Engineers today span four generations—and they find information in completely different ways. A marketing program optimized for one generation often fails completely with another. This isn't a minor tactical issue. It's a strategic problem that affects who finds you, who considers you, and ultimately who buys from you.
Baby Boomers still rely heavily on phone calls, print publications, and relationships built over decades. They've seen trends come and go, and they trust the connections they've cultivated. A salesperson they've known for 20 years carries more weight than any website content. Trade show conversations matter. The industry reputation you've built over time matters.
Gen X became comfortable with Google. They search, they read white papers, they download technical content, and they're generally willing to engage with longer-form material if it answers their questions. Email campaigns still work with this audience. LinkedIn is where they connect professionally. They learned to research online but still appreciate talking to experts when making important decisions.
Millennials prefer video and self-service. They'll watch a 15-minute product demonstration on YouTube before they'll schedule a 30-minute call with sales. They research extensively on their own and will avoid talking to a salesperson until absolutely necessary. According to research from Brixon Group, millennial decision-makers make purchasing decisions 41% faster than their Baby Boomer counterparts. They involve more stakeholders—nearly twice as many, averaging 6.8 compared to 3.5 for older executives—but they move faster.
Gen Z is rewriting the rules entirely. They ask ChatGPT before they use Google. They learn from TikTok tutorials. They make decisions with information scrolling by in seconds. They're now entering professional roles and participating in buying committees, and their expectations for how information should be available are fundamentally different from those of previous generations.
Note: Of course, there are lots of examples of people using tools and searching in ways not typical of their generation; the difference in approaches, however, is the point.
The instinct when facing generational diversity is to spread resources across all channels. A little print advertising for the Boomers. Some content marketing for Gen X. Videos for Millennials. Maybe some short-form content for Gen Z.
The problem is that spreading thin means doing nothing well. You end up with mediocre content across every channel instead of exceptional content for your most important audiences.
The better approach is understanding who your actual buyers are today, who they'll be in five years, and building targeted journeys for each. That requires knowing your customers at a deeper level than most manufacturers currently do.
Here's a demographic reality many manufacturers haven't fully confronted: the engineers who designed your customers' last products are retiring. The engineers designing their next products may never want to talk to you.
Research shows that over 70% of B2B buyers are now Millennials or Gen Z. These digital-native buyers complete more than two-thirds of their buying journey independently before ever engaging with sales. They rely on peer feedback, with 57% consulting peers before purchasing compared to 49% of Boomers.
Your primary customers and your experienced salespeople may share similar information-gathering preferences. They've built relationships over the years. They know each other. They trust each other. But both groups are aging out of the workforce.
What happens when your main point of contact at your largest customer retires and is replaced by someone 30 years younger? What happens when your best salespeople—the ones who carry the relationships and institutional knowledge—are no longer there? If your marketing and sales approach hasn't evolved to meet younger buyers where they are, you're building on a foundation that will erode.
The solution isn't abandoning channels that work for current buyers. Trade shows still matter for relationship-based industries. The phone calls and site visits that close deals with established customers shouldn't stop.
But you need to be building the infrastructure to connect with emerging buyers at the same time. That means having content that serves each generation's preferred formats. It means being findable in the channels where younger buyers start their research—including AI tools.
It also means understanding that generational preferences aren't rigid categories. A Millennial engineer at a conservative company might behave more like Gen X. A tech-savvy Boomer might research like a Millennial. The point isn't to stereotype. It's to ensure you're accessible across the spectrum of how modern buyers gather information.
Start by analyzing your current customer base and pipeline by generation. Where are your deals coming from? Are you seeing a shift in the age of decision-makers? Are your best customer relationships with people who might retire in the next ten years?
Then look at your content and channel mix. How much of your marketing material assumes buyers want to talk to salespeople? How much provides self-service options for buyers who prefer to research independently? Do you have video content that explains what you do? Are you discoverable when someone asks an AI tool about solutions to the problems you solve?
The companies that will thrive over the next decade are the ones planning for the generational transition now. The companies that wait until their customer base has shifted will find themselves scrambling to catch up—if they can catch up at all.