Generations X, Y, & Z

Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com recently published an article featuring my advice and quotes for recruiting Gen Y volunteers. Check it out to find out who twenty-somethings trust, why communicating on-line is a must, and why a nonprofit's relationship to young volunteers should never end.

First-time parents continue to be a growth opportunity for businesses as we experience a baby boom in America.

Gen X parents, ages 26 to 44, waited until later in life to have children and are now producing twins and triplets thanks to fertility treatments and the fact that multiples are more common in older women.

The oldest Gen Ys were making decisions about parenthood at an early age. Surveys conducted a few years ago revealed that Gen Ys would be even more family-focused than the Xers, which were dubbed the Family First generation by USA Today. Ys expressed an interest in co-parenting and co-working, splitting the child-rearing and paycheck-earning tasks equally among moms and dads.

The Y’s passion for parenting, combined with being the largest generation to ever walk this Earth, makes them a hot target for family-focused businesses.

Furthermore, the nation's Latino population grew 62% from births in 2007. That’s 868,000 new U.S. Latino babies! Indeed, the Pew Hispanic Center reports that the fertility rate of Latinas is one-third higher than that of non-Latinas.

Anyway you look at it, today’s baby boom spells opportunity for brands to make and maintain a family-centered connection and nurture a new generation of consumers (Generation Z). Here are just a few of the new baby businesses out there:

• At-Home UltraSound parties
  Young families are throwing baby showers that feature live ultrasound images of baby, in utero. At least three local businesses have popped up in Tampa, Florida offering at-home, non-diagnostic ultrasounds along with a full menu of additional services. Ultra Babies offers DVD photo discs set to music, belly casts, massage and henna tattoos. Look Who's Kickin' and Storksview offer their own facilities with humongous flat-screens in private viewing rooms and Internet accessibility, allowing faraway friends and family to join the party and enjoy the view.

• Momsclusive Clubs
  New moms can experience me-time with a membership at two recently opened momsclusive clubs in London. Cupcake Spa and Members Club offers seminars, fitness training (with and without baby) and a café, and a kids-free floor houses the spa where moms and moms-to-be enjoy specialized treatments catered to their pregnancy stage. At Maggie & Rose, members can host fabulous parties with organic kids’ foods, take cooking classes, enjoy a movie night with other families, or power up in the WiFi café. Both clubs offer childcare.

• Sleep Training Nannies
  While sleep training is more popular in the UK, its slowly making its way to the U.S. Hush-a-bye Baby based in Chicago offers night-nannies and sleep-trainers to give tired parents a much-needed rest.
  

• Baby Fashion
  From vintage punk t-shirts to onesies with phrases like ‘Got Milk?’, trendy baby fashions are all the rage. Check out the What’s Hot for Tots blog and designer brands at Tutti Bella or the latest in Generation Green organic baby clothing at Obli Organics.
  

Labels: baby fashion, first-time parents, Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z, momclusive clubs, parenthood, sleep training nannies

I was honored to receive the National Association of Women Business Owners of Minnesota’s 2008 Innovative Business Award last week. NAWBO even asked me to keynote the awards gala, which was especially flattering.

As CEO of one of the only generational marketing companies in the United States specializing in Generations X, Y, and Z my business is indeed innovative, and at 35 I am a young entrepreneur.

But being a young and innovative entrepreneur is rapidly becoming more common than ever before.

Nearly 465,000 people create new businesses, on average, per month in the United States. Today, the vast majority of those businesses are started by Generations X and Y–individuals between the ages of 14 and 44.

In fact, Xers and Ys are spending an average of 20 months on the job before job hopping or starting their own company, which is a mixed blessing for America’s economy.

Here’s the good news: The influx of small businesses in America has spurred a wealth of innovation in the form of new products and services.

For example, BusinessWeek just named its list of Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech. The list of millionaires under the age of 30 includes the founders of FriendFeed, which lets subscribers monitor more than 30 social networking sites on a single site, and Mint.com, which is considered an easier way for businesses to categorize expenses and flag problem spending in comparison to using Intuit and Microsoft software.

