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September 14, 2015 at 08:36 AM
Just like Nessie, the fabled Loch Ness monster, myth seems to follow millennials everywhere. But has anyone bothered to ask millennials themselves what they think are the best ways to reach them? It would seem no one has … until now.
We not only asked them, we also consulted with marketing experts, researchers and millennials on the frontlines in the insurance and financial industries. The tips that follow were compiled from interviews with industry thought leaders, including Lindsey Pollak, The Hartford’s millennial workplace expert; Amy McIlwain, vice president of social and digital strategy at Denver-based Moore Communications Group; Samuel Rad, a millennial advisor based in Beverly Hills, California; Matt Wallaert, behavioral scientist at Microsoft; and Breana Macken and Emily Tracey, LIMRA analysts. In addition, we spoke with 30 millennials in the insurance industry, to find out their own preferences, and those of their millennial clients.
(To read the full feature about millennials, go here; to read how to attract millennials to the insurance industry, go here.)
1. Talk to the millennials in your company.
Evaluate your internal communication and other types of communicational materials, such as benefit packages. How accessible are the things that you, as a company, are offering to them?
2. Request or reach out for their input or feedback.
Ask them how you are doing or how you can improve.
3. Engage your millennials.
Ask them how they would change the industry and listen to them. See if from that brainstorming session, one idea can become a reality soon.
See also: Millennials have a ton of stock. They just don’t know it
4. Seek them out.
You can seek millennials where they dwell, for example on Yelp, since millennials seek validation and community input for their decisions. They will research you before they call you and double-check every fact they hear when they talk to you.
5. Have an online presence.
You need to have both a website and some type of social media presence. This is of upmost importance. Not having a website equals a big red flag to millennials, since it could signal that technology (or even customer experience) is not important to you.
6. Be personable.
Have photos of what you do for fun on your website or social media page(s) so that they can relate to you. Think about how you feel when you find a prospect or client who loves the same baseball or football team as you? Exactly.
See also: 5 ways advisors can win affluent millennials’ affection
7. Cater to the type of client that you want.
If you want to attract millennials, make sure that your working environment is relatable to them (as in, your office must have WiFi, at the least)!
8. Relate to them.
Millennials view estate planning as something for old people, but if you turn it around and ask them would happen to their digital lives once they die, then they really start paying attention. Hence, a new type of planning emerges: digital estate planning.
9. Post engaging or interactive content on your website.
You need to have video, pictures, infographics and other engaging content on your website and social media. Millennials have a shorter attention span than older generations — and, across the board, the average attention span is now just eight seconds. (That’s less than a goldfish!)
