Question: What do a 20-year-old college student and a 34-year-old first-time
mom have in common?

Answer: Not a whole lot, other than the fact that they have been deemed Millennials.
And because they’re both Millennials, you can market to them
in exactly the same way, right?

Well…maybe not. With all the talk about how to market across generations, I must ask: in this age of marketing—this ultra-personalized, data-driven era we live in—does age really matter?

In short, yes. But to deliver the best possible customer experience, we need to be diligent about not putting all our eggs in the generational marketing basket.

Let’s start with an exercise.

Imagine for a moment that you’re drawing a picture of your customer. On the table in front of you is a nice, fresh sheet of paper and a box of bright markers.

Where to start? First, you need a silhouette; your customer’s name—let’s call her Jane—and address should do the trick.

Next, you learn that Jane is a Millennial. You color in her hair, maybe in a daring shade of green because we all know that Millennials are rebels.

Taking a quick peek at Jane’s purchase history, you learn that she has been buying your products for the past 14 months. You select your next marker and draw a shopping cart filled with all the things she’s bought from you this year.

Soon, data is flying at you from left and right and your picture is really starting to come to life. Next thing you know, you’ve got a complete view of Jane. Success!

Now what?

One by one, take away these bytes of information. Throw away everything you know about Jane: demographics, psychographics, purchase history, you name it.

As you can see, what you’re left with is an incomplete picture of your customer; a silhouette. The generation Jane happens to fit in may give you a small piece of the puzzle, but you can’t truly market effectively to her silhouette—you need all the pieces to do that.

Jane is not just a Millennial. She is not just a college graduate, not just a graphic designer, dog owner, first-time mom. She is a compilation of all those things, and to market to her based on just one of these characteristics is a mistake.

The lesson

As we seek to deliver truly unique customer experiences through personalization, it’s our responsibility as marketers to move beyond the surface, to dig deeper and really get to know and understand the individuals who make up our audience.

To that end, never assume that because someone is a Baby Boomer, he will only respond by writing a check and mailing it in, nor assume that because someone is a Millennial, she will only respond online. Test and know. Allow Jane to tell you how she wants to interact with your brand.

At the end of the day, it’s not about the best tactic for marketing across generations. It’s about creating a better customer experience through individualization, not generalization.

If you can do that, it’ll be a resounding success.

About the author: Melanie Gray is Creative Supervisor/Copywriter at Polaris Direct, a nationally acclaimed high-volume direct marketing services company in Hooksett, NH.