5 effective ways to market to the older generation

The majority of marketing campaigns are focused around digital marketing. It’s an important part of any marketing strategy because most people engage with brands and companies online, and it’s a great way to reach a lot of people.

But the older generation are not as active online, and if you are focusing all of your efforts on things like social media, you might be missing out on a big potential market. 

In some businesses, that doesn’t matter too much because your product doesn’t really appeal to the older generation anyway. If that is the case, it’s fine to focus on the online world and try to reach younger audiences. But there are a lot of benefits to marketing to older consumers because they tend to have more money than the younger generation, so they’re more likely to buy your products, as long as you can market them properly. Some older people are very active online and you’ll already be reaching them. But what about the people that are not on social media? If you want to boost your sales, you need to find alternative ways to reach them. These are some of the best ways to market your products to the older generation. 

Focus on phone contact

The older generation are not as out of touch as people think and a lot of them still shop online. They recognize that it’s a more convenient way to shop and you have a lot more choices. However, the older generation are more concerned with human interaction than the younger generation and they would prefer to speak with somebody over the phone before making a purchase.

They are also more receptive to sales calls. That means that they might find your products online, but unless you give them the option to speak to somebody on the phone, they may not necessarily buy anything. That’s why you need to focus on campaigns that give that option. If you are targeting ads, your aim should be to get people to call you up, rather than link through to the website to make a purchase. It’s also important that your phone number is clearly displayed on your website. 

Branded merchandise

Building trust with a customer before they buy something is very important, and there are a lot of different ways to do that. Often, interactions with social media accounts are the best way to establish that trust, but that doesn’t always work with the older generation. They are not so interested in social media and they will not engage with your brand online as much, so you need to find other ways to strengthen your brand and build that trust. One of the best ways to do that is through branded merchandise. You can get a great stubby holder with your logo, a t-shirt, or even something simple like a pen or a keyring, and distribute them. It’s a simple but effective way to raise brand awareness but more importantly, it builds trust. You have given the consumer something of value without expectation of payment, which helps you to start a relationship. The older generation will be far more receptive to a tangible object that displays your brand than they will to your online brand on social media. 

Flyers

Flyers are a great marketing tool that a lot of businesses don’t take advantage of. In some cases, they will go straight in the bin, but the older generation are usually more likely to take notice of them than the younger generation. When marketing to younger people, you are probably making good use of email marketing, but that isn’t going to reach as many older people.

Flyering is essentially the offline version of email marketing, and while it is more expensive, you will have a higher success rate with the older generation. If you do your research and find areas that are heavily populated by older people, you can target your drops and make sure that you are not wasting money sending flyers out to younger people that will just bin them straight away. 

When you are designing flyers, you can use the same basic layout that you would use in marketing emails, and include all of the same content. You will just need to adapt it slightly to fit the format, but it will not take much extra work. 

Content marketing

Content creation is an important part of any marketing campaign, but it’s especially effective when trying to reach the older generation.

When people are researching a product online, younger people will probably check a few reviews and then make their purchase. But the older generation tends to have more time and they want a more in-depth look at something before they decide whether they want to buy it or not. That’s why you should focus on good content that will educate them. If you are posting regular content that gives more information on the benefits of your product, the older generation will respond well to that, and they are more likely to become repeat customers because you are a good source of information.

You should try to tailor content specifically to the older generation and consider any potential worries or issues that they may have with the product. Internet banking is a great example of how this has worked. A lot of older people like the prospect of internet banking because it’s more convenient, but they were worried about security. In response, a lot of banks have created guides that explain how it all works and how their money is kept safe, which encourages more older people to use the service. 

Youtube ads

A surprising number of older people are active on Youtube and around 33 percent of consumers aged 60-69 watch videos on a weekly basis. That’s the same percentage of 30-49 years olds, so it’s probably the best way to reach the older generation online. You should take advantage of this by investing in Youtube ads. You can also create video content that is aimed specifically at older consumers. 

If you do not market to the older generation effectively, you are missing a big opportunity, so you should adopt some of these strategies as part of your marketing campaign.