Millennial obsession? Time to move on, the real winners are elsewhere.

I thought people would be over this by now, but I guess the content marketing around a commonly used phrase is working for people to gain attention. But that's all it will do, not useful attention.

Grouping people by the year they popped out into the world is about as useful as grouping people by the 5th letter of their mother's maiden name. I'm sure it would produce some interesting results, but nonetheless meaningless results.

There are 1000s of posts about how 53% of this group act in a certain way, or even 75%, and treating this data as though ALL people in that group should be treated, even though millions don't fit the pattern.

What would a smart marketer do? Chase after these tiny imaginary millennial creatures?

If by smart you mean doing what everyone else is doing and ignoring the other percentage (often as high as 47%!), then you're wrong.

So while all the data-driven marketers are chasing this 53%, the smart ones are sitting back from the crazy crowd of millennial-stalking marketers and instead focussing on the 47%. The individuals, the niche, the interesting. Why be stuck in a crowd, trying to win over a group of people who don't like the fact you're calling them lazy, self-centered, narcissists etc. Why would they buy from you? Guess what, the majority aren't like that at all. Just a bad few eggs. Just because they act differently to you, doesn't mean you need to label them so.

Look at individuals, and what they're passionate about. We live in an age where some 40 year olds behave like 20 year olds and vice versa. Chances are too that the 40 year olds have more to spend.

Niches are where it's exciting. You can't mass market an exciting product to everyone unless you're a billionaire. Start small, dream big. Who knows, you'll probably never get there, but at least you'll be passionate about what you're doing along the way.

And when it comes to hiring people and managing them? Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Most people want to have a good work/life balance. Older people have been overworked and put off by redundancy after redundancy. Younger people have seen their parents go through it. The time of jobs for life is over, so don't expect employees to worship you without treating them well first.

Instead of second guessing what your staff want, here's a little trick that will save you loads of time and money:

Ask them

Don't do studies and focus groups, ask individuals.

You may be able to give them what they desire, you may not. If not you could try and make it so in the future, with their help. Co-create their future. For example if they want to be able to work remotely, give them the responsibility of making their job something that can be performed remotely.

Don't second guess what people want, 99% of the time we're wrong when we do that. It only takes five minutes to ask.