career-advisers/events/2013/Sydney-Uni-2013-CAT-Conference-Viacom-The-Next-Normal.pdf#page=6, p.6

Shuey, J., Business 2 Community “The digital generation: Millennials and social networking” 
http://www.business2community.com/social-media/digital-generation-millennials-social-networking-0737416

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Young adults: Then and Now, 
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features40April+2013

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, UK. 2013, ‘Millennial Innovation Survey’, 
http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/dttl-millennial-innovation-survey.pdf#page=6, p. 6

Pew Research Center, Taylor, P. and Keeter, S. Eds. (February 2010) Millennials—A portrait of generation next pp. 140, 
http://www.apsc.gov.au/projects/resources/human-capital-matters/2013/human-capital-matters-9

Myers, K. & Sadaghiani, K., ‘Millennials in the workplace: A communication perspective on Millennials’ organizational relationships and performance’, Journal of Business and Psychology, vol. 25, no. 2, pages 225–238, 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2868990/

Thorne, P., ‘Wired and worldly: Engaging Gen Y learners’, Training and Development in Australia, Vol. 38, No. 6, page 16,  
http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=247696329140263;res=IELAPA

Klein, K., “How to keep millennials from getting bored and quitting“, Bloomberg Business,  
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-08-22/how-to-keep-millennial-employees-from-getting-bored-and-quitting

Cute and cuddly: our favourite pets on Instagram

Australia has one of the highest pet ownership rates in the world with around 63 per cent of households having a pet. Source ii.

It’s easier to get through a tough day when a photo or video of fluffy animals doing cute things appears on your social media feed.

Pets are big winners in the online viral stakes, sometimes making their owners moolah via corporate sponsorships, product placements and book deals — such as Grumpy Cat and Boo.

Cats are the undisputed champions and an exhibition entitled How cats took over the Internet in NYC’s Museum of the Moving Image analyses the importance of cat-related content.

Continue reading Cute and cuddly: our favourite pets on Instagram

Morrissey Sydney 2015

LOVED MOZZAA!!! By Song 3 he started waving his arms in the air saying: Love me, love me, love me! Then crashing to the ground. Such a high point, and such classic Mozza, we might as well have gone home then, totally got our money’s worth! Also, there was another bit in the second half, something like: “I can’t find love! Take me in your arms” etc. As only Mozza can! He was in TOP singing form, the audience was blown away afterwards, saying how fantastic he sounds, He took his shirt off at the end, of course!.

Train home to Newtown PACKED with Mozzer fans singing: How Soon Is Now! Then we broke out into There’s A Light. Why? He didn’t sing them! He did this one, which filled that gap: Never Marry. Sang Suedehead and Arms Around Paris and Stop Me oh oh oh Stop me!! And Sunday. There were a few others, but those were my faves. There’s no interval, he goes about 90mins. Had a few surprises too, I won’t mention them here.

A few blokes yelled out they loved him and he said some smart alecky things back. Gave them the brush off! A few fans got to touch him on stage at the end, fighting the bouncers. If the bouncers hate you, you get chucked out of the show!

Mozza, he’s so *in your face*. He’s still like an angry teenager in his 50s! Love it!

I can’t hack the vids of police brutality and meat is murder, so had to close my eyes. It’s in your face, but that’s Mozza! He sat and faced the vids for part of those songs, to show he really supports it. Good on him!

The entire Sydney Opera House was MEAT-FREE! They have poncey restaurants and bars everywhere, usually with sushi and burgers and gourmet stuff (whatever that is) but NO MEAT!

Amazing film footage re: life in Manchester. View A Taste of Honey before seeing Mozza in concert! And watch a couple of episodes of Coronation St from the 1970s.

Was dancing at Sydney Opera House like Mozza from the 1980s! Made a complete spectacle of myself. Was right at the top, in the aisle.

Vivid is fantastic too. When seeing Mozza, you get to stand on the North Foyer forecourt of the Opera House, free, and watch the light show. Custom House was brilliant.

This is totally the sort of embarrassing fangirl thing I’d do.

I totally LOVE the pre-show film clips he chooses, they’re a mix and so hilarious. Some provocative stuff in the pre-show video clip montage, which is totally Mozza. This one.

Eurovision bingo cards template

Bing0I made some Eurovision Bingo cards. Feel free to download and change them around yourself for your Eurovision party! There are 16 pages of cards and mostly different things to look out for on each card.

Happy Eurovisioning!

Download: eurovision bingo cards

Word of mouth still triumphs as most trusted way to advertise

Positive word of mouth consistently trumps as being more credible than other advertising methods such as newspaper advertising, online searches and mail/email marketing. A Nielsen Global survey of trust in advertising, conducted in 2013 of more than 29,000 people in 58 countries (including Australia), showed Asia-Pacific respondents were most willing to trust (85 per cent) and take action (88 per cent) based on recommendations from friends and family and opinions posted online.

Globally, people were most likely to trust recommendations from people they know, branded websites, and consumer opinions posted online, respectively.

In the Nielsen global survey, 56 per cent trust email messages they’d signed up for, and 48 per cent trusted advertisements generated by search engine results. Online video advertisements (48 per cent) and advertisements on social networks (48 per cent) have gained ground and won more trust.

US Small Business Trends and Verizon, a US communications technology, company conducted a survey of Philadelphia small business owners in 2014 in relation to word of mouth’s effectiveness and the results were almost identical (85 per cent) to a study it had conducted online in 2005 (83 per cent)v.

‘Super influencers’

Verizon states that social media is on the rise as a “word of mouth” medium. For example, it is common for people to request local business recommendations from their friends on Facebook.

Marketing agencies have recognised that word of mouth is a critical element in promoting their clients, so they work with “super influencers”, who are available for hire. Unlike using celebrities, whose advertisements only resonated with 12 per cent of global consumers, “super influencers” are everyday people who have large social networks, or are bloggers with thousands of readers.

For example, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service worked with Social Soup, an agency that found 750 30-54 year olds who were “well connected, online and offline and had not donated in the past five years”. They were family and community-minded, worked or lived near a blood donation centre and had a high-level of persuasion in their social and work environments. They shared their experience online via Facebook and Twitter, explaining why they made the decision to donate, and created 300 online reviews, with most giving a 4.4 star rating out of 5.

How to create positive word of mouth

Research shows that when creating online word of mouth, a company should design its information so it’s easy for consumers to forward to friends. Firstly, it must be useful, accurate and important. Secondly, it should be trustworthy, credible and reliable. Ultimately, consumers like interesting information from a credible source, which has the most chance of triggering a ripple or viral effect.

Pinterest is good for displaying visual products or services (interiors, hairdressing or nail design), whereas Yelp! is for customers to rate businesses and write reviews. LinkedIn has a search function for finding services.

Away from the online world, small business owners should focus on building rapport and exceptional interaction with customers by providing a personalised approach. Reliability and professionalism create positive experiences. Unfortunately, if things go wrong, consumers are more likely to talk about your business, irrespective of the quality of your product, and bad news spreads fast.