The Millennials are Coming. Are You Ready?
As of 2015, the millennials,
defined as those born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, outnumber
both the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers in sheer volume. (Pew Research
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/25/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/)
By 2020, 46 percent of the US workforce will be millennials. And, it is
reported that these individuals account $1.3 trillion in annual spending, which
doesn’t include millennial—influenced spending by their parents and
grandparents.
Who are millennials?
For some of my readers, they are your children and
grandchildren. Studies show they have the following characteristics:
• They work and play online, mostly
on mobile devices.
• They welcome access over
ownership in a new “sharing” economy, think UBER, bike sharing.
• They expect media, information,
services and purchases to be available on demand.
• They are socially aware and
assume that companies, firms, individuals will be active in the community and give
back.
• They know more about technology
than any other generation; they live in a world of sharable information.
What legal issues
could millennials, aged 18-34 in 2015, have?
They are buying houses, estate planning for their children,
starting businesses or helping their aging parents. And some are having
criminal problems. MADD reports that the 26-29 year olds (20.7 %) have the
highest rate of drunk driving. Think about how your services can be of use to
this younger audience.
How can lawyers reach
millennials?
Millennials are never out of touch—they live by their mobile
phones and expect the information they need such as reviews, social media
commentary, price comparisons to be instantly available. For law firms, that
means their website, profiles and blogs must be mobile friendly. Your law blog
should be informative, short, engaging and easy to read on a smaller screen.
Being active on social media such as Facebook, Twitter or
LinkedIn is an effective way to ensure millennials see your firm, interact and
engage with you, learn something from you and eventually employ your legal
services.
In the interests of hands-on research, I texted my
millennial grandson, Collin, 22-year-old, bio-molecular engineer living and
working in New York city, asking one question—How would you find lawyer? He
texted back, “I would ask one of my fraternity brothers who are lawyers.” And
“I would Google my geographic area and the kind of service I needed. Then I’d
check their website and then try to find some sort of review or blog post
written by a past client.”
Two marketing concepts are at work here. He began the usual
way, asking friends for referrals, showing the importance of face to face
marketing. Then he used the millennial way—going to the Internet to find and
investigate lawyers in his area. And, it’s reasonable to assume he would do
this on his phone.
Would millennial Collin find your
mobile friendly, easily accessible website?
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