The 6th of 7 critical insights into the Mindset of the Boomer Generation

December 10th, 2009

Insight #6 – Boomers are all about health and healthy living

Because Boomers have seen what ill health is like via prior generations, they are starting to feel their own mortality.  It is important to note that they aren’t nearly as concerned with looking young as they are with feeling younger and healthier.  The words vibrant, healthy and vital are all great words to use in your marketing to Baby Boomers.

Carol M. Morgan and Doran J. Levy, Ph.D., in their book Marketing to the Mindset of the Boomers and their Elders break the Boomer Generation down into four Health Segments including: Proactives, Faithful Patients, Optimists and Disillusioned.

Those in the Proactive segment are intensely committed to exercise, eating a balanced diet and avoiding foods high in fat.  They collect information on how to stay healthy and they are convinced that taking such actions will have a positive effect on their health.  Proactives trust the health-care system and they trust their doctors.  They are compliant and will take a prescription drug when directed.

Faithful Patients know what they should be doing to improve their health, but they admit to not taking action.  They don’t take responsibility for their own health and so they turn to doctors, pharmacists and medications to help them get better.  Interested in joining an HMO to cover all of their medical needs, Faithful Patients are the only segment that turns to religion in times of poor health.

Those in the Optimists segment believe that because of good health, great genes and infrequent health exams they are in great health.  Most will tell you that they rarely get sick.  When Optimists do get sick they believe that there was nothing they could have done about it.  They try to avoid taking prescription medications and don’t see the relevance of health care delivered by HMO’s because they believe they have no health problems.

The greatest concern of those in the Disillusioned segment is having insufficient health insurance.  Highly critical of today’s health-care system, they feel alienated from doctors and avoid prescription medications if possible, worrying about harmful drug interactions.  The Disillusioned would like to live a long life and their interest in achieving good health is thwarted by their lack of access to health care.

Understanding the Health segments can help you to better target the consumer who will most need your product or service.  Overall Boomers are very concerned about their health and can be educated on what will help them to age healthy.  If your business is not in the health and wellness industry you can still promote the healthy aging of the Baby Boomer.  Do you use environmentally friendly products when performing your services?  Can you help the Boomer to save money in the future and get rid of mold by installing new plumbing throughout their home?  Do you offer some type of technology that can help people to age in their home or feel more comfortable when out in public?  The creative possibilities for offering the Boomer products and services that will help them to live a healthy life as they age are limitless.  Put your thinking cap on and begin creating!

Posted in Marketplace | No Comments »

Aging in Place – Accessibility, the Boomer and Your Business

October 27th, 2009

hojoMaking your business accessible is great for business!  Make some changes and then tell everyone that your business is fully accessible for all of your customers and employees!  Around the world, the number of people aged 65 and over is expected to almost double in the next 22 years, going from over 500 million now to just under a billion in 2030, according to the US Census Bureau.  Little wonder then that our Retail example, HOJO, a Health and Wellness shop located in France has set its focus squarely on the aging population and the Baby Boomer.

HOJO is one of the first, if not the first retailer with a store front that offers a more holistic variety of about 400 lifestyle products dedicated to keeping the aging population happy, healthy and independent for as long as possible.  On a brick and mortal level, the company’s shop is tailored to its target with such features as wider aisles, price tags with larger lettering and a staff trained in senior issues.  It also offers one-off events for the aging population on such topics as massage, cooking and computers.

Posted in Buying Habits, Marketplace | No Comments »

Say Your Business Needs a Marketing Revolution?

October 7th, 2009

The 5th of 7 critical insights into the Mindset of the Boomer Generation

Insight #5 – Boomers don’t care about keeping up with the Joneses – they choose life experience

Although “keeping up with the Joneses” is not important to the Baby Boomer, they will acquire possessions so that they can achieve the experiences they want in life. For example, adventure travel and walking tours for personal growth are both interesting to Baby Boomers, so Boomers will invest in high-end travel clothes, digital cameras, travel education such as learning a language and expensive luggage.

