1. Writing the script yourself. As tempting as this sometimes may be, just like any other form of niche writing, scriptwriting is a specialized skill and should be left to a professional. The script is more than just the words that will be heard on the finished piece, it’s the roadmap to a successful video project as well. It will have all of the direction and information that the producer, director, graphic designer, and editor will need to plan and execute the project effectively. Writing for the screen in much different than writing a brochure or even a website because it’s delivered via a voiceover narration or on-camera talent—so it needs to be written to be heard, not read. Your input regarding the content of the video is invaluable, but let a scriptwriter form and craft that content into the masterpiece you’re looking for.

2. Forgetting the “Five P’s.” “Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance” as an old boss of mine used to say. Planning a video production is a logistical exercise that can make or break your project. Make sure you’re working with a producer or project manager who is focused on making sure all the details are worked out. You can’t plan enough. A good producer will ensure that everyone is where they’re supposed to be, when they’re supposed to be there, and that all the equipment has been ordered to get the job done. There are lots of other little details that most people would never even think of, and they only come from experience. It doesn’t matter if it’s a three-person crew shooting an interview or a thirty-person crew producing a TV commercial, one missed detail can send your project into a tailspin of cost overages and compromises. And be sure to have your producer or project manager prepare and share with you a detailed production and post-production schedule before the project starts.

3. Not involving key stakeholders early. This is probably the most important detail and the most overlooked. If your boss or someone else in your organization has any say in the video that will affect the final outcome, don’t wait until the editing phase to get them involved. Ask them for their input and signoff in the scripting phase. It’s much easier to revise the written script than it is to make major changes to the scope of the project after it has been shot. Video is a finite product. What gets recorded is all you have to work with without the expense of a re-shoot. I’d even go as far as to invite any key stakeholders to the shoot if it’s at all possible so that they can see it all come together during the recording. It’s best to get feedback and opinions from all the key stakeholders when there’s an opportunity to address their concerns and actually do something about it. If they’ve been involved along the way, there should be no surprises when they view the finished edit . It will also help ensure that your project will be on track to come in on budget. And that’s always a good thing.

So why should marketers care about the tech behaviors of this new mom generation?

First, millennial moms (those born between 1977 and 1996) contribute 79% of all first births and 68% of all births, according to The Parents Network. Second, Nielsen data shows that moms between 25 and 54 represent 19% of the total online population. This group is expected to spend $12 billion online by 2011.

And, as a whole, moms control 85% of household spending. This, of course, holds true for health care decisions. In particular:

• 92% of moms are responsible for their own health care decisions
• 65% of moms influence health care decisions for their children
• 59% of moms influence health care decisions for their spouse or partner

Moms want answers before they go to the store. In addition to time spent online visiting blogs and social networks, a Razorfish survey shows that digital moms are researching, seeking advice, and purchasing health-related products. This includes a percentage of time and/or money spent on the following categories:

• Baby/Parenting – 26%
• Medication/Medical Condition – 20%
• Health/Fitness – 18%

Keeping up with today’s mom is dependent upon one key strategy. The days of marketing to moms are over. Today, you market with them:

1. Entrust your brand to your consumers—let it go, let it go (while responsibly listening). Conspicuous absence and lost opportunity abound otherwise. They will go to other moms for advice.
2. Build trust—72% of moms said that sharing a similar experience and having children the same age are the two biggest factors enabling them to trust other moms. So start socializing, blogging, and tweeting—73% of moms trust online communities focused on specific interests for information. Only 16% trust television.*
3. Don’t give up on traditional media. Despite being one of the least trustworthy sources, television topped the list of media that moms use, tied with email and followed by websites. Interestingly, radio, newspapers, and magazines ranked higher than chat rooms or blogs in the amount of time moms spend with media.
4. Enlist your loyal customers to tell your story online. To generate word-of-mouth, start with an aggressive public relations effort to get moms talking at soccer games and with discussion groups.

* Nielsen’s Moms Annual Media Survey

— Julie Wegman

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

But what happens once we complete the mandatory sequence of our early development and disperse into an infinite combination of later life stages? We’re challenged here by the word “combination.”  It’s nearly impossible for a toddler to simultaneously be a high schooler, or a newborn a kindergartner.  But, as we age, we can—and do—transcend multiple life stages. How, then, can we as communicators possibly relate to people we can’t accurately peg on the life -stage path?  First, we have to abandon the following belief:

#4: Old age is a fixed point on the horizon.

Life is no longer linear to older adults—it’s cyclical. We don’t follow in our parents’ footsteps.  Long gone are the days when we went to school, started a job only to end up staying at the same company for 40 years, got married and had kids, retired, and moved to Florida.

More often than not, adult lives now go something like this: go to school, find a job, get married, have kids, get divorced, remarry, have more kids with the new spouse, find a new job, become a caregiver, downsize, relocate, go back to school, start a new career, and so forth.

