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Is your message reaching us baby boomers?

Peter 6 Comments

I recently read that two thirds of all the people who have ever lived to the age of 65 are alive today! I’ll soon be joining them!

Think of the implications that has for marketers of any product or service that is, or can be, bought by our age group.

Add to this the fact that our baby boomer generation is not only living longer than previous generations, but is staying active longer. So the old thinking that retirees would not be interested in, or capable of using, many products or services, no longer applies.

Some examples, sports equipment and clothing, motor bikes, travel, education.

Some of the things I have bought after I turned 55, would have seemed improbable when I was 35, ice skates – I learned to skate at 56, horse equipment – I still ride, groom and care for my own horses, tools, bicycles, computers, software, educational programmes, business and self development books.

Then there are the products that this group have historically used, health and wellness, nutritional, weight loss, anti-aging just for starters.

Another interesting statistic is that one of the fastest growing groups of facebook users is women over the age of 55 who are using the site to keep in contact with their grandchildren!

Then look at the range of income levels for this generation, from affluent with mortages paid off, no child care costs and a healthy income from investments and retirement plans, to those desperately seeking ways to supplement a dwindling return from savings and investments decimated by the recession.

Now start putting all this together, are you targeting this market for your business?

Are you using the right language in your advertising, promotions and sales copy?

Are you assuming that because your generation X or younger target market understand your message that us older people will also understand it. Perhaps you should look at it from a different perspective.

Some messages that resonate well with my 35 year old son, not only don’t appeal to me but can actually turn me off.

Post a comment below and share your thoughts.

Here are two links that will appeal to most age groups:

“7 Strategies to Finding Your Target Market on Twitter” by Donna Gunter. Some good tips here to develop an effective twitter strategy.

GizaPage a time saving social media hub that allows you to have all your social media links on 1 page. Now you can just display your Giza Page link and your contacts can get to your twitter, facebook, Linked In and many other sites.

It is particularly effective for putting your social media links on business cards, one line instead of one side of the card.

And it’s free.

No disclaimer neccesary, I don’t earn a commission, just find it good.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours.

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6 Comments

  1. Sandra Rhodda

    Great post Peter. You forgot one thing though. Stats show that as people age, they experience more disability. This doesn’t mean they become incapable of course, but they may need better signs, better sound in movies etc. My interests lie in trying to convince the New Zealand (where I live) government and tourism industry that they need now to start looking at catering for an ageing and therefore increasingly disabled clientele – something they don’t do at the moment. I post articles almost daily about these subjects – ageing Boomers, seniors, people with disabilities, and tourism, on my website if you want to have a look.
    Cheers
    Sandra

    • admin Post author

      Good point Sandra, so as marketers should we be looking at the needs of 2 groups? Seniors staying active longer and people with disabilities who have the means and desires to also enjoy life well into later years.

      From the statistics on your blog, it appears that both of these groups are going to increase in numbers as the populations in the developed (and some of the developing) nations continue to live longer.

      Thanks for your comment.

  3. Lee chye seng

    Great post Peter, I just want to add some opinion maybe all goverment should implement a co-op programme so that each and everyone who is in the workforce must contribute a small percentage of their salary to this fund so that when they reach their retirement the co-op will paid them a monthly sum according to their saving through the years with a much better interest than the bank deposit and also have a insurance policy to cover them through the years.

    Thks

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