When it comes to digital marketing, older age groups often take a secondary seat to young, tech-savvy millennials. According to a recent Pew’s Internet and American Life Project report, older age groups, especially the baby boomers, have been catching up to younger generations’ use of technology. While a great deal of effort has been placed to market towards younger age groups, many marketers have come to understand that focusing on older generations is just as valuable for many companies who may have overlooked that market.
It’s no surprise that many marketers choose to focus on attracting a younger audience, as younger people in our society have proven to be great customers, however, targeting an older audience can add value to your company because of their investment. While millennials make great consumers, many of their investments are based on what’s trending at the moment or being the first in the know. If an older demographic likes the product or service at its value, they’re more inclined to be invested in the long run, rather than based on trends or what’s of interest at the time.
Placing a greater emphasis on one-on-one interactions can help with customer relations with members of the older generation. While it seems like modern-day conversations have dwindled down to a mere few texts, people still appreciate the feeling of talking with another human being so offering readily available specific calls to action for potential customers to connect directly with the business owner or customer service representatives embedded into the content, ads or campaigns is important. Whether that translates into an open chat room on the website or a human-operated phone line, it’s beneficial to offer as many services like those to attract baby boomers and older customers within your content strategy. At the same time, it’s important to skew your content to a more one-on-one tone, utilizing the second person voice throughout to connect with the potential customer from the get go.
Social media is unarguably dominated by a younger crowd, with the exception of Facebook which is a bit more age-neutral than other social media sites. However, these online tools can still be effective in capturing the attention of an older audience, as long as the content is relevant to their needs. Additionally, it doesn’t hurt to include pictures in ad campaigns that will appeal to older generations. If your business puts out ads, think of using an image of an adult rather than a teenager if a person is being featured in the ad. Think of subtle hints that would catch the eyes of those in older age groups, as well as using language that appeals more to them, instead of common slang or new millennial buzzwords.
Of course, when it comes to content, it’s always important to A/B test your messaging, polling your newly found older audience to see how they prefer to be marketed to. You never know what they might like, but the numbers never lie!