The implications here?  No matter what “generation” we belong to, our lives now have more commonality than ever before.  Advertisers should consider how this can actually open and expand potential lines of communications. While we’re at it, let’s also abandon the “retirement” stereotype. The vast majority (approximately 90%) of people over 50 say they plan to work after the age of 65.  Not only are they living longer and have the ability, but they also have the need largely due to diminished traditional retirement “provisions” such as Social Security and pensions.

But the upside to remaining in the workforce longer is that the limitations of living on a fixed income will be less dramatic, as older adults will continue to spend money on work clothes, be able to afford to travel regularly and dine out, and continue to participate in hobbies and sports.  In short, people who continue to work well into their sixties and beyond will continue to share many of the same buying behaviors as younger people.

Whether we consider this to be a merging of generations or a slow down of the aging process, it demonstrates the importance of not making assumptions about attitudes and abilities based on how previous generations have aged. Today, adults over 50 are clearly more “forward-looking” than their parents were. In some ways, they may think more like their kids do than their parents did.

For marketers who are “fearful that marketing to Boomers means an entirely new, additional effort and budget,” consider the perspective of The Boomer Project, which cited the recent re-release of the Beatles anthology as a reminder that “the trick is to develop programs that cut across everyone, including Boomers.”

- Robbie Magee

#6: Older consumers are reluctant to open their pocketbooks.

I’ll give you that the mature markets have never been the darlings of consumerdom anyway. That slot has been filled by the coveted, more “spendy” younger age groups. Now, amidst a recession and in light of the increasingly aging adult population, it’s a good idea to take another look at attitudes and behaviors on spending across all audiences. Here are a few quick facts to consider:

A recent Gallup Poll shows that ALL age groups reduced spending sharply in 2009 as compared with 2008, with older consumers showing the most change.

• Members of the “Greatest Generation,” who grew up during the deprivation of the Great Depression, cut their spending from $63 to just $35 per day, on average.
• The “Silent Generation,” or those born between 1925 and 1942, reduced spending from $84 to $50 per day.
• “Baby Boomers,” who now range in age from their late forties to early sixties, cut back from $98 to $64 dollars a day.

However, similar reductions can be seen with Gen X’ers—those born between 1965 and 1976—who account for the largest share of our nation’s parents and, thus, tend to be the highest spending group. Their average daily spend went from $110 to $74.

As with the Great Depression, our current Great Recession appears to be making the entire country thriftier!

Better news ahead? Maybe not. Unlike previous generations who enjoyed the fruits or “inheritances” of their parents and grandparents’ hard work, Boomers and following generations will likely have to make due on their own.

• Only 4% of Boomers say they expect an inheritance from their parents, and only 3% say they believe they owe their children one.
• Boomers tend to think that the educational and experiential “gifts” they gave their children are a more valuable legacy. Plus, they now need their money to sustain their lifestyle throughout a longer life span.

“Millennials,” or adults in their early twenties, are coming of age during this global recession and are being greatly impacted by it. Financial experts predict they will behave more like the “Greatest Generation” than like their Boomer parents when it comes to money and saving.

The point? While it remains true that the mature market tends to be more thoughtful about their spending than younger consumers, the similarities across all generations seem to be increasing. At least for the foreseeable future, all age groups are taking a more conservative and deliberate approach to spending. Marketers who understand how to use effective communications tactics to make older audiences feel comfortable spending their hard-earned money, will at least have a head start.

— Robbie Magee

It struck me as a great example of a key principle that we encourage here at Martino Flynn: collaboration. Outlined in our employee “brofesto” (a brochure/manifesto), we encourage colleagues to “Be collaborative. Because great ideas build on one another.” It discusses the value of enjoying a little good-natured give and take. To walk down the hall, slide something in front of somebody and say: “What do you think?”

Our “brofesto” also explains that collaboration should not be limited to just people within your own department or even our agency. Collaboration should extend to business partners and, most importantly, our clients. With the dramatic changes and new technologies emerging for marketers these days, collaboration is no longer just a nice idea, it is becoming a necessity in order to be successful. Bringing together different perspectives, a variety of skill sets, and unique experiences results in more effective and dramatically better work. Ultimately, it reinforces our belief that all of us together are smarter than any one of us alone.

So the next time you’re looking for that next big idea, or breakthrough strategy, look outside your own silo. Talk to someone you may not have considered consulting with in the past.  Because you never know what different perspectives coming together might produce—just ask your dentist.

–Tim Downs

The report also discusses social media marketing as an effective branding strategy. Influencing brand reputation, increasing brand awareness, and implementing a search engine optimization strategy are currently considered by marketers to be the most effective outcomes of a successful social media campaign. And although at present social media marketing has not been proven as effective in generating sales leads or increasing online sales, more and more companies are proving that this can be achieved.

