Marketing To The Silent Generation
Back in July, Mark Dolliver wrote this terrifically insightful article in Adweek regarding marketing to today’s age 65+ consumer. [Sorry, I’m just catching up to this, thanks to a mention by the Boomer Project.]
Dolliver refers to this group as the Silent Generation (born 1925-42), sandwiched between a group whose life-shaping — and well-told story — involves the Depression, and the Boomers, who have never lacked a voice in pop culture (and all matters!).
If your fundraising still targets age 65+ donors in a big way (whose doesn’t?), you’ll benefit from reading Dolliver’s piece.
Some takeaways:
- HUGELY important to (let’s call them) Seniors is a sense of connectedness. And this reaches well beyond the individual’s immediate family.
- Seniors are a generation of readers. Dolliver cites a Pew study indicating that 81% of 65-74s and 86% of those 75-plus said they’d read a book, magazine or newspaper within the 24 hours before being queried. "But," he says, "this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re eager to plow through long-copy advertising … The fact that older people have more free time doesn’t mean they’ve ceased to value their time."
One marketer he cites says: "Yes, they’ll read more, but an image is extremely important with this group. In direct mail, if you combine an image with a narrative that uses emotional themes, it can be very effective" — unlike, say, an ad that reads "as if it were written by an engineer."
- Seniors don’t like being rushed or pressed (e.g., "Last chance to act!"), but highly value personal testimonials.
- And Seniors place very high value on their "grandparenting" role. Says Dolliver: "… few grandparents are predisposed to react negatively when marketers depict and address them in this role. ‘Grandparenting’ is an almost universally accepted — and even enthusiastically accepted — theme for everyone from age 50 on."
Lots of food for thought in this piece. Mark Dolliver, you deserve a raise!
Tom
2 responses to “Marketing To The Silent Generation”
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Excellent tips…..I seem to be collecting more and more about older donors….I’ll add these to my “Why Older Donors Matter” at http://tinyurl.com/m7pz7c
The article makes some great points that apply to ANY target market. Whether you’re selling to teenagers, young adults or seniors, you have to treat them with respect and know who they are and what they want.