The question everyone in business must ask him/herself is… “how can we enhance the experiential benefits of our product or service?” National Geographic with its Society sponsored adventure vacations called National Geographic Expeditions is a great example of a company designing an experience around what the Boomer is craving.

The company’s marketing via a letter from their President brings a sense of adventure, of expedition, to the would-be traveler “Our explorers and scientists often speak of the rush of adrenaline and the excitement of their discoveries, and their enthusiasm is contagious. There is something inspiring about the first sight of Machu Picchu rising above the mist, or discovering Oaxaca, Mexico, through the eyes of National Geographic photographer David Alan Harvey.

The National Geographic Expeditions adventure options address many of the “travel experience dimensions” sought by Boomers:

· The illusion of high adventure with the physical risks,
· A sense of the exotic,
· The flexibility to include individualized side trips and,
· Turnkey experiences, neatly planned and packages.

As Brent Green would say, what is the “e-factor” in your product or service? Baby Boomers love peak experiences, so get creative and think of how you can foster them through your business. Use story-telling to connect the facts and provide a good, enjoyable experience for the Boomer and you will have a customer for life.

Posted in Attitudes and Preferences, Buying Habits, Lifestyle, Marketplace | 2 Comments »

Green Living and Boomers

September 30th, 2009

A Boomer Insight:

Many Boomers raised at the tail end of the 1950’s when environmental activism was born have had a concern for the environment that has been instilled in them for basically their whole life going back to even before the first “Earth Day”. They recycle, plant tress and become members of various environmental clubs. Some even view owning a car as a necessary evil.

The Boomer Generation has driven every major automotive buying trend since the late 1970’s, after giving up on Detroit’s gas guzzlers they began buying small boxy imports built by Toyota and Honda, then mini vans and as their wealth grew, sexier and brawnier sport–utility vehicles to carry their growing families. Along the way Boomers left Lincoln and Cadillac behind to purchase Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus, are they are now on the verge of making another major turn. After years of what has seemed to be indifference, they are starting to change their buying habits to reflect a growing concern for global warming.

Boomers who haven’t given what they drive much thought in the past are beginning to make commitments to purchasing vehicles that will be better for the environment, and are making decisions to live more green overall, in the hopes that efforts made today will in some way help the water and air to be in good condition for their children and grandchildren.

Posted in Attitudes and Preferences, Buying Habits, Lifestyle | No Comments »

Say Your Business Needs a Marketing Revolution?

September 21st, 2009

The 4th of 7 critical insights into the Mindset of the Boomer Generation

Insight #4 – Boomers aren’t true to brands, they just want choices

Believe it or not, the decades old myth that says people select brands early in life and never switch, does not apply to the Baby Boomer.  And, it doesn’t apply to 91% of consumers who say that they don’t care about brand name, what they want is value.  Today, new choices and new brands come along every day, what is important to the Boomers is the value delivered by the brand, not the brand itself.

Boomers want information about new options and they want choices.  Present the information so they are informed and then let them make their own decision.  Because they have been the generation most marketed to over the years, they know all of the marketing tricks and can see right straight through them.

Show Baby Boomers the big picture; they have learned to look at things from a Holistic point of view.  Help them to see how your products or services fit into the more global view of things.  Empower Boomers with options that allow them to express their individuality and give them a complete overview of all of the possibilities.

To put this in perspective, don’t just sell weight training as a way to preserve youth, present aerobics and yoga in the same fitness package.  If you are selling casual clothing, offer all of the layers needed for a change of weather along with the appropriate shoes and accessories to move from casual to more dressy, from warm weather to cold.  When selling a fast laptop, include the power to manage a company while sipping a smoothie at Jamba Juice.  Include everything that is needed in one package, making life easier and you will be well on your way to attracting the Baby Boomer as a customer.

Posted in Attitudes and Preferences, Buying Habits, Marketplace | No Comments »

Say Your Business Needs a Marketing Revolution?