Here’s the bad news: Most industries, with the exception of technology, are struggling to maintain a workforce.

Dare I say all industries, with the exception of technology, are struggling to maintain a workforce.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a shortfall of 10 million workers within the next 10 years, which means two employees will be leaving for every new hire entering.

What most business leaders fail to realize is that the looming talent gap is largely due to the generation gap. My fellow Gen Xers aren’t content working for corporate America, and neither are the Ys, so they’re doing exactly what I have done. They are leaving to start their own businesses.

We are using all that pent up frustration with working nine to five and our fear of downsizing, mergers, layoffs, and big business scandals and forging new ways of working.

So while innovation may be hot within small business start ups, big businesses are struggling to survive.

The fact is, if we fail to focus on the next generations now, we fail our businesses, families, economy, and country. Whether you are an employer or an employee, whether you are a Boomer or Gen Xer or a Y—as a citizen of America, this threat to our nation’s economy will affect each and every one of us.

Employers stand a chance in bridging the talent gap if they simply rethink the way they motivate their young workforce. This is where innovation in business is needed most right now.

In crafting the perfect pitch these days, employers need to put something far more valuable on the table than retirement benefits and 14 days of paid vacation. Generations X and Y are looking for meaningful work; work that makes a positive difference in their lives personally and professionally, and also benefits their communities.

• Personal
  Generation X and Y are renowned for being high achievers and dedicated employees, but they want the freedom to work when they want, where they want.
  
  These generations are not opposed to working in the evenings or on week-ends, if it means being able to see their children’s soccer games in the afternoons.
  
  Also known as work-life balance, Generations X and Y measure their work time in terms of quality, not quantity. In other words, they want to enjoy their work and they don’t want work to interfere with their personal time.
  
  In fact, employees under the age of 35 often consider work-life balance as the single most important consideration when deciding whether to join or remain with an employer.
  
  Work-life balance benefits include flexible schedules, the opportunity to work from home, parental benefits, increasing vacation time, and customized medical plans.
  
  
• Professional
  To recruit both Gen X and Y, appeal to their desire to learn. It’s ironic, but younger workers value learning a variety of skills to become as marketable as possible. We want to be prepared to take on more responsibility and we work in fear of being laid off or downsized, which is why we are cautious about committing to one employer.
  
  The irony is this: The more marketable you make us; the more likely we are to stay. Eighty percent of employees say that job training is key to keeping them as employees.
  
  Engage Xers and Ys in the company’s growth strategies and help them understand how they affect the bottom line. They want to not only understand what is expected in their present capacity, but even more importantly, what skills they will need to obtain to move into the next opportunity.
  
  
• Community
  These generations are attracted to companies that are supportive of community causes. So whether your company is giving employees paid time off to work with nonprofits, or organizing company-wide service projects or fundraisers, that connection to community is critical to recruiting and retaining younger talent.
  

Employers also need to understand that the rules of engagement have changed. The X and Y workforce isn’t going to pay their dues and patiently climb a corporate ladder.

You can blame technology and credit cards for creating a workforce that expects instant gratification. You can blame parents for using time-outs with their toddlers and allowing their college grads to move back home for creating a workforce that expects nurturing relationships. You can even blame Starbucks for creating a workforce that expects customization and catering to their wants and needs.

In any case, giving Xers and Ys menial tasks and minimal responsibility puts them on a fast track to the exit sign. Instead, give them access to career pathing, training opportunities, recognition for exceptional work, a paid day on their birthdays, access to CEO meetings, child care services, home office equipment, fitness memberships, and social opportunities.

Above all, Xers and Ys want to be surrounded by positive relationships at work. Lack of positive relationships with bosses and co-workers is the number one reason why X and Y employees leave a job.

