Understanding what’s valuable to baby boomers and seniors is a better approach to driving sales compared to merely trying to plan or devise new marketing and advertising departments, says a recent Coming of Age blog post.
“Through a process to change your company’s frame of reference (paradigm shift) about the value of Baby Boomer and senior customers, and the frame of reference to your employees, you can make significant progress and improve the market position of your company, now and into the future,” writes mature market sales and advertising expert Jim Gilmartin of Coming of Age.
When it comes to boomer and senior marketing, Gilmartin recommends an 11-point strategic approach, starting with becoming familiar with the physiological, psychological, and emotional changes related to the aging process.
The next step builds upon the first: based on what companies learn, they must then be willing to change their frame of reference and take an intelligent approach to securing—and keeping—boomer and senior customers.
Other strategies include shaping the company’s culture to support what boomer and senior customers values, identify service gaps, and question traditional approaches to communicating with older customers.
“Consider perception, values and physical changes of the target market in your deliberations [and] the age of those in your organization responsible for communications to Baby Boomer and senior customers,” Gilmartin writes. “Typically, younger employees have difficulty empathizing with aging adult populations.”
The solution to improving traditional and online marketing, increasing sales, and improving services for boomer and senior customers is multi-dimensional and complex, he continues, and it should start with acquired knowledge and increased understanding.
“Few groups today offer as much potential as Baby Boomer and senior customers. What you do to improve your company’s position in the minds of Baby Boomer and seniors will be appreciated by younger markets as well,” concludes Gilmartin. “Your success is directly tied to your frame of reference and the strategic approach you take.”
Read the full 11-point strategic approach at the Coming of Age blog.
Written by Alyssa Gerace
