When Connecting to Gen Y, “Moms” the Word

So, just who has the most influence over today’s Gen Y’ers?  Their friends and social networks? The media? Teachers? Advertisers? Nope ... no ... nay ... nada. It’s good ol’ Mom and Dad, that’s who.

And that’s why PSCU-FS, through our ProjectNewAge initiative, is helping our member CUs connect with Gen Y via parents (so, if you haven’t already done so, be sure sign up for our newly launched GiveMe20.com Web site and the credit union database for directing parents of Gen Y’ers to your Web site! ... just click here).

When targeting this very, very important audience, it’s important to know Gen Y Moms are more active than all previous generations when it comes to product decisions. Like never before, there’s collaboration between teens and young adults and their parents. Heck, 90 percent of all teens report being “very close” to their parents (compared to only 40 percent of Gen X’ers).

Moms of Gen Y’ers want to know (no, make that “demand” to know) what their child is experiencing, and thinking.

So, keep in mind, Moms controls 80% of all household spending ... 70% believe they are “just as Web-savvy” as their kids and spouse ... and 60% of working Moms recommend using the Internet to reach them. Moms report using the Internet extensively to shop for information and solutions for her family, especially for health, parenting ideas, travel ... and, get this, finance ranks very high.

Parents of Gen Y’ers are time-starved and ravenous for information to stay informed about their kids ... and they want information to be easy and convenient (which is how we built GiveMe20.com). So, when marketing to Moms make sure you remove the fluff, giving her clear, hard facts. Also, much like Gen Y’ers themselves, communicate with Moms in ways that are "real" ... so lose the celebrities, use imagery and people that are real, like her.

If your credit union hasn’t yet developed a Gen Y Marketing Strategy, start today ... right now. Keep in mind, teens will be the demographic majority by 2010!

Contact Susan Follick, PSCU-FS Marketing Segmentation Manager, to learn more about ProjectNewAge and the GiveMe20.com program for reaching Gen Y’ers through their parents.