Treat your talent well, and they will outperform time and again. (And don’t be surprised when they show up on the first day of work with ideas on how to improve your company!)

Innovation in business is admirable and often necessary. Entrepreneurs are getting younger and more successful all the time. There’s even a book out there right now teaching parents how to help their children become successful business owners.

Generations X and Y (and soon Z) have created new ways to work because what’s worked in the past isn’t working for them. Their contributions have been positive, but the fallout of the under-40 workforce could leave our economy exposed and vulnerable to serious setbacks.

We must find a happy medium. Innovation needs to be at work in small business and big business alike to create workplaces that are rewarding and fulfilling to the careers of young Americans.

Whatever career path they choose, there needs to be a place for younger generations to succeed and prosper.

That is the American dream after all, isn’t it?

Labels: American dream, Generation X, Generation Y, innovation at work, talent gap

The job market was grim during the mid-1990s when I graduated from college. At my first job, I was barely making minimum wage working as a newspaper reporter. But after pounding the pavement for three months following graduation, I was extremely thankful just to have a job--especially a job in my field of interest.

For the first time in a very long time there’s no shortage of jobs for today’s graduates, and there isn’t going to be one in the foreseeable future. There will be 77 million Boomers retiring over the course of the next two decades. Granted, there are 48 million Xers in the workforce, and 80 million Ys who will continue to enter the workforce over the course of the next decade. But that doesn’t mean there will be a job shortage.

The problem is, most Xers and Ys aren’t interested in pursuing jobs that require a lot of travel, advanced degrees, or long hours; are redundant or don’t offer new challenges and learning opportunities on a regular basis; or don’t utilize technology. Xers and Ys are also the most entrepreneurial generations, claiming the highest number of start-ups in the United States.

Therefore, young talent will continue to be in high demand, which means most of today’s U.S. graduates won’t have to scrape by on minimum wage and they will have their choice of employers.

The aging of the Boomers has created a substantial shift in the workforce in more ways than one. Here are a few statistics to shed some light on just how significant these changes will be during the next decade.

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a shortfall of ten million workers, as 40 percent of the workforce will be eligible to retire.
  
  
• Census data suggest two employees will be leaving for every new hire entering, and new college grads will be an ever-increasing precious commodity.
  
  
• According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the number of entry-level job seekers receiving multiple offers has been on the rise, and the competition is driving salary offers up.
  

If your company isn’t aggressively pursuing student outreach, it’s probably time to start. We are facing a talent shortage of unprecedented proportions, and introducing students to your place of work will foster positive relationships with them, teach them about your industry, and may provide you with a future workforce.

There are a number of ways to forge relationships with students: mentoring programs, internships, job shadowing, career fairs, volunteering to give presentations, and summer employment.

Take a lesson from STEP-UP, a summer employment program for diverse, skilled, and motivated youth. STEP-UP is operated by Achieve! Minneapolis in partnership with the City of Minneapolis and is the second largest program of its kind in the nation.

STEP-UP recruits, trains and places youth, ages 16–21, in paid summer jobs with local employers. Last summer, 131 employers hired 632 Minneapolis youth.

A meaningful summer job inspires youth to pursue their education and career dreams, and it’s an investment in a city’s vitality and future workforce.

Check out how two national associations are reaching out to students in an effort to save their industries for a devastating workforce shortage. The National Association of Manufacturers launched the ‘Dream It Do It’ campaign, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants created the ‘Start Here. Go Places.’ initiative.

Undoubtedly, there is no better time to start preparing for your company’s future than right now. Are you ready?

Today's students are growing up fast. If you wait to reach out to your future workforce, it just might be too late.

Labels: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, college graduates, Generation Y, National Association of Manufacturers, STEP-UP, talent shortage

How do you reach an audience that can choose their own music without listening to a commercial radio station, can block outsiders from their social circle—which revolves around cell phones and online networks like Facebook and MySpace—and only refer to newspapers when they need packing material to move on to their next venue?

