Today’s Young & Internet Empowered Consumer

Born in 1982, I think I’m officially part of Generation Y. Generations X (1965-1980) & Generation Y (early 1980′s – 2000) have grown up with the Internet and, as a result, have a vastly different mindset than our parents in many ways. Let’s apply this to marketing. I’m not saying I’m the rule, but the moment someone tries to hard "sell" me their services, I tend to tune them out. Sure, I may be missing some valuable information, and this may in fact be a very good way to determine if a product or service is right for me, but frankly, it will never fly. I generally like to do my own research and educate myself prior to purchasing something or choosing a service provider. I like to be in control.

In order to reach the younger audience, all that is required is some time and a willingness to share your expertise with today’s Internet Empowered Consumer (IEC), who don’t want to be "sold".

A while back, Michael Russer mentioned a couple great tips for appealing to IECs:

• IECs want control, so give it to them. Because of their anonymity, the online consumer is in control and likes it that way. The more you try to take control (as you might do in a typical sales situation) the more you will push them away.
• IECs value their privacy. Take every opportunity to reassure your online prospects that their privacy will be absolutely protected by you and your staff.
• Few are ready to buy or sell. I estimate that 19 out of 20 online leads are from consumers in the information-gathering stage, and are not ready to explicitly declare their needs. These folks are easily converted to transactions, but only if you know how to nurture them to the point at which they are ready to move.

Generation Y are tomorrow’s home buyers. As a real estate professional, if you rely on the same marketing channels that you reached our parents with, you’re not likely to reach us. There are numerous ways to reach generation Y, you just have participate in the places where we spend our time. We hang out on social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace. We read local real estate blogs. We search for homes online. We research everything. We expect almost instant responses when we e-mail someone.  We’re always connected. We don’t care to listen to "pitches."

Brand yourself by lending a helping hand and you’ll be in a prime position when tomorrow’s buyers decide to buy their first home!