You've seen it for yourself in the media, both in news and advertising: A whole lot of attention is paid to Millennials while Boomers are downplayed if not neglected. Several studies suggest that marketers do so at their own risk.
According to Marketing Charts, the Baby Boomer generation is on track to soon account for 70 percent of Americans' disposable income. Forrester Research reminds us that "the most promising demographic" is, in fact, older shoppers.
So if you believe targeting Boomers makes good sense, which media should you use? A study done by Marketing Charts indicates that "fewer Boomers attributed purchase influence to a number of traditional media types, including TV and print ads. But search ads bucked that trend, with strong year-over-year growth in stated influence."
The medium that has the most surprising strength among Boomers, though, may be that "old" standby: direct mail. According to Marketing Charts, "more than 3 in 10 survey respondents report[ed] that direct mail had influenced them to purchase a product or service during the prior 6 months. Interestingly, that was the most commonly-cited purchase influencer of 16 identified, ahead of word-of-mouth and online consumer reviews."
Comments