For starters, you can’t rely on adding a 1980s soundtrack to your advertising, a blog to your Web site, or a young professionals networking social to your programming and call it good. Marketing to Generations X and Y requires a comprehensive approach that features technology and is focused on relationship-building on multiple levels.

To succeed in reaching X and Y, you must first understand they are unlike any other consumer that has come before them. They were raised on music videos, technology, and advertising, so they are savvy and skeptical consumers that can spot a sales pitch a mile away--and they really dislike being sold anything.

X and Y cannot be reached through traditional marketing channels. Direct mail, print ads, and television advertising bounce off these powerful consumers like bullets on Superman's chest. They are also the most diverse, well-educated, and cutting edge generations. Gen Y (ages 13-25) is the largest generation in our nation’s history, wielding a tremendous amount of influence and buying power.

As an Xer myself, and in my work with companies who are trying desperately to reach these elusive markets, I've discovered many ways in which marketers have totally missed the mark with Generation X and Y consumers.

Few know how to motivate and engage them, so let me clue you in to a few ways in which you can effectively connect with this growing market of savvy spenders:

GET PERSONAL
Xers and Ys are not impressed with corporate-speak or sales pitches, and they are more loyal to people than to places or products. For the best results, use messages that get to the point, are honest, and personal. Incorporate testimonials, case studies, and videos featuring the stories and successes of your employees, clients, and consumers.

RESPECT THEM
Generations X and Y are savvy and intelligent consumers. Don't talk at or down to them. Instead, continually address their needs and interests, what your company or product can do for them and how it benefits them. Having been raised with a lot of stress, Xers are especially responsive to genuine initiatives that help them reduce anxiety and retain peace of mind.

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
X and Y want to know that you care enough to find out what makes them tick. But don't rely on the old method of marketing surveys. Get out there and talk to them! Find out how they spend their time, the music they listen to, and what they eat, wear, read, watch, and drive.

BE HIP
Throw out those tri-fold brochures and bullet points in your PowerPoint presentations. X and Y are tech-savvy and media-savvy and will buy based on a sleek, beautiful, cool-looking packages. Use graphics, technology, and innovation to get your message across.

STAND FOR SOMETHING
Today’s brands can't just strive to stand out; they must strive to stand for something. X and Y are family-focused and socially responsible. They want to know your company cares about their well-being and is aligned with causes that benefit their communities and the world at-large.

JOIN THEIR NETWORKS
If you can't connect with their preferred methods of communication (texting and social networks), forget about reaching Generation Y. Go where they hang out online—MySpace, Facebook, etc.—and learn how to integrate mobile technology in your marketing efforts. Get into their networks and your company will get noticed.

GO VIRAL
If these generations like your product, people around the world will know it. Blogs and video (vodcast) and audio (podcasts) bits uploaded to your Web site will quickly spread across the Internet as X and Y share their favorites with their friends, who pass it along to their circle, and so on. And these generations are the first to trust, almost exclusively, the recommendations of their peers.

These are not your grandfather's marketing strategies. The tried-and-true marketing strategies of product, place, and promotion, and direct mail, advertising , and networking socials won't work with these young, hip consumers.

Learn how to reach , motivate , and engage X and Y, and your company can expect a successful and prosperous future.

Labels: generational marketing, marketing to Generations X and Y

I reside in Minneapolis where a longtime weatherman and one of the Twin Cities' best-known media personalities was released from WCCO-TV last week.

CBS said his cut, as well as the cut of a weekend anchor, were part of nationwide cuts in response to dwindling ad revenue and TV viewership, a sluggish economy, and stiff competition from the Internet.

As a former newspaper editor and now a book author that does media interviews, I know the media world quite well and I take great interest in how the generational shift is affecting the media.

Let’s be frank: Generations X and Y aren’t relying on newspapers or watching television news as their primary sources of information. Media corporations will cite the Internet and economy and make all sorts of excuses for their decline, but the simple fact is they are irrelevant to younger generations.

