Confessions of a digital immigrant

or why Millennials are only same same but different.

I got confused with all that GenX, Y, Z, Millennial talk. Emotions and thoughts are all over the place, with the who is who, who is what and why and why not.

So I did some research, and now it’s clear: I’m born in the wrong decade.

It’s all about them

If you keep your eyes open around the internet and social media, you’ve probably seen them, all these articles about millennials:

  • Articles on how they are different and how we’re supposed to handle them.
  • Articles advising us how to market to them.
  • Articles advising them what to, how to do things.

By the book identity

I’m a GenX’er. I’m part of the roughly 35% that form the current workforce and, uh, that’s about it. At least as far as I fit into the GenX box. Stop, I forgot I’m a so-called “digital immigrant” (glad I didn’t need to fill in a visa application for that one) – a later adopter of tools like PC, smartphone, and tablet.

Confessions of a digital immigrant

I don’t have a desktop PC, ok I love my MacBook Air because it’s super light and fits in the average handbag. More and more, however, I type notes, draft article on my smartphone, project management, and accounting tools only pass Q&A if their app works well on the 4.7” screen.

I felt completely lost for a week when my smartphone got stolen (Thank you BlackBerry for being with me in this time of need!)

And I’m just looking into getting a new tablet. One with a pen and good handwriting software to eliminate the step between paper notes and scanning them to tools like Evernote or Google Keep.

I leave email as much as possible behind and use tools like Slack (which has significantly increased client communication, productivity, and keeping track of tasks), or where preferred, Skype.

Life without social media seems like life without coffee.

I consider work-life-balance overrated but need a job (and got it) that means something to me and gives me the flexibility to work when and where I want to work (guess I shouldn’t mention now, that I’m writing this article sitting next to the beach in San Diego).

Am I an earlier generation by any chance?

So just to make sure I’m not thinking in the wrong direction I also checked out the Baby-boomer generation and the Maturists, but the gaps are event worse, so let’s skip the details (Signature products like car, tv, or ways of communication: letter, telephone…)

Why so much ado about M’s?

Call it a reality check. I don’t remember how the media talked about GenX when I was about the age Millennials are now, the Internet was barely around, and certainly less important but all in all I most certainly didn’t care about what they had to say, I wanted it all and now.

But I guess my generation scared the sh!t out of our managers, just like millennials do now.

I remember my first boss, she was in her late 50ies, pretty cool for her age but technically far behind in my eyes. She used a typewriter and a standard landline phone; copies were carbon copies as they were cheaper than the Xeroxed ones. (Was this a pre-MPS movement?)

Computers just made it into the average office, so phone calls, fax sending and posted letters were the standard way of communication. The news exclusively spread via radio, television, newspaper or magazines. Did they talk about GenX? I don’t remember. Possibly. Did I listen to them? Certainly not. All I wanted was a job. Actually, I wanted the job I wanted and not just any, and the most important thing was that it was meaningful, that I had a lot of freedom to do what I wanted to do, with the odd hit and miss regarding what I was supposed to do.

Millennial marketing

Would I advise my clients to change their marketing to consider the Millennials of their industry? NO. Absolutely not.

Let’s just for the sake of a wider audience clarify: I mainly work with B2B clients, who are offering software and consulting services. Taking a closer look at what they offer, it all comes down to being more productive, and at the end of the day saving money.

Are they facing millennials when they talk to their clients – of course!

So how do they manage? – It’s actually pretty simple: they take them for the serious business partners they are. And they know their products and services inside out, no BS. They know what makes their businesses, their offerings unique. They are happy to share facts, technical details, benefits, and risks, in other words, they use transparency when telling their story.

Open communication & transparency

When I embark on a marketing journey with a new client, I want them to share all the good news they have. Facts, case studies, success stories, visions – anything that makes their offerings tangible (and trust me, sometimes this is a very interesting process). And this is not an approach to please a certain generation, this is the approach I have taken with companies for many years now. Successfully.

Of course, some things have changed. Rather than mainly publishing in print media we use online platforms, we embrace social media and business forums such as LinkedIn or Xing, we make sure websites are responsive and always up to date. And again, we do all this because communication, in general, is changing and not because we want to please a certain generation. All we want is get the good message out and help clients to, e.g. print better, migrate software solutions smoother, support digital transformation, and ultimately to show that the products and services are purposeful, supporting productivity and financial objectives.