September 11th, 2009

The 3rd of 7 critical insights into the Mindset of the Boomer Generation

Insight #3 – Don’t Make the Mistake of Calling a Boomer a Senior

The Baby Boomer Generation is comprised of individuals born between 1946 and 1964 who are 45 to 63 years of age.  Do not make the mistake of confusing them with the Silent Generation, those born between 1924 and 1945 a generation who like generations before them accepted and were therefore called “Senior”, or Senior Citizen.

Silent Generation is a term coined in the November 5, 1951 cover story of Time to refer to the generation coming of age at the time, born during the Great Depression or World War II.  The article, (which defined the generation at the time as born from 1923 to 1943), found its characteristics as grave and fatalistic, conventional, possessing confused morals, expecting disappointment but desiring faith, and for women, desiring both a career and a family.  The article stated:

Youth today is waiting for the hand of fate to fall on its shoulders, meanwhile working fairly hard and saying almost nothing. The most startling fact about the younger generation is its silence. With some rare exceptions, youth is nowhere near the rostrum. By comparison with the Flaming Youth of their fathers & mothers, today’s younger generation is a still, small flame. It does not issue manifestoes, make speeches or carry posters. It has been called the “Silent Generation.” (Wikipedia)

Whereas the Wikipedia definition of the Baby Boomer is: In general, baby boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values; however, many commentators have disputed the extent of that rejection, noting the widespread continuity of values with older and younger generations. In Europe and North America boomers are widely associated with privilege, as many grew up in a time of affluence.  As a group, they were the healthiest and wealthiest generation to that time, and amongst the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time.

One of the unique features of Boomers was that they tended to think of themselves as a special generation, very different from those that had come before. In the 1960s, as the relatively large numbers of young people became teenagers and young adults, they, and those around them, created a very specific rhetoric around their cohort, and the change they were bringing about. This rhetoric had an important impact in the self perceptions of the boomers, as well as their tendency to define the world in terms of generations, which was a relatively new phenomenon.

The baby boom has been described variously as a “shockwave” and as “the pig in the python.” By the sheer force of its numbers, the boomers were a demographic bulge which remodeled society as it passed through it. (Wikipedia)

As you can see, there are marked differences between the two generations, making the assumption that Baby Boomers will want to be called Seniors could be bad for business.  Most Baby Boomers do not like the term Senior, they don’t think of themselves as a Senior Citizen, and many may never adapt to being called one.  For example, let’s say you have a customer who is 65 years of age who freely admits to being a Senior Citizen, and you have one who is 63 (a leading edge Baby Boomer), who has never mentioned it.  Err on the side of never calling this customer a Senior Citizen, he or she might be highly offended. 

Gail Sheehy, a Sociologist and Author of the Best Seller “New Passages” has done numerous studies of people in different generations who are experiencing increased life spans and she has concluded that labels such as “Age of Mastery” for those who are age 45 to 65 and “Age of Integrity” for those who are 65 to 85+ are much more appropriate terms for today’s aging population.

 Boomers believe that they should be treated special just because they are Boomers and if you are offering a “Senior Discount”, like an “Early Bird Special” to your customers, it is important to know that Boomers do not like to be thought of as not having the financial wherewithal to pay for goods and services.  Consider designing your “specials” around the Boomer consumer, make them the central focus and the reason for having the special.  Do a survey of your customers to see what product or service you offer that they like best and why, be sure to get their age.  Then design your promotions around the information you have collected. 

If you have always offered a Senior Discount of some sort and would like to continue doing so, think of changing what you call it and make sure that you train your staff so they understand why you are doing this.  Perhaps you could call your Senior Discount the Age of Integrity Discount and train your staff to ask the customer if he or she is in the Age of Integrity.   This minor change is sure to cause Boomers to feel special and much more comfortable with being asked if they would like to take advantage of a discount, and more comfortable about purchasing products and/or services from your business today and in the future.

Posted in Attitudes and Preferences, Lifestyle | No Comments »

What’s on the mind of the Baby Boomer?

August 31st, 2009

Could it be Healthy Aging?

Marketing to the Healthy Aging need

Health Care and the concerns of our current system are on everyone’s mind these days, no one can escape it!  I am seeing and hearing more and more about preventive strategies for healthy aging every day on the television, the radio and on the web.