That’s why daily newspaper circulation has declined every year since 1987, when the oldest Gen Xers were entering college.

That's also why Americans ages 35-49 (mostly Xers), watch more cable TV and video on-demand programs than broadcast television, and ages 18-34 (Xers and Ys) spend more time online.

Traditional news is struggling to compete in a media-savvy world, which begs the question: Will traditional media formats be able to survive?

I have read articles and blogs on this topic, many authored by Boomers, which go into great, excruciating detail about things like column widths and frequency of Internet broadcasts and such. A lot of meaningless prattle, if you ask me.

Knowing what I know about journalism and Gen X and Y, I think there are three simple keys to reaching these audiences that have been seriously overlooked.

Meaning
My husband and I have this on-going joke about all news being bad news. Sometimes at night we’ll roll through the network television stations to see which station has the most depressing story. We also joke about the in-depth weather forecasts, which take up increasingly more broadcast time.

Seriously though, not every police chase or storm brewing makes for a news story. Not by today’s standards.

The Boomers and the generations that preceded them wanted to know about all the goings-on in their communities and world. In fact, since journalism began the same news format has been cultivated and expected, which was to give a birds-eye view of the world and your place in it.

In contrast, my generation and the generations to follow prefer an individual view. In other words, we want news that is meaningful and relevant to our lives. News we can actually use to improve our lives. We don’t want to waste our time feeling hopeless, fearful, or depressed. What’s the point of that?

Today’s young adults are family-focused, career-driven and inspired to serve others. We spend a great deal of time caring for others, trying to get ahead and do good, so when it comes to being informed and entertained, we filter the information we receive so we can feel inspired, happy, and fulfilled.

Customization
I remember hearing a presentation by a marketing executive who worked for a newspaper. She said when you subscribed to a newspaper, you certainly weren’t expected to read all of it, but you did have to buy all of it.

During the past few years, media executives have begun to realize just how ludicrous that philosophy is to the next generation of media consumers, and that we willingly exercise our right to not ‘buy all of it.’

For example, my husband and I are both entrepreneurs. He’s also an avid sports fan, but we stopped subscribing to the local newspaper because we only read the business and sports sections with consistency. We decided that we could just as easily obtain this information on-line, and tossing away the other five sections of the paper without even looking at them was wasteful and irresponsible.

The only way newspapers and television news can compete is to provide customization.

When the Internet arrived, it introduced a whole new set of expectations for information delivery and the scope and speed of customer service. Gen X grew accustomed to it, and Gen Y grew up with it.

Furthermore, news has been redefined by bloggers, YouTube, and even celebrity news programs. So, like it or not, journalists are no longer the keepers of the information and the public wants and expects access to the news they want and when they want it.

For television news, this means creating programming that is topic-specific. Many local television stations will air morning, afternoon, evening, and late night news segments with minor differences in coverage. Why not use some of this air time to create programming specific to younger generations, such as an education program, parenting, or business program?

For newspapers, this means thinking of each section as its own newspaper and giving subscribers the option of purchasing the sections they want to receive.

Each program or section could then be complimented by microsites on-line where viewers and readers could go for more information and social networking.

Engagement
Until now, media outlets always had a captive audience. Today, they are fighting to be relevant and meaningful to a seriously fragmented and diminishing audience, which means they need to think seriously about how they market to and engage the next generation.

It starts with getting younger people involved as writers, producers and anchors, and advisory board members. Give them the chance to create the news and see what happens. What’s meaningful and relevant in their lives? How does it differ from the 30-somethings to the 20-somethings and teenagers?

Far too few media outlets spend much time, effort, or resources on these demographics, which doesn’t make any sense. We are the market influencers and we are also the ones who are turning away from traditional media.

Isn't it obvious? If media is going to win the favor of younger audiences, they have to start thinking about what's important to us and abandon the traditions of the past.

So far, media has failed miserably in this quest.

