How young marketers do their job may surprise you

Today’s young marketers of the Millennial and Gen Y generations use their time both on and offline in ways we Boomers might consider too. Or not.

Here are some big differences I’ve noted:

▪  They prefer not to phone clients and customers. Instead, they text them whenever possible in an attempt to avoid casual conversation. Getting to the point quickly is the goal. This text-versus-talk communication is not necessarily ill-mannered. If a congenial client relationship is in place and both parties agree to it, go for the time-saving text and hope for instantaneous feedback sans all the phone exchange.

▪  They practice cyber hygiene. Because their tech devices are the nexus of both their social and business lives, new gen marketers scrupulously guard them fiercely against intrusions like hacking. They remember to log out of sites, portals and platforms before shutting down their computers. They organize their files and keep their desktops as clean as possible. They change their passwords frequently on all their devices and use online tools such as third party password manager software (ie. Dashlane, 1Password, Safebox, Quertycard) to automatically generate new passwords and store them altogether in one convenient place encrypted in the cloud. Third party managers can sync your data across all cloud servers, computer platforms and devices.

▪  They get all their how-to information online. No softcover Dummy books, no calls to the public library or the service desks at computer stores. Although online answers are numerous and overwhelming, new gen marketers eschew the use of Siri, Google Now, Alexa or other voice assistants to pose their questions. Preferring to work quietly in the background, they uncover all they need to know by typing a question into the search bar, skipping the top links marked “AD” and diving in the keyword-rich data their search has generated. Simple.

▪  They are discerning about the apps they use. The novelty of clever apps has lost most of its luster by the time younger marketers enter the workforce, so they are careful to download only the ones they deem most productive like Buffer for social media management, time managers or note savers like EverNote and Dropbox. Forget gaming apps, health and fitness, entertainment and photo enhancers.

▪  They diligently follow blogs, websites, aggregated sources and social sites pertinent to their work. This is the way to keep up with the newest trends and changes in any particular industry, and younger marketers find them to be invaluable to remaining relevant in the business world. They rarely use printers or handle actual paper. Exceptions to this are antique treasure maps, last wills and testaments and Polaroid photos. In fact, as paper adversaries, some Millennial and Gen–X marketers have yet to see the insides of a metal file drawer.

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 12:30 PM with the headline "How young marketers do their job may surprise you."