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Agency Marketing Technology Generational selling Four approaches for four generations By Steve Anderson In my April 2007 Rough Notes column, I provided an overview of some of the differences in expectations, communication styles, and use of technology among various age groups. The more you start to realize that “age matters,” the more successful you will be in catering to the wants and needs of different generations. In this column I will focus on how your marketing approach should be customized based on the age group you are targeting. I believe that you need to create at least four different marketing approaches. The first lesson learned in Marketing 101 is to get to know and understand your intended customers. Following are some ideas on how you can begin to understand how generations see “marketing” differently. Seniors When you create marketing programs for seniors, it is important to understand several characteristics. For those who reached their 60s in the 1980s, retirement typically meant a relatively passive period of life. By contrast, many of today’s retirees see their retirement years in a different light. They see retirement as a time of exploration and reinvention. They’re traveling, volunteering, spending more time with family and friends, and taking up new hobbies. Some even enjoy their work so much that, in part, they view it as another form of recreation; others remain active in the workforce for intellectual stimulation. Because this generation accounts for 70% of financial assets there is opportunity for agents. Seniors are living longer and thus are concerned about security and stability. Physical changes that occur with age are universal, however. Seniors and Boomers experience changes in eyesight, hearing, mobility, and strength, and these changes should be taken into consideration when communicating with them. Take the design of marketing material, for example. For most people, the eye begins to change during the 40s. This can alter ease-of-readability. The eye’s retina begins to yellow, making it harder for older persons to distinguish between blues, greens, and purples, and easier to see reds and oranges. Glare also becomes a problem, causing Boomers and Seniors to have difficulty reading a message on a high-gloss paper. Whether using paper-based or online marketing materials, remember to keep the design and content simple. It’s an erroneous notion that these consumers are completely clueless when it comes to technology. The reality is much different. Half of all Americans over age 60 use the Internet. The comfort level with using the Internet for purchasing decisions or using Web or phone self-service varies from consumer to consumer. But to assume that older consumers dislike technology can substantially stifle an agency’s ability to connect with these clients. They will use the Internet to research products and services. Baby Boomers More than half of the almost 76 million Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are 50 years old or older, while the rest crest the hill at the rate of 10,000 a week. Like Seniors, one mistake companies often make about this cohort is to assume that it is less technically savvy than younger generations. Having grown up during the tech revolution, most Boomers are well versed in many of the different communication channels. Boomers will contact you using the channels they’re most comfortable with because that’s the channel they’ve been using for years. If a Boomer is contacting you via e-mail, make a note and make sure that subsequent contacts are sent via e-mail. It’s a simple concept, but one that agencies fail to pick up on. This group’s knowledge and adoption of technology comes primarily from what they learned at work. Baby Boomers have high expectations concerning the marketing and sales pitches that companies use to acquire their business. With this group, your post-purchase customer service levels had better live up to the promises made during the sales process or they will take their business to someone else. Many marketers believe that a consumer’s brand preferences are fixed by age 50. While this may be true of the Seniors, Boomers appear just as likely to switch brands as younger generations. Baby Boomers are also smart consumers. Don’t use vague, mass-marketing advertising with generic messages. Communicate the clear-cut benefits and values of the product and/or service you’re selling. Generation X This generation (born between 1964 and 1978) often gets left out primarily because of size. Gen X is only about 49 million strong, and as a result, many marketers have realized this group’s spending power will never reach that of Gen Y and the Boomers. Boldness, youthful rebellion, and benign anarchy remain the hallmarks of the generation, even as it begins to have families and start businesses. Many in this generation think of themselves as disloyal to brands and skeptical of big business. Xers are very sensitive when companies try to “sell” them or when they suspect that they are being exploited. They’d rather believe that they are part of a dialogue with the company. Use a straightforward approach. Today there is so much marketing noise that this generation has learned to ignore it as not interesting or relevant to them. Thus, mass marketing and selling can fall on deaf ears, and fake personalization can hurt rather than help. Xers are notoriously entrepre-neurial. They lived the Internet boom and bust in the 1990s. Businesses founded or acquired by Xers also have common characteristics that other companies should consider when dealing with them. Xers bring a refreshing intimacy to the way they want to run their own enterprises. Xers who are entrepreneurs look for interactive, bidirectional communication with customers. They want the same from their business partners. However, their loyalty to a company or a brand needs to be continually earned because of the layoffs and outsourcing that affected their parents. Generation Y The first adjective out of most marketers’ mouths about Generation Y is usually “savvy.” Agencies need to be beware, however—these young adults, born between 1977 and 1994, are slippery. They sucked down computer technology like Good Start formula from the day they were born—for no other generation in history is that true. They watched MTV, searched the Internet for their science projects (sometimes teaching their parents to do the same) and in their teenage years carried backpacks that had straps for cell phones. By the time they entered junior high, many of them were text messaging under their desks in the same way earlier generations had passed notes. Now that many of these media-soaked, tech-rich people are 18- to 29-year-olds out of the nest making their first major purchasing decisions, companies are scrambling to get their heads around what kinds of buyers these people make. Marketers are discovering that as a result of all the media saturation that this generation has experienced, it’s increasingly difficult to catch a Gen Yer’s eye. Researchers say that people growing up today see 23 million media messages by the age of 21. If you are selling insurance, how do you compete with a music video? Along with the visibility problem comes the fact that Gen Yers are sick of being sold to. As the daughters and sons of the Baby Boomers, Generation Y was raised on the mantra “You are special,” and they have retained this self-concept through early adulthood. Sometimes criticized for hypersensitivity—this generation saw dodge ball banned in schools—the “special” mentality has shaped them as consumers. Although young adults are, historically, self-absorbed, Gen Yers have an extra solid sense of their individual identity and they resent it when others suggest that they know them better than they know themselves. Don’t make the mistake of trying to be cool with your marketing. Be straight and use simple messages that are honest with no hype. The message and its delivery method to this group should be highly customized. The use of direct marketing over mass marketing might work with this group because of its ability to address the consumer’s individuality. However, because this group is equally wise about e-mail and targeted technologies, this does not mean that Yers will be impressed by a text message that mentions their name. Creativity is key here. What technological savvy, lots of Internet use, and mass communication boils down to is that this generation is in the know—and what it doesn’t know it easily accesses by moving its mouse around and clicking a few times to find out. The sheer volume of content that Gen Y has at its fingertips can be a frightening realization. Every time Yers make a purchasing decision they can easily and thoroughly access their options online—and they do. What now? The days of creating one marketing plan for the year are over. At a minimum, your agency will need four distinct marketing approaches that will creatively address the different ways people buy anything today. Web sites are a vital component of how you interact with generations, but how each individual will want to use your Web site will vary. Seniors may use it to look up information about a product they are interested in. Gen Y individuals will probably use your Web site as their primary way to communicate with you. Figuring this out is not easy. The average age of an agency owner today is 55. Trying to think like GenY or GenX is difficult, as is trying to figure out what motivates them to purchase insurance from you. Talking to in-house employees in these age brackets can help you understand if your marketing tactics are fresh and appropriate. Another option is to create a virtual generations advisory board by asking current clients to review your marketing material to help you understand the best way to approach them. All this effort will be worth the trouble as the agency learns how to capture the imaginations and pocketbooks of all age groups. * |
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