“I’m about to just give you all of my money
And all I’m asking, hey, is a little respect”
(Otis Redding in 1965. Made popular by Aretha Franklin in 1967.)
Be honest.
Looking at all of your marketing initiatives, is your team truly:
- respecting people?
- giving people what they want, the way they want it, when they want it, where they want it?
- personalizing communications based on what you know about people or being seduced by the simplicity of single message broadcasting?
Mature consumers are experienced buyers and they want to give someone a whole lot of money. Since Baby Boomers and seniors value respect, make emotional decisions and hate BS, they do business with organizations that they trust and feel good about.
If you want their money, challenge your organization to be more personal and demonstrate R-E-S-P-E-C-T in every aspect of your 2017 Marketing Plan.
Today, every marketer has cost effective access to insightful data about their target markets. Some of this comes from third party vendors, but the most valuable information comes from direct interactions with prospects and customers. We see that some organizations are better at collecting, recording and utilizing this precious information than others.
Those organizations that personalize their marketing, are experiencing shorter sales cycles, increased referrals, increased revenues and lower marketing costs. Those that don’t are wasting time and money, frustrating people and damaging their brands.
Capitalizing on personalization isn’t a hard concept.
My first real manager sent me to a conference where Zig Ziglar was speaking. Maybe I was young and impressionable, but it’s amazing how much I recall from that experience. Here’s one piece of advice that smart marketers keep in mind:
Do you know what people want and are you giving it to them?
As you create your 2017 Marketing Plan, consider how you (and the mature consumers that you are trying to influence) could benefit from showing R-E-S-P-E-C-T, by:
- Utilizing data appends to increase your knowledge about your Boomer and senior prospects beyond age, income, net worth. What are their interests and affiliations?
- Segmenting direct mail and email campaigns based on prospects’ expressed interests
- Modifying digital and print ad imagery, content and calls to action based upon audience preferences
- Utilizing unique URLs to provide website visitors with content that is specific to their interests
- Utilizing cookies to provide returning website visitors with personalized content
- Incorporating marketing automation to nurture prospects with relevant and timely content
- Carefully considering what content is worthy of requiring people to register online*
- Creating valuable content that is meaningful and resonates with prospects where they are in their journey
- Smaller, more intimate events that focus on specific topics of interest to Boomers and seniors
- Engaging with people in social media in ways that respect them and their reasons for using the various platforms
You Can’t Rush Respect.
While personalization is not a hard concept, it requires more discipline and advanced planning to execute.
You can’t launch a personalized, integrated marketing initiative that demonstrates R-E-S-P-E-C-T, builds relationships and instills desire in a week. However in that time you could easily rush something out the door that alienates your older prospects. Don’t risk that and don’t wait until you need leads.
Plan ahead and thoughtfully, creatively and R-E-S-P-E-C-Tfully help your prospects get what they want. When you do, you will find more people wanting you and what you have to offer.
* What does online registration have to do with respect? Our national study of Social, Silver Surfers found that boomers and seniors have some strong feelings about gated content. Click here to learn more.