Untold Secrets About Generation Z!
In the past year there have been hundreds of articles written about Generation Z.
They all say the exact same things.
It seems most journalist just grab an article from one post and edit it and repost for their site.
No one is telling you anything different.
How many times can people keep reading:
5 ways Brands can prepare for gen Z!
Generation Z Marketing Insights!
Marketing to Gen Z
The Rise of Generation Z
Who is Gen Z?
Why Gen Z is turning away from Facebook
Saying things like:
We are the digital natives
We want Honesty from our brands..
Responsible manufacturing..
We Aren’t loyal to brands..
Have a Mission for your brand..
They trust people..
We believe that equality is not negotiable..
We are an ethically diverse group..
We spend countless hours on Social Media..
Why isn’t anyone being honest and telling you it’s time for businesses to Start Over for Generation Z.
We are a life-form you have never experienced before.
It’s time you forget everything you knew about how past generations Shopped, spent, banked, played, communicated, socialized, ate, drove, worked, vacationed & the list continues.
Forget all of it!
Forget how you marketed & did business before Generation Z.
You must clear your mind.
You have to think of us like you just landed on our planet & want to do business with us.
How would you do it?
You don’t know us.
We look like humans but are nothing like you on the inside.
We don’t see, behave, learn or experience life like you did.
We ONLY look like you.
That is the only similarity.
We are aliens that took on a human life form.
This sounds like science fiction, think about it, generation Z’s lifestyle is science fiction to older generations.
The best way to understand something is to get information straight from the source.
no guesswork involved.
We are the digital natives.
You guys are the ones who are strangers to us & our lifestyle.
You elders have to clear your minds of everything you knew that worked in the past.
You have landed on a new planet & Generation Z are the natives that occupy it.
What are you going to do?
How are you going to communicate with us?
I’ll tell you…
You’re going to start from scratch.
You’re going to research, & get to know the natives inside and out.
You are Not going to compare them to humans in the past.
They are Not humans as you know it.
You are NOT going to keep trying to switch your old ways to see if they work on us.
I read a comment from someone on one of my favorite sites Retailwire.com:
“Marketers are just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks”.
I love that line. Maybe I love it more because I’m 12 & I literally think of throwing sticky things against the wall! Lol
But this is true with business, he meant, they are trying everything they knew & sometimes changing it up & seeing what sticks.
That is not going to work with us.
You MUST start over.
It is time to press ReStart!
Not, Resume, but in a different way.
We are a foreign, strange, alien form to you elder generations.
You don’t know us.
So Stop guessing.
Your old marketing teams may not be what is needed to dissect generation Z.
Did you ever think of that?
Maybe you need different members on your teams.
Different thinkers.
Maybe, what you thought were good teams for one generation are not trainable for Generation Z.
It’s not that they aren’t smart.
They just may be to closed minded & not open minded, flexible & progressive thinkers.
Maybe they aren’t interested in getting to know us.
Maybe our difference is way to different than they can imagine.
Maybe our way of life is unfathomable to them.
Honestly, my own father is one of those closed minded, old fashioned elder generation people.
He will say he is not.
He will say, he text.
But he doesn’t.
Not in our sense of texting.
(Emailing someone to their phone, Is NOT Texting)!!
He isn’t interested in learning how to be up on our generation.
He is a professional emailer. That is as far as he got with technology.
He didnt move to mobile anything.
That is how you know he hasn’t gotten with the times nor is he interested.
He doesn’t think he needs to be up on our generation.
He thinks his old ways are fine.
Sadly, many companies have numerous people like my father, (baby boomers)
who aren’t ever really going to accept our alien life-style.
Your businesses can’t have that type of person on their teams.
They will only try to change the old ways to see what sticks with us.
It will be a total waste of time, money & effort.
They are to tired & set in their ways to Start from scratch!
If your companies don’t start from the beginning,
You will not have a chance at even coming close to getting us.
You can’t keep wasting valuable time & resources trying to figure us out.
The only way you are going to be able to do this, is by letting us teach you How we operate.
You need fresh eyes & open minds looking at us.
You need different thinkers.
Probably not be the same professionals who handled your marketing needs back in the day.
Generation Z is not the generation you should be sitting around reading about.
We are a hands on generation.
You must live like one of us to get us. “Understanding Gen Z is increasingly important for marketers.”
Not just for an hour or a day or even a week.
But truly be one of us, in order to get us & our lives.
Everything has changed & you cant Google the answers yet.
If we are going to share a planet, you need to learn how to speak our language.
Some businesses get that “we need to understand them – fast”. We already know your language, it’s time you learned ours.
I can be your translator.
I am the Intergenerational consultant u are in need of..
Trust me.
Sky
Hi Sky,
Great post, yes the world is changing.
It is going to be tough, older people are set in their ways. They really do need to get to know your generation from you kids.
That is the only way they will understand how different your world is.
Thanks for reading
Wow what a great article.
There is definitely a lot of truth to it.
But as much as the older generation has to
Understand the new generation, the new
Generation has to be understanding to the
Older generation, since we both live here.
Then meet somewhere in the middle ,
And get the best of both worlds:)
Yes, we have a lot we can teach each other.