Generation Z is the future customer of every business.

Generation Z, the first generation born in the 21st Century, is the generation born with the Internet in their pocket. Their first digital device was a smart phone!  They connect to the world, and your business, through social media. Importantly, they spend a higher percentage of their money online than any other generation.

This is a generation shaped by a world created by their parents and grandparents. They were born into global terrorism, a Great Recession and climate change. As a result this generation is fiscally conservative.

They are also engaged on social equality and environmental issues.

Their global connectivity cuts across country boundaries. Through this connectivity they feel a stronger affinity for fellow Generation Z members than with members of other generations in their own country. As a business your Generation Z customers will have a lot in common even if they live in Paris, Beijing, Mexico City or New York.

Generation Z is the future customer of every business. Today they represent approximately 25% of the U.S. population. They currently have $44 billion of annual buying power.

If you thought your business had to adopt to the millennial generation then get ready for really big changes from a Generation Z that feels a strong sense of urgency and expects businesses to be part of their solution to the issues they confront.

How Generation Z Views Your Brand

Generation Z uses their social media connections to evaluate your company and products. A company that does wrong in one country will lose credibility with Generation Z around the world. It is not what you advertise that will engage Generation Z.

What is posted around the world by Generation Z on their social media with define your company’s brand. Corporate social responsibility is the path to product brand engagement for Generation Z.

How To Win The Generation Z Customer

Generation Z was also born into the Green Economic Revolution.  They expect the businesses they work with to have green supply chains that minimize human and environmental impacts.

They question the ownership of things . They embrace the sharing economy for its ability to leverage their money and reduce waste. Renting, sharing and downloading are their preferred commercial paths.

You win a Generation Z customer by offering them a fiscally prudent path to a meaningful result. They seek to rent, share or download from businesses that have a purpose beyond the transaction.

This is not idealism. Generation Z expect their expenditures to align with the solutions they seek around social equality, climate change, individual freedom and human health. To win the business loyalty of  Generation Z you need to be viewed a solution to one of their key issues.

Four Steps To Selling Generation Z

1.   This is the generation with the 8 second filter.

It is incorrect to believe they have a short attention span. They are the generation born into Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Their attention is overwhelmed by tweets and posts. They have developed the attention capacity for dealing with this volume by scanning things in 8 seconds.

So step one in winning a Generation Z customer is to have social media postings that are relevant to them with eye catching visuals.

Next- Three More Steps to Sell Generation Z