With age comes wisdom, right? Now your mom may’ve been the one to tell you that, but what she didn’t tell you is that the real wisdom on who to market to lies within her very generation—baby boomers.
With age comes wisdom, right? Now your mom may’ve been the one to tell you that, but what she didn’t tell you is that the real wisdom on who to market to lies within her very generation—baby boomers.
When it comes to a demographic that makes up a whopping 28% of the US population and 70% of the nations disposable income, it’s no secret that baby boomers are a large and powerful audience to be reckoned with.
What we’re really trying to say is that revamping your marketing tactics to better target this specific demographic should be, and hopefully is, a priority.
That said, please enjoy these 4 insights illustrating how best to jitterbug your way into the hearts of your beloved boomers:
Timeless Media:
The community involvement aspect of social media highly appeals to the baby boomer generation despite the naysayers. According to Quick Sprout, boomers currently account for more than a fifth of all social media users. That said, boomers are one to stick to what they know when it comes to media and adhere to traditional platforms— aka Facebook.
With boomers 19% more likely than any generation to share content on Facebook, targeted ads and relevant content are your best bet to catch their attention and cash in those ad dollars. That said, be willing to invest liberally in content marketing of all varieties—it’ll bring the best and biggest ROI.
Online Habits:
Boomers spend a lot of time online—about 19 hours a week to be exact. According to a study conducted by Quick Sprout, 85 percent of boomers consistently spend time browsing and shopping online, and “66 percent of people over 50 in the U.S. routinely make purchases from online retailers.”
Keep Their Eye On The Prize:
If marketers want their ads to have “boomer appeal,” they need to make their content accessible and easy to understand by avoiding confusing wording and fonts that are too gimmicky or distracting.
According to a study conducted by MediaPost, product messages will be more efficient and effective to boomers when expressed in the stage-of-life language style of the core market to which you primarily address the message. For example, young people have stronger outer-directed motivations relating to social status than boomers. Thus, boomer’s motivations tend to be more experiential and less materialistic when it comes to browsing and purchase – so make sure to properly gage your audience in order to impose language and targeting methods effectively.
Boomer Approved vs. Boomer Confused
Direct Mail: It’s Not Dead Yet
Although recent years have dubbed direct mail an “outdated medium,” a study conducted by InMan Marketing found that 68% of 45 to 64 year-olds greatly prefer direct mail to other forms of outbound marketing— leaving boomers 58% more likely to respond to direct mail than any other generation.
Due to the trust boomers have in this traditional marketing medium, you can afford to be slightly more direct with your message. For example, rather than overwhelming your consumer with all the reasons they should trust your brand, try and instead condense your marketing pitch and get straight to the good stuff—why should they respond to you?
Sales alert! We don’t do this often, but this is the perfect time to Segway into a new offering— Awlogy just launched a new programmatic and audience based direct mail offering. Hit us up for more info. Ok, now back to the facts.
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With 75.6 million baby boomers hitting the road to retirement in the next decade, their buying habits and spending power are there for the taking.
This all said and done, keeping your messaging clear, concise and to the point will work best to maximize boomer retention—leaving room for interpretation won’t be too pretty when it comes from behind 2-inch bifocals.
