Generations X, Y, & Z

Article published by American Society of Association Executives
Marketing Insights, January 2008

We're eight years in to the 21st century. Can association marketing pros finally get with the times? If you're frustrated with traditional marketing tactics that just don't seem to resonate any longer, then consider these new strategies that target the importance of relationships with generations X and Y.

Think for a moment how much the world has changed since the 1950s.

The average annual salary then was $2,992, a loaf of bread cost $0.14, few women worked, civil rights were non-existent, Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states, and the first domestic jet airline passenger service began flying between New York City and Miami.

And people received their information from the only information sources available to them: newspapers, magazines, direct mail, black-and-white televisions, and social events.

Here we are today, a half-century later, and I continue to be amazed by how many associations are still marketing and relaying information exactly as they did in the 1950s.

In the middle of the last century, associations relied on direct mail, advertising, and events as their primary means of marketing because those were the only means available. Today, there are numerous options available to associations, but few associations are using these tools to their advantage.

In just the past few months, I have spoken with many association leaders who are frustrated either because the association's direct mail responses have plummeted, advertising revenue and response rates are nonexistent, or event attendance is at an all-time low.

What to do? Start marketing like it's 2008!

The concepts of direct mail, advertising, and events are hopelessly outdated. Your association and every other association out there has been there and done that. In 2008, the world of marketing has no limits. Your association now has the opportunity to reach its audiences through blogs, podcasts, word-of-mouth marketing, YouTube, text messaging, social causes, media relations, webinars, public speaking, instant messaging, peer groups, and Facebook.

While the list of options may seem overwhelming, there is a common theme. In the past, marketing was focused on the concepts of product, place, price, and promotion. Today, marketing is focused on one thing and one thing only: relationships.

Unlike their baby boomer predecessors, generations X and Y didn't grow up in the 1950s. Marketers have been pitching to them since infancy, which for these later generations spans 1966 to 1995. They grew up with technology and expansive media, observing corporate layoffs and mergers, divorce, terrorism, school shootings, and political leaders who lied and failed to deliver on their promises.

As a result, they are savvy and skeptical consumers. They have a strong need to trust and they are loyal to those associations, companies, and brands that establish their trust and form meaningful relationships with them. To gain the trust of the next generations of members, volunteers, and leaders, your association will need to think about marketing with a constant focus on relationship-building.

Here are some tactics not to be overlooked:

• Peer groups
  Xers and Ys prefer connecting with their peers for professional development. Young professional groups, as they are often called, are most effective when there is a defined call to action, value for getting involved, access to exclusive benefits, and numerous involvement opportunities, all at an affordable price. Peer groups are an effective way for an association to encourage relationship building among young professionals, and to demonstrate the association's commitment to their professional development. Startup costs are minimal, but the return can be significant.
  
  
• Students
  Associations often overlook students as a viable membership base, but forming relationships with aspiring professionals and helping them launch their careers is a relationship-building effort of tremendous significance. Students have an interest in finding mentors, and an association can be a great vehicle for the formation of those relationships. Be guest lecturers, attend career fairs, or publish a student e-newsletter. Invite students in and this relationship-building effort is certain to generate ongoing growth for the association.
  
  
• Social causes
  Generation X and especially Y choose their employers and brands based on a company's commitment to community. They want to know that their contributions are making a positive difference, which offers a meaningful way for associations to connect with members. Associations can tout their support for an industry or community or cause, and the can also promote their scholarships and foundations. Or, start up a new giving or volunteer effort to benefit others. Social causes influence change, increase the public's awareness of the association through publicity, and often increase membership―all as a result of establishing an emotional connection through relationship building.
  
  
• Blogs and podcasts
  Few associations (about 300 in the United States) are taking advantage of the ability to communicate with their audiences via these technologies. Blogs and podcasts have the power to personalize an association and give it a voice. Whether you are interviewing members on a podcast or blogging back and forth about a hot topic, these relationship-building tools increase an association's visibility through search engines and viral marketing, and they position the association as an expert and trendsetter in its field.
  
  
• Webinars
  Presenting information or meeting online cuts expenses and makes meeting and collaborating easier for presenters and attendees. Webinar software allows presenters and attendees to interact and collaborate through live polls, question and answer periods, and document sharing, making it easy for attendees to participate in and learn from the event.
  

Your audiences are searching for new, different, and innovative approaches to connect with your association. Will your association stand out from the crowd? Will it meet their expectations? It's much easier to do both today than it was in 1950.

Sarah L. Sladek is the president and CEO of Limelight Generations and was a presenter at the 2007 Great Ideas Conference. Email: ssladek@limelightgenerations.com

Labels: American Society of Association Executives, Generations X and Y, marketing, membership associations, relationship-building

I recently attended a strategy session hosted by the Minneapolis Foundation. The Foundation invited in 25 young professionals representing the non-profit and for-profit communities in hopes of bridging the age gap in volunteerism.

