I must be asked this question several times a day. Even by some of the best marketers in the business. My answer is always the same ‘talk to Gen Y,’ they don’t bite. And remember the way you learned about products and services is not the way they learn about products and services. So, don’t ask me what is the right type of TV commercial to run? Or what the right direct mail campaign is? Direct mail? The young whipper snappers I work with don’t write checks, don’t receive bank statements. They ‘do it online.’ But don’t take my word for it. Just ask them. Don’t look at them or treat them like they are from another planet.When we wrote our book, we went right to the source and ask Gen Y how they like to be communicated with.  To be honest, I hate when I see blogs and online articles that say the best way to market to Gen Y is to have cool and hip products. Those were words I used in high school and I am an old guy. But then again, what do I know. I did a Google Search on ‘Cool and Gen Y’ and ended up with over 600,000 results. Note, however, when I ask a Gen  Yer what type of product they like the words ‘cool and hip’ never come up. So there seems to be a disconnect here, eh? 

The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that “two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.”