I am a Baby Boomer and a family caregiver.  My mother is on Medicare, and yesterday she went to the pharmacy and paid over $600 for 3 prescriptions.  You can bet preventive strategies for healthy aging are on my mind for several reasons: quality of life, economics and my family’s future.

What does this mean for your business?  Marketing to the Baby Boomer’s healthy aging concerns is a market niche many businesses haven’t even considered.  Healthy aging can and should be promoted by businesses in all industries, not just in the medical professions.  Healthy Aging encompasses not only your physical and mental health but economic, environmental and spiritual health as well.  Positioning your business so that your products and services are viewed as preventive strategies for healthy aging will give you a reason to reach out to your current client base and the Baby Boomer Generation with fresh, innovative ways for them to live a healthy life as they age.

Don’t forget to discuss your marketing strategy with your staff, make sure to let them know how important providing your existing clients and the Baby Boomer with choices for healthy aging is to your business success.

For ideas on how your businesses’ products and services can be promoted as being preventive strategies for healthy aging visit “The Choices for Healthy Living on-line Community” or call the staff at Viva! Choices (530) 742-8482 or (888) 384-8482.

Providing the Baby Boomer with preventive strategies for healthy aging that will help them to fulfill their need to age healthy will create client loyalty, increase your profits and ultimately position your business for success today and in the future!

Posted in Attitudes and Preferences, Lifestyle, Special Needs | 3 Comments »

Give Baby Boomers what they need…More time!

August 31st, 2009

Market your business to the recapture your time need.

We all know that one of the keys to building a successful business is filling a need.  What are the top needs of the baby boomer?  You can be certain that the ability to recapture time is among the top 2 or 3 and is number 1 depending on the day.

What does the ability to recapture time mean to the baby boomer and your business?

For the Baby Boomer, time savings represent a contribution to the means by which they will live the lifestyle they intend as they age, period.  Most Baby Boomers have can-do attitudes that speak volumes.  In short, they want to do life their way.

For your business, this need to recapture time can translate into opportunity.  Any business that customizes their product or service to meet the growing needs of the Boomer Generation is going to be rewarded for their efforts.

The Baby Boomers, also known as the sandwich generation are extremely busy.  They are many times sandwiched between 2 to 3 generations, taking care of children, sometimes grandchildren, parents and sometimes grandparents while managing a career and trying to stay healthy.  Anything you can offer the Baby Boomer that will simplify their life and allow them to recapture their time will be rewarded.  This could mean delivery of a product or service, going to the client instead of having them come to you.  Build flexibility into your business system to meet the growing needs of the Baby Boomer and help them to recapture their time, and then TELL THEM about it in your marketing!  DO YOU NEED TO SAVE TIME? NEED MORE FLEXIBILITY IN YOUR LIFE?….WE SAVE YOU TIME, WE OFFER YOU FLEXIBILITY, WE WILL MEET YOUR NEED!

Discuss this strategy with your staff; let them know how important it is to the business… and how helping the Baby Boomer to recapture their time will contribute to the businesses’ success giving them better job security.   The commitment to helping the Baby Boomer and all of your existing clients recapture their time is a good reason to get in touch with them.  Let your clients know you are committed to the flexibility that allows them to recapture their time.

Another resource for helping your clients save time is The Choices for Healthy Aging on-line Community:  “A gathering place for Boomers and Businesses who redefine aging choices”.  Providing the Baby Boomer with the resources, services, products and support to help them recapture their time will generate profits, generate client loyalty and ultimately build your business.

Posted in Attitudes and Preferences, Family, Lifestyle, Special Needs | No Comments »

Say Your Business Needs a Marketing Revolution?

August 28th, 2009

The 2nd of 7 critical insights into the mindset of the Boomer Generation

Insight #2 – Boomers are Boomers, but they aren’t all alike. 

Born between 1946 and 1964, the Baby Boomer Generation is comprised of individuals who are anywhere from 45 to 63 years of age.  This sizeable difference in age is one of the things that make this generation stand apart from others.  Diversity coupled with rapidly increasing competition make it necessary for business owners to improve their ability to target their best prospects and retain their more lucrative customers.

