Don’t Look Now…But Your Market Got Older

It’s amazing how quickly time flies. Our kids grow up and our friends’ kids seem to grow up even faster.

Don’t look now, but your market just “grew up” as well-and you’d better be ready for it.

We don’t need to be demographers to notice the change. Just look at the advertising around you. How many ads would we have seen 15 years ago for “comfort and style” in clothing instead of just “style,” anti-aging skin creams, adventure travel (geared to those 50 and over), prescription pharmaceuticals for every chronic ailment under the sun, etc.

In the next 10 years, the under- 50 population will grow by 1.5%. But the over-50 population will balloon by 41%. Which segment will your company be talking to? Which one do you base your growth plan on?

The truth is it really doesn’t matter which segment you believe you’re targeting. With the exception of those firms exclusively geared to true youth (school-age children, college kids and recent graduates), ALL marketing will have to take the needs of the mature into consideration.

Segmentation There is no single “mature market.” To be effective, you must both understand which sub-segment you are attempting to reach and the specific needs and desires of the cohort filling that segment. (A cohort is a group of folks that all grew up as peers.)

There are three major sub-segments of the mature market. These include:

* Pre-retirees: Age 50 until “retirement” at approximately age 62.

* Active retirees: From “retirement” until perhaps the mid-70s.

* Seniors: Although we used to refer to anyone over 50 as a “senior,” today that name has no application until at least the mid- 70s. And recognize being a “senior” is a state of mind rather than something that happens at any given chronological age.

Understanding these three segments is only half the battle. The other half involves really digging into the backgrounds and needs of the cohorts filling those sub-segments.

Especially as the baby boomers grow into the mature arena, all the rules for any given age period are changing. Just as the boomers rewrote the communications manuals for 20-, 30- and 40-year-olds, today they are changing how we view 50-year-olds and tomorrow it will be the 60- and 70-year-olds.

No serious marketer should consider approaching this mature market unless he or she is ready to enter into a relationship with the customer. Few successful mature marketers exist in a single-sale environment.

The welcome thing here is that the mature market is the group most likely to be interested in a longer-term relationship.

Relationships Much of relationship marketing is based on written materials and, especially in the active retiree and senior cohorts, your prospects have the time and interest to read what you write. (IF it is interesting: Self-puffery will not gain long-term friends!)

Relationship marketing for the mature should be based on new information and knowledge. This market wants to learn new things about the world. And you can help.

It’s been said the mature consumer comes from Missouri, the “Show Me” state. She (more often) knows that she has choices, and she wants to make those choices intelligently. Therefore, she will do research and ask questions, and she will not do business with you if you patronize her or don’t supply the answers.

Similarly, you shouldn’t try to “hype” or over-promote. In some instances it may make for short-term sales, but it will cost you dearly in the long term.

Finally, what never fails to amaze me is the companies that still say, “We don’t need to worry about the mature. After all, they buy the same things as everyone else.”

WRONG!

Yes, the 50-plus population wants to be treated the same as everyone else-and they do not want to be “ghettoized” as older persons.

But…their real needs are different.

Their real perceptual contexts (how they view your ads) are different.

And their physical attributes are different.

You, as a marketer, need to be aware of these differences and to plan new products and communications to capitalize on these differences. Then you too can share in the power of the group that holds 77% of all U.S. assets today, whose disposable income doesn’t peak until almost the age of 70 and that really would like to hear what you have to say.

Joan Throckmorton will return next month.