During May and June of 2008, the Economist Intelligence Unit asked 164 corporate executives from around the world what techniques they have found are most effective at marketing to the millennial generation (the generation born between 1982 and 2001).
How to Reach the Millennial Generation
- 41% say participate in viral marketing and peer-to-peer recommendation sites
- 36% say sponsor or advertise in areas of interest to millennials
(e.g., extreme sports, music venues, chat rooms, social networking sites) - 35% say deliver a great product at a great price
- 30% say focus on millennials’ key influencers
(e.g., parents, peers) - 28% say contribute to social causes that millennials support
- 21% say contribute to corporate or issue blogs
- 21% say message millennials through wireless text messaging
- 19% say exploit contests, promotions, and retail tie-ins
- 12% say develop online games for company website
In other words, if your church wants to reach the millennial generation, create a great church experience that is remarkable (creates word of mouth) and targets the key influencers and social catalysts of your local millennial community.
Also, show that you care about the things that they care about by sponsoring local events or participating in causes that they are passionate about. Blog about what you do and use text messaging. And be sure that you keep things fresh and fun with occasional special events, games, etc.
For Discussion:
- What techniques have you found are most effective at marketing to the millennial generation?
[via eMarketer]
“In other words, if your church wants to reach the millennial generation, create a great church experience that is remarkable (creates word of mouth) and targets the key influencers and social catalysts of your local millennial community.”
So you’re saying to reach millenials, the Church needs to become better at marketing than all the others that are marketing to the same market? By doing that, aren’t we just another feed into the consumerism that is ripping the millenial generation to shreds? Don’t we become just another pop-up ad that gets blocked by a generation that is tired of advertisements and ready for authenticity?
@Kenny
You have quite a different perspective and definition of what marketing is than I do.
Whether you like it or not, everything you do is marketing (be it good or bad). Look at marketing from holistic perspective rather than just a niche of advertising, consumerism, or manipulation.
In fact, I believe that the most remarkable thing we can do is be Christlike. To be Christlike is great marketing.
I think Kent raises the most important point by saying that simply being Christlike is the greatest form of “marketing” that we can do, and I agree that the Church needs to work harder at creating an experience that connects with the millenial generation.
I struggle, though, with using the term “marketing” in relation to ministry. I understand Kent’s perspective of a holistic sort of marketing, but I worry that when we focus so much on “marketing” the message of The Gospel, we turn those we are trying to reach into projects or statistics. We need to make sure our Church experience isn’t simply designed to compete with pop culture for the simple goal of getting “more butts in the seats” but rather an opportunity for EVERYONE (all generations) to grow closer to the Lord…
This cannot happen unless we are authentic and true to the Biblical message, no matter how flashy or exciting our Church experiences may be.
Kent-
Interesting.
Ryan-
Interesting.
Thanks both for civility.
To read my thoughts on having balance between our mission and our methods (marketing), read this earlier post:
http://churchrelevance.com/kent-shaffer-me-on-balance/
Kent…
thanks once again for a great post…
marketing could be replaced by “active representation”
Paul said… “we are Christ’s representatives” we should never be concerned with the idea that as believers our primary job is to “represent Christ” to those around us. Or in today’s terms… to “market Christ” to those around us.
[...] Bonus: Discussion on one segment of the article at Church Relevance. [...]
We are called in the scriptures to be “Ambassadors of Christ” I am not sure Paul had in mind a Marketer or salesman for Christ when he wrote that. The two are very different roles. The idea that marketing MUST be a part of winning a generation to Christ ( a generation that is very weary of being marketed to) shows how much the church is influenced by capitalism. I work with house church leaders in other countries and never hear that term on thier conversation. They are simply striving to know Christ deeply, represent him well, and thier house churches are reproducing at an outstanding rate.
I recently had an epiphany about the church and the harvest through a conversation with a family member who was struck by the image of a combine harvesting a field. That’s not how we used to do it. Back in the day, you did it yourself with sickle in hand, one swipe at a time. Both ways produce the same result, but the methods are different. I think when we consider reaching Millenial’s, we have to make sure we’re not watering down the Gospel or competing with other churches. However, today we do have more methods to communicate the Truth of the Gospel-and we should use them. If we’re Kingdom minded, our message will be the same no matter the method of sharing it.