The Minneapolis Foundation wants to engage the next generation of civic and business leaders in community activism and causes because -- not surprising -- the Foundation has realized an age difference among the volunteers and leaders that support the area’s non-profit initiatives.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to the Minneapolis area. While associations and non-profits worldwide have struggled to understand the generation gap, the younger generation has become annoyed and frustrated and either disengaged from community service completely or formed their own service opportunities.

There are currently more than 90 active Young Professional (YP) networks across the country, many of which boast thousands of members, and many which have a community cause at the root of their existence. YP organizations have been very influential in their respective communities, even going so far as to boost the local economy.

For example, Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM), now known as Fuel Milwaukee, has grown to more than 4,000 members and serves as an important attraction and retention initiative for the Milwaukee business and non-profit community.

In 2000, Milwaukee’s population had fallen from the twenty-fourth largest city-region to forty-third. Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce founded YPM to work with city and regional officials on an economic development initiative with the belief that a city influenced by young professionals is a city that can attract and retain young professionals.

The Boston Young Professionals Association (BYPA) hosts a variety of social and networking events, and professional and personal development seminars. Like Fuel Milwaukee, BYPA also focuses on a community perspective. Instead of economic development, however, BYPA focuses on charity benefits and volunteering.
The association created a partnership with the national On Your Feet Project. OYFP partners with nonprofits in large cities to facilitate active involvement among young adults in the areas of children's welfare, domestic violence, education, homelessness, personal/public health and environmental protection.

OYFP taps into BYPA's more than 10,000 young members to support local nonprofits chosen by OYFP and the BYPA board of directors. The fundraisers are far from the typical Boston black-tie event. The secret to their success is being "hip" and relevant to their younger audience, hosting a salsa event at a local dance club or bowling night at an all-night bowling alley.

SMASHED (Society of Mature Adults Seeking to Help, Entertain and Donate) evolved when a Washington, D.C. group of young professionals were inspired to raise $5,000 for a local charity. They decided the only way to truly get young professionals in the Washington, D.C. area involved was to make it fun and offer networking opportunities while ‘doing good’.

The most popular SMASHED event held each year is the Idiotarod, a spoof of the famous Alaskan dog sled race that involves more than 80 costume-clad teams zooming shopping carts throughout the streets of the nation's capital. Other events include the Rec Room Olympics, the ManPageant, and a citywide scavenger hunt. These events are set to raise more than $15,000 this year for Washington, D.C.-based charities.

The Hands on Network (HoN) in Atlanta was started in the 1980s by young professionals. Today, the HoN’s TeamWorks program is designed for volunteers age 25 to 35 who are seeking service opportunities in a long-term social setting. TeamWorks allows young professionals to meet like-minded individuals while volunteering to clean a homeless shelter, provide meals for the homeless, or paint a neighborhood health clinic.

What’s the difference between these young professional-driven initiatives in comparison to other non-profit and fundraising initiatives?

Young professionals tend to look for charities where they can immediately make a difference. They also look for opportunities that don't necessarily take a long commitment, what has become known as episodic volunteering. And above all, they want to enjoy what they are doing.

While Baby Boomers tend to be very involved in community causes, Generations X and Y aren’t jumping on the traditional bandwagon – not because they don’t have any interest in their communities, but because their expectations of engagement are considerably different from those of their predecessors.

Xers and Ys don’t want to attend long and numerous meetings, spend countless hours in service each month, or do mundane tasks. They want to be empowered as positive forces for change and observe the outcomes of that change – all within a reasonable amount of time so they can continue to tend to their careers, families, and busy personal lives.

Targeting young professionals as service leaders and philanthropists requires a different approach, but I think most non-profit and business leaders would agree their participation is essential and vital to the future of our communities.

Labels: Baby Boomers, Generations X and Y, Minneapolis Foundation, Young Professionals

More than 90 women attended yesterday's Minnesota Women in Marketing and Communications Learning Lunch to hear Sara Gavin, president of Weber Shandwick’s Minneapolis office, give a great presentation on safeguarding your company’s reputation.

Gavin explained reputation preservation is now widely sought after by the world’s business leaders, ranking as equally important as a company’s financial well-being.

This wasn’t the case ten years ago. But the last decade has seen many of the world’s most admired companies descend from their once lofty positions, repeatedly making the case that every company is susceptive to reputation damage and reputation is critical to market value.

As a result, the instances of the past 10 years have made a lasting impression on Generations X and Y. Actually, today's young professionals have always had a pretty grim outlook on corporate America. The 1970s introduced 30 years of massive corporate layoffs in America, so Xers and eventually Ys grew up observing their parents being harshly dismissed after dedicating long hours and years of service to their jobs.

