Baby boomers cause shift in marketing-to-seniors game
By: Mark HaslanFebruary 25th, 2010
Today’s seniors are nothing like seniors of previous generations – today’s seniors are baby boomers. They have prioritized staying active, healthy and cognitively fit, and as a result are much more open to new experiences and ready to spend their hard-earned money.
So for businesses that count seniors among their target demographics, the aging of the baby boomer population has opened up a whole new set of marketing opportunities, and businesses shuld adapt their messages and brand voice accordingly.
To most effectively target the baby boomer demographic, marketers should focus their messages on "feel age" and not "real age," reported government business resource Business.gov.
Because baby boomers are more physically active than their counterparts in previous generations, they feel – and act – younger, and marketing messages should address this. For example, a brochure discussing osteoporosis medicine should focus not on how it will prevent bones from breaking, but how it will keep seniors playing golf and walking around museums, the website advised.
Tom Barry, marketing professor at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, says this concept of "feel age" is best described as "cognitive age," and argues that marketers should focus their campaigns aimed at seniors around this concept.
"Use models that are cognitively younger; they don’t have to look younger, but have a persona that is psychologically younger," he said. "The content of advertising, sales, and marketing messages should be cognitively based."
Customer service and other brand loyalty efforts also become more important when targeting the senior demographic, Business.gov reported.
"Seniors and baby boomers generally buy what everyone else buys," said the website. "But they tend to take more time to research and plan what and how they spend their money."
As a result, marketers should invest in customer loyalty measures such as postcard feedback campaigns, coupons and rewards programs, and even newsletters sent on company letterhead containing a personal message from the CEO or business owner – a recent study from Edelman found that consumers’ trust in messages from company CEOs has increased by 9 percent since last year.
Businesses are advised to get their senior-tailored marketing messages pinned down sooner rather than later – by the year 2030, the number of Americans aged 65 and older will nearly double from 37 million to 72 million, reported Southern Methodist University.
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