If your product or service is, or can be, attractive to older generations, your company needs to come to terms with the fact that what you have to do to capture a more seasoned customer is often not the same as what you do to entice younger populations. Here are some important points to keep in mind:
- Older consumers don’t like advertising that assaults their infirmities and reminds them of their problems
- They like to spend money wisely and responsibly
- Marketing messages that stress “luxury” or self-indulgent services are generally less effective with senior markets than younger markets
- In making discretionary expenditures, older consumers respond more favorably to products and services that they perceive as facilitating desired experiences
- They typically tend to respond more favorably to marketing messages that emphasize introspective or altruistic values. They respond less favorably to marketing messages that emphasize selfish interests
- Older consumers have a strong aversion to embellished claims and to what they perceive as misleading imagery
- Ads must be easy to read for older eyes!
Furthermore, since the primary purpose of advertising is to generate ads with the best chance of generating interest and converting that interest into a sale, the ads should reflect an empathy with the values and motivators of this demographic:
- Autonomy and self‑sufficiency (independence/participation)
- Social connectedness (relationships/friendships)
- Altruism (opportunity to share wisdom and ability to do for others: family, community & country)
- Personal growth (gain knowledge)
- Revitalization (need to rejuvenate)
Excerpted from the website of Coming of Age, a senior and baby boomer marketing firm. To read the entire article, go to http://www.comingofage.com/senior-marketing/.
