Any successful marketing strategy is founded on a strong understanding of the target audience. This may change depending on the product, desired channel, or even just gradually over time.
Adapting your marketing strategy in line with these changing factors, as well as the general evolution of your target audience, is crucial for reaping rewards from your marketing efforts.
A key divider in marketing personas is often the average age of your audience. This can impact the channels they use, what they want from brands, and much more. In this guide, we’ll talk about how to target a key demographic – baby boomers – and how marketing to boomers may be different to other audiences.
What is the baby boomer generation?
Named after the economic boom (and rise in birth rates) following WW2, the term ‘baby boomer’ refers to anyone born between 1946 and 1964. They were there for the Space Race, when they built the Berlin Wall, the Civil Rights Movement, and Beatlemania. But that doesn’t mean they’re stuck in the past.
Although born in a pre-internet world, this demographic is making up for lost time, with nearly three-quarters (74%) estimated to be on social media. And they have some of the highest amounts of disposable income – which shows just how important a market they are.
What can baby boomers bring to your brand strategy?
As we’ve seen, many boomers have a decent amount of cash to spend. So, overlooking them when devising your marketing strategy could be a mistake. There are many reasons to consider marketing to boomers:
- They make up a considerable portion of the population. In 2022, there were over 13 million baby boomers in the UK, so can you afford to not market to them?
- Boomers are confident spending both online and in stores, so if your strategy relies on both you could strike gold.
- In fact, they’re the fastest-growing demographic of online shoppers in a post-pandemic world.
- Baby boomers are loyal to brands, so if you can engage them in the first instance, chances are they’ll be back. Creating email newsletters can be effective in bringing back repeat customers.
- Despite misconceptions about technophobia, most are curious about technology and how to use it. This means if you can engage them, there’s no reason they won’t interact with your digital campaign.
- Boomers also value reviews and are confident enough to research a product or service online before buying, rather than turning to others for advice.
Get inspired with these baby boomer social media marketing ideas.
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How to reach a baby boomer audience in the UK.
Just like any other generation, not every baby boomer will be the same. And it’s always a good idea to consider how you can tailor your marketing strategy to individual preferences. However, there are some general tips that can help guide you when marketing to boomers.
Here are some to help you get started:
Facebook is your friend.
Although boomers’ presence is growing on other social media platforms, Facebook remains a firm favourite with this generation. Some 83% of people over 65 use Facebook, so your audience is ready and waiting. Crafting Facebook posts that are designed to target boomers can be incredibly effective in helping drive your marketing goals.
Use email communications.
Email marketing can be overlooked by brands, but it can be an incredibly useful tool in boomer marketing strategies. Just under three quarters (74%) think email is the most personal channel for brand communications.
This makes email newsletters a golden opportunity when marketing to boomers. Adding in personalisation, eye-catching banners and relevant discounts can also be great ways to engage these consumers.
Avoid slang and memes.
Slang and memes can be tricky territory for brands. Unless you are confident that they will land with your target audience, you might want to find an alternative route. This is especially true for boomer marketing.
Stick to straightforward language that communicates your point and any actions you want them to take. Although some boomers may love your latest meme, a clear message is more likely to speak to more of your audience.
Give them useful information.
Boomers are happy to put in the work to find out information for themselves, so why not give it to them? Maybe you’ve launched a new product, done a study, or understand a customer pain point that you know you can help overcome. Guidance around any of these is likely to land well with a boomer target audience.
You could also experiment with video content or infographics to present more complicated information in an accessible way.
Put video content in full focus.
Around a third of baby boomers use YouTube to learn about a product or service and they make up around a quarter (24%) of all views on the platform. If tutorial content, product demonstrations or even FAQ content fit into your marketing strategy, this could be an effective way to engage a boomer target audience.
While shorter video content can be great for raising brand awareness, if you’re looking to educate in any way, longer videos can be much more effective.
Think mobile-first.
On average, baby boomers use their phones for around five hours a day. So, being mobile-savvy when designing your marketing strategy is wise.
It’s best practice to think about how your website, marketing emails, videos and infographics are going to load on a phone anyway. But knowing this generation are committed to their mobiles gives marketers a solid reason to prioritise this when thinking about how to market to boomers.
Engage them across the customer journey.
Boomers typically take time to mull over an idea before making a purchase, so utilise that in your marketing.
Designing baby boomer marketing that aims to interact with them at a brand awareness stage, consideration stage, and then to loyalty and advocacy stages will help you make the most of this target audience. As we also know, boomers tend to be more brand-loyal than other generations, so this could really pay off in the long run.
Prioritise accessibility and UX.
No consumer wants finding information to be more difficult than it needs to be. And boomers are no different. Although they are happy to browse and do their research, don’t confuse this with being able to deprioritise the user experience.
Consider how you want them to interact with your marketing communications and how you’re mapping out the next steps for them. Clear and transparent calls to action (CTAs), a logical hierarchy of content, and implementing accessibility best practices where possible could really help drive engagement in boomer marketing.
Understand your audience.
Generational marketing can sometimes lean too heavily into assumptions and stereotypes, so it’s always good to try and get to know your target audience as well as possible. This is especially important when marketing to boomers.
As we’ve seen, they brush off a fair few assumptions made about their tech-savviness, shopping habits and phone usage.
Although boomer characteristics can help focus your marketing strategy, it will be far more effective if you understand how you can authentically engage with your boomer consumers.