With America's population aging, smart advertisers are looking at the demographics and realizing senior citizens have disposable income and are willing to spend money on the things that interest them. They have some of the same preferences as younger generations, but often for different reasons. You can capture this market if you use some sound marketing to seniors strategies.
Some older citizens feel like the world has been invaded by aliens with all the emojis, sound bites, creative spelling, and online media feeds. If you want their business, you need to drop the jargon and speak a language they understand. Dramatic testimonies and trendy graphics aren't going to move them. What does succeed is straight talk and an honest dialog clearly stating what your service or product will do to make life easier for them.
One of the first rules of marketing is give the public what they want. You won't sell much extolling the bells and whistles of your product. You will be much more successful convincing the buying public of how your product will improve their lives and why they need to buy it now. This holds true no matter whether you are directing your advertising at retired people or teenagers.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with senior citizens is to talk down to them. These are not kindergartners or mentally impaired individuals. Seniors have lived long lives and learned a lot. Many have been very successful in their careers. Nothing disgusts them more or makes them angrier than someone who is disrespectful or condescending. If you are going to market to this age group, you should implant this lesson squarely in your brain.
A lot of older citizens are very technologically savvy. They have smart phones, download apps, and are active on social media. Other seniors have no interest. When you want to appeal to both, you need to make technology an option, but not the only one. Burying vital information in fine print or requiring them to understand icons, will cause you to lose older, paying customers.
You might be tempted to drop your print advertising and concentrate on your website, believing everyone shops online these days. Seniors grew up when landlines and mail were the main forms of long distance communication. They still check books out of the library. Many look forward to seeing catalogs and brochures in their mailboxes, and enjoy the tactile nature of printed materials.
The younger generation doesn't think anything about communicating through automation when they call a business to place an order or get more information. Many seniors hate talking to a machine, and some will refuse to do it. You will gain loyal older customers when you man your phones with polite, knowledgeable, well spoken, live humans.
If you mistakenly assume senior citizens aren't active consumers, you are going to miss a big portion of the buying public. You will have to learn what motivates them to buy. You will also have to speak their language when you are trying to sell them your service.
Some older citizens feel like the world has been invaded by aliens with all the emojis, sound bites, creative spelling, and online media feeds. If you want their business, you need to drop the jargon and speak a language they understand. Dramatic testimonies and trendy graphics aren't going to move them. What does succeed is straight talk and an honest dialog clearly stating what your service or product will do to make life easier for them.
One of the first rules of marketing is give the public what they want. You won't sell much extolling the bells and whistles of your product. You will be much more successful convincing the buying public of how your product will improve their lives and why they need to buy it now. This holds true no matter whether you are directing your advertising at retired people or teenagers.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with senior citizens is to talk down to them. These are not kindergartners or mentally impaired individuals. Seniors have lived long lives and learned a lot. Many have been very successful in their careers. Nothing disgusts them more or makes them angrier than someone who is disrespectful or condescending. If you are going to market to this age group, you should implant this lesson squarely in your brain.
A lot of older citizens are very technologically savvy. They have smart phones, download apps, and are active on social media. Other seniors have no interest. When you want to appeal to both, you need to make technology an option, but not the only one. Burying vital information in fine print or requiring them to understand icons, will cause you to lose older, paying customers.
You might be tempted to drop your print advertising and concentrate on your website, believing everyone shops online these days. Seniors grew up when landlines and mail were the main forms of long distance communication. They still check books out of the library. Many look forward to seeing catalogs and brochures in their mailboxes, and enjoy the tactile nature of printed materials.
The younger generation doesn't think anything about communicating through automation when they call a business to place an order or get more information. Many seniors hate talking to a machine, and some will refuse to do it. You will gain loyal older customers when you man your phones with polite, knowledgeable, well spoken, live humans.
If you mistakenly assume senior citizens aren't active consumers, you are going to miss a big portion of the buying public. You will have to learn what motivates them to buy. You will also have to speak their language when you are trying to sell them your service.
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