By Julie Oshins, “Play It Forward”
I went to a concert recently to see an artist called GriZ. He is the pied piper of a festival going tribe and his loyal fans (his tribe) have an edict – P.L.U.R. Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect.
What does this have to do with you, an event DJ? I’ll tell you! As I stood there watching hundreds of predominantly twenty-something fans I thought to myself: “These kids are going to be graduating, getting married and having milestone birthdays. What a gold mine it could be if I could talk to them in their language, which is not about consumerism. In fact, if they feel you are trying to sell them, you don’t stand a chance.”
This age group has enough expendable income to travel far and wide to follow their musical bliss . . . and they can afford your services! But you have to understand what matters most to them, and then be able to authentically speak to how your DJ services can fulfill their needs.
Born between 1982 and 1993, in this country there are over eight million Millennials, which is larger than any other generation. Price is still important to them; however, they will pay for uniqueness, diversity, and to feel special.
The more concise your communication, the more likely they are to relate to or appreciate what you say. Keep what you have to say brief but meaningful. Millennials have a distrust of authority and they strongly rely on their peers. To them, testimonials are huge – even testimonials from people they don’t know as long as they are in the same age group.
Millennials want to feel like they discovered you so it is essential to have a presence on social media including Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Soundcloud. You must also have a mobile-friendly website because more than 50% of Millennials use websites as their primary source of information, viewed on their smartphones. You could say that technology is an addiction for them!
They value family, loyalty and personal connection. They seek out the genuine and are repulsed by the inauthentic. They are famously optimistic and believe whole-heartedly in the possibility of change. While some consider this group to be narcissistic and entitled, the reality is that they want to make a difference. Marketers who take millennial values seriously are better positioned to win over this important consumer base.
They want and feel they deserve your respect. If you give it to them then you can connect with the twenty-something generation as prospects, and earn the right to entertain at their most important life events!
