Understanding the B2B Buyer – Part 2: The Millennials

The b2b digital landscape is changing. Long a country of digital immigrants, the hardy souls who first colonized the outermost regions of the Internet are ceding territory to digital natives, the Millennials who grew up as the digital realm matured, a screen never far from their hands. The fact that more and more Millennials are now entering the workforce every day is just one of the things that will change the way b2b marketers work forever.

The Millennial B2B Buyer

According to Google, 50% of Millennials are doing initial product research so it’s essential that your company is there at the right time with the right content.
Here’s some facts you need to think about when marketing to Millennials:

• They’re Collaborative. A recent IBM study found that 56% of Millennials feel they make better decisions at work with a variety of opinions and input from their peers.
• They’re Always On. 87% of millennials say that their smartphone never leaves their side*.
• They’re committed to research. The B2B buying process is already 57% of the way down the path to a decision before anybody will perform an action on your site*.

Marketing to the Millennial: Collaboration

Millennials understand that part of being a team is working with that team. This underscores the importance of account based marketing. By targeting the early researcher and the entire buying team, you can not only build awareness for your products, you can also lay the groundwork for a common language among all constituents. Thus, when a millennial researcher turns to her peer and asks if he’s heard of company X, the answer can be an enthusiastic yes.

Marketing to the Millennial: Always On

Like most of us, Millennials carry work home in the form of the smartphone. B2b research no longer occurs solely at one’s desk. According to Google, 42% of researchers use a mobile device during the B2B purchasing process. As such it’s important that your products and services are in front of a user when and where they’re engaged in the research process. Be available on all screens. The mobile experience should also be user-friendly and easy to use.

Marketing to the Millennial: Research

Companies do not make b2b purchasing decisions lightly, so the Millennial doing the initial research is the gatekeeper to consideration. If they can’t find useful, insightful information about your products, your company will be cut out of the game before it even has a chance. Your marketing organization should be producing content in great variety: whitepapers, webinars, blog articles, and videos that give the researcher an opportunity to consume information in the way that’s most appropriate to them. But more to the point, you should target your information wisely with contextual display ads and native content that lives on the publications where the prime research is actually done.
In the end, Millennials aren’t much different than prior generations. They want to do their jobs well, to be recognized for their skills, to advance and grow their careers. B2b marketers that provide them with the best, most accessible information when and where it’s most needed will see the most success.
Learn more about how to use account based marketing to reach millennials by downloading our brief whitepaper: Account Based Marketing: Targeting with Intent.