Sara Gavin noted in her presentation that many social factors are contributing to the increased focus on corporate reputation management. Business news is now considered front page news, thanks to an active business climate characterized by corporate scandals, mergers and downsizing, and consumer demands for increased corporate responsibility.

Furthermore, today’s news is heavily mixed with interpretation -- from the commentary on business news channels to the advancements in technology that give every John and Jane Doe a chance to publish their thoughts on blogs and podcasts.

Due to advancements in media and technology, consumers, employees, and stakeholders have access to more information and are disseminating more information than ever before, and companies have an increasingly difficult time managing their reputations.

Indeed, reputation management is rapidly on the rise and justifiably so. But I would add to Gavin’s list of reasons for corporate America's renewed sense of self. Corporations are being held accountable by their employees for the first time in history -- young employees.

Generations X and Y have entered the workforce with high expectations and even higher demands.

Take into consideration that today’s 30-somethings and 20-somethings are spending an average of 20 months on the job, then leave to job-hop or start their own businesses. This constant churning is wreaking havoc on those businesses -- and even entire industries -- that are trying desperately to recruit and retain a younger workforce.

What many employers don't realize is that Xers and Ys are skeptical and critical of corporate America and less willing than their Baby Boomer predecessors to commit their time and energy to the corporate workforce. Why? Because Xers and Ys have never known employers to be trusting or loyal. Xers and Ys have been witnesses to a string of dishonest business leaders, corporate mergers and downsizing, the dot com boom and bust, and the unforgettable Enron.

In short, corporate America has a lot of making up to do with its young employees and future executives.

While the Baby Boomers aspired for the corner office and title of president or CEO, Xers and Ys are demanding more. Through their job-hopping, their start-ups, their employers, and even their brands of choice, Xers and Ys are expressing their distrust and disinterest in corporate America. They expect corporate America to change its ways, re-establish their trust, be responsible to our communities, and think of work as being about people and not about places.

That’s a big reason why corporate reputation matters today. And knowing what we know about Xers and Ys resistance to corporate America, and the pending threat of a workforce shortage – it just may be the most important reason.

I met a colleague yesterday over coffee who specializes in board governance. We shared our experiences working with boards of directors, and both of us (as Xers) agreed the board concept has little to no appeal to our generation and the generation that follows.

Most – if not all – of our clients are experiencing great difficulty in recruiting and retaining young professionals to board roles. Which leads me to wonder: what will happen to boards of directors once the Baby Boomers retire?

Throughout the nineteenth century and before, there are examples of corporations, non-profits, and associations utilizing boards of directors. Yet, despite the passage of time the concept of the board of directors hasn’t evolved one iota. The concept remains much the same as it did more than 100 years ago.

Needless to say, Xers and Ys find a number of faults with the board concept and would rather pull their hair out than serve a single term on a board. As my colleague put it, the Xers that do get involved in the process are "there just long enough to realize they don’t need this in their lives and quickly leave".

Here are two characteristics of boards that really turn Xers and Ys off:

• Lack of trust
  As a rule, Xers and Ys don’t trust people they don’t have relationships with, largely due to the social events that took place during their youth: high divorce rates, terrorism, massive layoffs in corporate America, and business and political leaders failing to deliver on their promises.
  
  Boards of directors have a bad reputation as entities consumed with negativity, distrust, political undermining, and people who use the board more as a resume-booster than a service opportunity. In a number of corporate scandals during the 1990s, one notable feature revealed in subsequent investigations was that boards were not aware of the activities of the managers that they hired or the true financial state of the corporation.
  
  I conduct surveys of younger professionals, and they often describe their organization’s board of directors as cliques or people with a dishonorable regard for service.
  
  In short, they don’t trust their organization’s leaders and have no interest in joining them.
  
• Unreasonable expectations
  While the Baby Boomers thrive in commitment, Xers and Ys resist it. Most board members are required to attend long or numerous meetings and engage in lengthy discussions about topics that aren’t relevant or meaningful.
  
  I recently worked with an association that allows board members to serve up to 11 years and requires them to attend meetings that are four days long. Likewise, my colleague is working with an association’s board that has been engaged in debates about what to serve on the vegetarian menu at the conference.
  
  It’s no surprise these organizations can’t get Xers and Ys to step up to the plate!
  
  Xers and Ys want the time they spend away from their careers or families to be filled with relevance, meaning, and purpose. They want to make decisions and make change and know their efforts are making a difference. They want a foreseeable beginning and end to their work, and they expect recognition and rewards for their contributions.

What does all this mean for the future of corporations, non-profits, associations, and their boards of directors?

I think it means change. Significant change in what a board does, how it operates, its purpose, and its outcomes.

A lot has happened in the past 100 years. Most everything that was in existence during the last century either was improved or became antiquated.