In the book Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders, Carol Morgan and Doran Levy, Ph.D. break the Baby Boomer Generation down into four Lifestyle Segments: Upbeat Enjoyers; Insecure; Threatened Actives and Financial Positives.

Upbeat Enjoyers are enthusiastic, active, involved and they believe that their future is bright.  Viewing the world through “rose colored glasses”, upbeat enjoyers believe that age has increased their attractiveness.  Expanding intellectual horizons, working when it is interesting or convenient to do so and having little concern about future financial security are all traits of the Upbeat Enjoyer.

Baby Boomers and Elders in the Insecure segment are deeply troubled by their lack of financial security.  Looking back on their difficult past they see little possibility that their life will improve.  Many are concerned about being the victim of a crime and will end up working well into retirement with few other plans and goals.  Not at all happy with the effects of age on their memory and appearance, the Insecure will purchase all types of products that they believe will make them physically and mentally younger.

Threatened Actives are very intent on preserving their independence by working as long as they can, remaining in their home and continuing to drive their own car.  With a mostly positive attitude and outlook on life, they are accepting of who they are.  Threatened Actives feel that they are somewhat financially secure, they would like to leave some of their assets to their children, are a bit concerned about their safety and do not view retirement as a time for cultivation of new interests.

Those in the Financial Positives segment are realistic and they have spent time and effort in long term planning.  Because of this they definitely do not intend to work in retirement.  Savvy buyers, Financial Positives are seekers of value in everything they purchase regardless of what it is.  They are not satisfied with their appearance and memory making them strong candidates for plastic surgery.

Morgan and Levy have written a book that gives incredible insight into the Lifestyle Segments of Boomers and their Elders.  Think about how you can use this information to define a more specific segment of the Baby Boomer Generation to target and then consider different ways that you can customize your product or service to fit their needs.  Soon you will realize that you are well on your way to experiencing the Boom your business needs!

Posted in Attitudes and Preferences, Buying Habits, Lifestyle | No Comments »

Say Your Business Needs a Marketing Revolution?

August 21st, 2009

The first of 7 critical insights into the mindset of the Baby Boomer Generation

Insight # 1 – Boomers want to change the world and they have done it every step of their way.

The Baby Boomers Generation, (Boomers as they are sometimes called) comprised of 78 million people who were born between the years of 1946 and 1964, is the largest generation to be born in the history of the world.  If you had been an observer in 1946 when our men came home at the End of World War II, you probably would have been amazed at how many young women were pregnant!

In the 1950’s as American Companies saw this trend continuing, many decided to capitalize on the “Baby Boom” by awarding stock, cars, money to couples who had their baby on the companies anniversary, sales or other date they deemed relevant.  Parents all over the country had something new to be excited about – would their child be born on this or that important date?

In an effort to try and keep track of the Baby Boom a “census clock” was placed in the Commerce Departments Washington D.C., headquarters.  Multicolored flashing lights on the clock signaled a birth every 7 ½ seconds, a death every 20 seconds, the arrival of a new immigrant every 1 ½ minutes and the departure of an emigrant every 20 minutes.  The result was an increase in population of one person every 11 seconds! 

Baby Boomer Power

Parents, Companies, Churches and Government all have catered to the Boomer’s needs over the years by giving them choices that other generations would never have dreamed of.  Today, a Baby Boomer turns 60 years of age every 11 seconds, and as a result, there is a significant daily increase in the total number of people who are over the age of 60. 

What does this huge demographic shift taking place in our world today mean for you and your business?  Think about ways that you can position your business to help the Baby Boomer Generation change the world (make the world a better place) for those who are aging in place and you’ll be well on your way to developing the Marketing Revolution to enhance your business.  You’ll give it the “Boom” it needs!

 

Posted in Attitudes and Preferences, Buying Habits, Demographics, Family, Lifestyle, Marketplace, Special Needs | No Comments »

« Older Entries