A blog posted by the Seth Godin back in 2007, titled “Marketing to Seniors (Open and Closed)”, mainly talked about how the baby boomers, who are commonly considered “open” and easy to be marketed, have now become seniors who are generally viewed as “closed” and thus not easy to be attracted by marketing campaigns. The conventional marketing strategy to focus on young, supposedly adaptable population is now a false move because the seniors today are not the same seniors thirty years ago.

Marketers today recognize the opportunity and the need to capture the interests of this growing population of baby boomers who have both time and money. In other words, they are the ones who have strong buying power in today’s market. Nevertheless, it is definitely much more difficult to induce the 50+ individuals than the younger consumers to purchase an item. The baby boomers are more experienced, consider more issues, know better how to compare the costs and benefits, and thus spend a longer period of time on a purchasing decision.

The challenge for the marketers today is that even though the baby boomers do not have the same experiences and interests as their parents or grandparents who were considered to be the “closed” seniors going back thirty years in time, they are certainly not the same people as they were thirty years ago either. Their minds function differently, and so do their spending habits. Any company that is able to attract this group of people first and hopefully to the point where brand loyalty and trust are developed will certainly be ahead of the game. Marketers should definitely consider targeting and capturing this exploding senior market in the near future if they have not started already!

Sources:

http://www.comingofage.com/coming-of-age/a-55-year-old-woman-is-not-simply-a-30-year-older-version-of-her-25-year-old-self/

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/04/marketing_to_se.html

http://graphicleftovers.com/graphic/buying-power-person-holding-credit-card/