If nothing is done to improve our organizational leadership processes, then our boards of directors will also become antiquated and literally die out -- because I assure you, the Xers and Ys certainly aren’t going to spend 11 years serving on a board or sitting through meetings that focus on menu options.

Labels: board of directors, corporations, Generations X and Y, membership associations, non profits

I watched the televised coverage of the Iowa caucus with great interest, not only because I grew up in the state, but also from a generational perspective.

There was much commentary about Obama’s win as being representative of the generational shift that’s taking place in America. It’s being used as a metaphor for what’s happening in the workplace, as if this is something new or revolutionary that’s happening.

Haven’t the Boomers noticed? The younger generation is, effectively, shifting the balance of power to themselves.

It happened in Minnesota back in 1998 when former wrestler, Jesse Ventura, was elected Governor. He ran as a Reform Party candidate and was never expected to compete with the major-party candidates--much less win the election. But he appealed to younger voters with a grassroots campaign that consisted of events, quirky television ads, and use of the Internet to educate and reach voters. The younger demographic voted, and their candidate won.

The same situation happened at the Iowa caucus. A candidate of color, in his 40s, Obama appeals to the X and Y voters because he is representative of change. He is unlike the Baby Boomer candidates, many of which are tainted by a political past. As a result, Xers and Ys trust Obama and relate to him, which will be a difficult feat for other candidates to overcome.

The Clinton campaign assumed women would vote for women. Even I expected Clinton’s campaign would make more waves than Obama’s. But Clinton is a Baby Boomer. And the younger voters are more concerned about age than they are about gender because they believe a younger candidate is more likely to institute change.

The opinions of the Baby Boomers are mattering less and less. We’re seeing it in membership associations, where Xers and Ys are refusing to pay dues. We’re seeing it in the workforce, where Xers and Ys are making demands for flex-time and customized career paths, and job hopping or starting their own businesses when their demands aren’t met.

The generational shift is popping up everywhere—even in television scripts. Last night, on the premiere of Cashmere Mafia, one of the four story lines followed a Xer couple’s frustrations at home and at work. When the 20-something nanny and a 20-something co-worker worsened their situations, the Xer couple discussed their frustration dealing withGen Y “or Gen ID, as in ‘I deserve.’”

I must say, while it’s at times overwhelming and frustrating, it’s also remarkable how much Ys are changing the world we live in at such a young age. When Xers were this age, we were so overwhelmed with trying to earn a living on meager salaries and scarce job opportunities, voting was the last thing on our minds. And when Baby Boomers were this age, they were protesting and dodging the draft.

But voting is a way for people to instigate change, and that’s just what the Ys, and the Xers, want to do. Ready or not, there is a generational shift taking place, and it’s happening at work and in society and in politics--and in case you haven’t noticed, the power has already shifted to X and Y.

Labels: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, Iowa caucus, politics

On New Year’s Eve, my husband surprised me with dinner at one of the classiest restaurants in downtown Minneapolis. Upon our arrival, we were surprised to discover that most of the people eating there weren’t established couples enjoying a romantic evening, but rather boisterous groups of Gen Ys.

Being the generation-enthusiast that I am, I have read and written about YoCos, but this was my first up-close and personal encounter with them.

YoCos is short for Young Cosmopolitans. They are the urban, early twenty-somethings who aspire to live their lives as young socialites. They are a generation of Paris Hilton types, if you will. They live on maxed-out credit cards, share the rent with a group of friends, frequent fancy restaurants, buy designer clothes, drink martinis, and travel often.

When I was just out of college, going to an upscale eatery on New Year’s Eve was not affordable and didn’t hold much appeal. Like most Xers, I spent most of my early adulthood drinking beer in bars or going to house parties. Many of our friends still go to house parties on New Year’s Eve.

But Gen Y has a different definition of fun. In fact, beer companies are observing a drop in sales for the first time in decades because Gen Ys would rather drink martinis and mixed drinks. In many ways, this new generation of socialites is a return to the Frank Sinatra era when people frequented night clubs, sipped liquor, and donned glamorous evening wear.

No longer are the finer things in life considered a rite of passage. The YoCos don’t want to wait to experience the finer things. They want to experience them now.

Some say that’s the result of being raised in a world where violence hit close to home, as it did on September 11th and in the school shootings. Others say it’s the result of being raised with technology and credit cards which provide instant gratification, or due perhaps to the influx of reality television and Hollywood media that turned Ys into fame junkies and money-mongers.

In any case, YoCos are a demographic that is changing history and setting trends with their socialite-inspired values, purchases, and interests. I guess you could say these young adults have already ‘arrived’ – and the companies that cater to their extravagant whims are likely to prosper, too.

Labels: Gen Y, Generation X, YoCos, young socialites