Today we are featuring a guest blog from Janet Greenlee, General Manager of Fleishman-Hillard in Austin, Texas. She is an FH Boom champ, and currently serves on a panel concerned with marketing to baby boomers in entertainment through the use of technology.
Having been in one marketing discipline or other all my life, I'm pretty jaded. And private. Or so I thought. I've also been very involved in understanding the "boomer" dynamics most of my boomer adult life -- yes, we're the demographic tier that we were calling mid-youth a while back. The moniker varies -- we are also called collectors, students, "matures." Yeah, whatever, we're aging so we're in a wonderful state of denial. It's this denial I can connect with and relish for as long as possible until I get the occasional reminder from my physical being (that's also called defiance of my mental being.) So, what has this to do with marketing to those of us over 50?
"For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog"
I AGREE with the new mandate to tune into the boomer's life phase for marketing implications. In our quest to re-define age, to push the boundaries … it has completely changed our segmentation. We are not going by the books. We are rewriting the rules … and not always so gracefully. So, of course the online, digital world makes more and more sense. We are seekers of new information that will help us either prolong or enjoy a quality of life. It's no wonder 8 out of 10 boomers are indeed on line and the Internet now rivals the television as a preferred source of information (and gaining daily.) The top boomer financial concern, by far, is affording retirement and then the rising health care costs. And we are gaining in our confidence that we CAN keep up with technology. We, will not be left completely in the dust, but we will participate on our terms and typically with passion and true thought applied.
Yes, I can market to myself now. I get me. And I'm enjoying the sell -- I'm downloading music. I'm going to those virtual meetings. I'm trying to solve battles with hot flashes. I'm horribly short on my retirement fund and trying to figure out some options. All from the internet. All still private (until now.)
See you at SXSW.
Janet Greenlee