In addition to “actively seeking out their favorite brands,” Mashable contributor Adam Ostrow points out that consumers are also engaging with companies as a result of word of mouth via a friend’s online suggestion or website links. In a personal experience of mine, the chief blogger for Frito Lay was listening to a suggestion I made and directed me to the company’s blog, which I now read on occasion as I anxiously await the arrival of the wide-mouth salsa jar for the optimal tortilla chip-eating experience!

— Sharon Harper

For advertisers, peoples’ insecurities are a wonderful thing.  Just try to think of a product that isn’t positioned as having the ability to make us more attractive, popular, and successful…or thinner, smarter, and richer.

So what do advertisers do when these motivations alone cease to lure our prospective customers, specifically mature adults? The first thing to do is recognize the following misconception:

#7: Older adult audiences share the same aspirations, and respond to the same motivational stimuli, as younger consumers.

As a whole, emotions across all generations energize buying behavior. One of the main challenges in reaching older adult audiences is that our motives for acquiring things change as we age.  This phenomenon is largely influenced by the breadth of both positive and humbling experiences we accumulate over time.  As a result, older adults genuinely tend to be more comfortable in their own skin, more accepting of who they are, and their “lot in life.” Aspirations are not focused on material possessions or physical beauty as much as they are on spiritual fulfillment or emotional contentment.

So, then, what does help us to engage our older prospects?

For one, the promise of connectedness resonates with mature adults because it speaks to the importance they place on being needed and having purpose—not to mention the fundamental need to have a support system in place to remain independent.

Equally important is the attainment of emotional goals, such as happiness, which differ significantly from the more materialistic goals of younger adults.

When presenting your brand, product, or service to older audiences, your competitive edge really lies with fulfilling an emotional contract by demonstrating how it supports their values and complements their evolved self-image.

— Robbie Magee

1. Identifying the likeliest prospects for the product/service you’re offering; and
2. Creating relevant messages to them once you’ve found them.

Spending effort here is especially important when it comes to the vast and dynamic mature adult audience, which leads us into the next misconception of marketing to mature audiences:

#8: The mature market is one big, homogenous audience.

Does anyone really think this way anymore? Probably not, but just in case, here’s how and why it is important to acknowledge the diversity before we develop communications intended for older adults:

Demographics are the first and easiest—and, sometimes, the only—selection criteria that are accessed. Age, income, marital status, ethnicity, and other key demos are indeed necessary to know. But they only begin to scratch the surface. How often have you heard about seniors being described as “the nation’s most affluent audience?”

Older Americans in reality are the most polarized in terms of wealth than any other group—with young children being the next—ranging from extreme affluence to dire poverty. (Here, too, the 80/20 rule exists as approximately 20% of older adults control almost 80% of the nation’s wealth). In our work with clients, such as National Council on Aging and a cache of financial services clients, we have witnessed these extremes first hand.

And then there’s good old Mother Nature. Just as with younger audiences, there will be glaring differences in the attitudes and behaviors of older adults. The attitudes of, say, any two seventy-year-old widows can never be gleaned from a census report. Yet, attributes like health, upbringing, and life experiences all influence one’s outlook—on life and on your brand, product, or service.

The fact is, in our older years, we are still fundamentally the same person we were when we were young. Shy youngsters tend to be more timid later in life. Risk takers retain those behaviors. Spendthrift or penny pincher…optimist or pessimist…these traits are embedded in our DNA.

So how do we as marketers begin to understand the diverse mature market segments that exist?

At our disposal are several modeling tools which neatly classify “Healthy Indulgers,” “Ailing Outgoers,” “Threatened Actives,” and “Financial Positives,” among other sub-groups (this topic will be further discussed in a forthcoming white paper).

For now, if we were to offer one common thread to hold you over until you complete your due diligence and discovery, it would be along the lines of motivators (more on this in the next blog installment). These do change with age and, believe it or not, grow to be more similar across all the various older adult populations.

To easily access the previous misconceptions of marketing to mature audiences, click on the following links below, which also happen to be designed with seniors in mind:
• #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

All of this is going on while your intern is running around the office with a camcorder taping anything that moves in an effort to populate your YouTube channel. Good move? More like a big mistake, unless you have a strategic social media plan in place that confirms that all of this activity makes sense. The social media options that are out there are completely overwhelming and there’s an inclination to feel that you have to participate in everything. Developing a comprehensive strategic social media plan requires a holistic approach that integrates social media into your organization’s current traditional marketing strategies. It is an effort that requires a sustainable plan driven by measurable objectives.

The first step in assisting in the development of a strategic plan is to engage in active listening. This will help you to understand the current mindset and perceptions of your employees, customers, competitors, and prospects regarding your brand and your industry, as well as where these conversations are taking place online. When you combine your current traditional marketing strategy with a social media initiative, active listening will assist in providing the strategic roadmap for your company’s success.

A solid strategic plan will place you in the conversations utilizing tactics and applications that make sense and will position you and your brand in a good light.

— John Marianetti