As a senior editor of American Journalism Review recently blogged:

“Why didn't they (media) capture the market in online classifieds, long before Craigslist? Why didn't they become the home base for local video, long before YouTube? Why didn't they recognize the power of social connections, long before Facebook? Preoccupied with trying to save their old model, they barely glanced up as one potential pot of gold after another floated right past them.”

Labels: American Journalism Review, CBS, Generation X, Generation Y, media, newspapers, television news

Generation Z is growing up in a world where pretending, imaginary play, and learning have been dramatically redefined. Unlike the generations that came before them, Z children, ages 12 and younger, have spent their formative years using technology to play and learn.

Children as young as two and three years old are now using computers. According to Nielsen/Net Ratings Inc., the number of online users in the 2-to-11 age group rose 19 percent to 15.1 million in December 2006, from 12.6 million in December 2002.

Furthermore, according to a 2007 study released by the Consumer Electronics Association and Toy Industry Association, consumers are expected to spend $2 billion on electronic toys for children ages 0 – 15 years within the next 12 months.

What does this mean for America’s consumers, businesses, and associations?

It means today’s children and future workforce are even more tech-savvy than Generation Y, and technology is not only influencing–but shaping–the way they play, learn, and the way they will eventually work and do business.

For those of you who aren’t yet aware of how technology is influencing the lives of America’s children, here’s a brief synapsis of the most popular tech toys out there right now:

• Fisher Price® Smart Cycle (Ages 3-6) – A virtual fitness experience, you plug the Smart Cycle right into a TV and as the child pedals, favorite character friends guide him or her through learning discoveries, games and even races.
  
  
• Fisher Price® Kid-Tough™ Digital Camera with Bonus Card (Ages 3+) – Designed to teach children how to take, view and download their own photographs. Features a color LCD preview screen; two-eye viewing; dual handgrips; big buttons; storage space for 60 images; and a “bonus card” that will hold an additional 142 images.
  
  
• Power Rangers Operation Overdrive Mega Mission Helmet (Ages 4+) – This replica Power Rangers helmet features a silver chrome band with mega-action flashing LED lights and sound effects. Using the included USB cord, which plugs into the top of the helmet, you can download over 20 missions from Bandai's Power Ranger Operation Overdrive Web site.
  
  
• Text ‘n Talk Walkie Talkies (Ages 5+) – Loaded with cell-phone style features, these next-generation walkie talkies let kids send and receive text messages. With a huge 1,000 foot range, four channels, and 10 pre-set text messages, these walkie talkies feature a keypad, LCD screen, message alert, and belt clip.
  
  
• Webkinz (Ages 6 – 13) – Children learn to use the computer and Internet with Webkinz, plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code that lets you enter the Webkinz World online and play with a virtual version of your pet.
  
  
• EyeClops (Ages 7+) – A handheld bionic eye that plugs into your TV. Point the EyeClops at any object and see it magnified 200 times on your TV. Includes an observation dish and tube to view liquids, salt, bugs, etc.
  
  
• RipRoar Creation Station (Ages 8+) - RipRoar’s Creation Station is an all-inclusive system for setting up, filming, editing, and uploading videos to You Tube or other online video sharing sites. Simply hang the green screen, point the camera at it, and start filming. Then use the integrated software and included CD to edit the action, replace the green screen with background images, drop in sound or visual effects, and add music.

Our oldest daughter turns 7 this month. During the past year, she’s become fascinated by technology and all it has to offer. From her Smart Globe that downloads the latest world news, to her virtual pets on Webkinz and BellaSara, and her interactive robotic pet, MioPup.

When I was 7, I was climbing trees, playing Barbies, or riding my bike. Granted, my daughter does all of this too, but her world has opened up to infinite playing and learning opportunities inspired by technology.

I guess that’s why the top two gifts on her birthday wish list are a frog habitat -- and an iPod.

Labels: Generation Y, Generation Z, imaginary play, learning, technology, Webkinz