Top 10 misconceptions that sabotage marketing to mature audiences – #3

December 8th, 2009 by Robbie Magee

One of my all-time favorite movie quotes is from “The Outlaw Josie Wales.” When Josie is talking with the elder Cherokee Chief, Lone Watie, about how things change with age, Josie replies: “More like old habits than old age.” My sentiments exactly! How do we tell which consumer behaviors are age-based and which are just comfortable old habits?

For instance, last week one of my colleagues here at the agency was saying that his parents—who are in their seventies now—like to rent movies. He immediately said it would be “cool” if they used Netflix, as he does.   I then assumed cable on-demand. Nope! They have a different system that works just fine for them: they borrow DVDs from the public library.  It works like this: submit a request and, if a movie is available, take a ride to the library and pick it up. My colleague’s parents are put on a waiting list for popular movies, so they wait for a phone call telling them when it’s their turn. He couldn’t fathom waiting for a movie in this day in age where immediacy is the name of the game.

This leads me to the next misconception in our series:

#3: “If we build it [to suit ourselves], they will come.”

As marketers, we often make the mistake of believing that if we offer a new product or service based on features that appeal to us—in this case, the ability to have something immediately—then older audiences will respond favorably. Yet for many non-working adults, instant attainment isn’t as big a deal.  Nor do they accept that just because something is “new,” it means that it’s automatically better.

Advertisers have typically believed it was much harder to get older audiences to switch brands or try new products. This is rapidly changing. When we’re faced with positioning a product or service in an older adult-friendly way, the real questions to ask ourselves are: “according to their terms, why is this better than their current solution?” and “does it complete an unfulfilled need?”  The latter may be more difficult to answer given that mature adults are already getting by just fine without whatever it is we’re offering.

Old age, or old habit?  The results of our campaigns to older adult audiences may improve if we stop to consider that it may very well be the latter.

As a little holiday gift, I bestow quick links to previous installments of misconceptions that sabotage marketing to mature audiences:

• #4: Old age is a fixed point on the horizon
• #5: Disrespect will go unnoticed
• #6: Older consumers are more reluctant to open their pocketbooks.
• #7: Older adult audiences share the same aspirations, and respond to the same motivational stimuli, as younger consumers.
• #8: The mature market is one big, homogeneous market.
• #9: Designing your website with older audiences in mind will “wreck it.”
• #10: Older adults are technophobes who don’t understand the Internet.

- Robbie Magee

This entry was posted by Robbie Magee on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 and is filed under Brand Strategy, MF, Marketing, Mature Market, Senior Marketing, Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.