Reach Your Target Audience with Online Generational Marketing

Happy Birthday to you!!  Whether you celebrate the day or not, your birthday is a big day and not just for you…

Smart marketers have discovered the value of using birthdays to develop targeted online marketing strategies to connect with their audiences.

Generational Breakdown

In the marketing world, the living generations have been divided up into the 5 categories below.

Note that determining these generational cutoff points isn’t an exact science, so you may see varying ranges depending on the source.  The range of birth years doesn’t matter as much as the big picture--the way events and conditions in the world affected people coming of age at any given time.

·   Silent and Greatest generations

o    Born: 1945 or earlier

o    Age in 2018: 73 and older

·   Baby Boomers

o    Born 1946 to 1964

o    Age in 2018: 54 to 72

·   Generation X

o    Born 1965 and 1980

o    Age in 2018: 38 to 53

·   Millennial Generation

o    Born between 1981 to 1996

o    Age in 2018: 22 to 37

·   Post-Millennial Generation/Generation Z

o    Born 1997 and after

o    Age in 2018: 20 to 21

Generational Differences – The Smith Family

Inevitably, when you were born affects your attitudes, values and behaviors.

Different generations have different wants and needs.  They shop differently, vote differently and have different ideas about how to work.

For example, take a look at the Smith family made up of two Generation X parents – Lisa and Brian, a Millennial son, Nick, his Gen Z children and, last but not least, Grandma and Grandpa Baby Boomer.

Although all from the same family, they have all been shaped by different parenting styles, the different economies they’ve lived in and the different technologies they prefer to use.

This is where generational marketing comes in telling us that whatever Nick may want and need his grandmother probably won’t so marketers need to appeal to them differently.

A successful generational marketing strategy will target “Nick Millennial” and “Grandma Boomer” differently based on their preferences, attitudes and upbringings that differentiate them from the other groups. 

Segment Your Target Audience Using Generational Marketing

Once you’ve identified who really wants or needs what you’re offering, use the generational breakdowns to help clarify your target audience(s) and understand the likes, dislikes, values and nuances of their specific generations. 

Even though you can’t know everything about your audience just knowing what generation they identify with, it does provide some powerful clues about how they might go about shopping, working, managing money, voting, communicating and other daily behaviors such as how they get the news throughout the day.

Find the Best Way to Reach Your Target Audience

Once you know who you are targeting, it’s time to figure out the best way to reach them.  How does your audience prefer to communicate and receive content?

Although not all marketing channels necessarily work for reaching all generations, there is some overlap in how each generation receives its information. 

Facebook is an example of a marketing channel used by almost all age groups.  According to Hootsuite, with the exception of people over 65, more than half of Americans in every age group report using Facebook. You can use the same marketing channel to deliver different content to your different target audience(s).

The Silent Generation??

The Silent Generation is often described as conservative and enjoys reading newspapers for staying up-to-date. Because of this, they are not commonly the best candidates for online generational marketing.

How to Reach Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers can be difficult to target as they can be at different stages in their life from single, married with young children, empty-nesters to a combination of both. 

Although they still respond to traditional media such as TV, they also look for information using smartphones, social media and computers so they can be reached using almost all social platforms.

According to the PEW Research Center 2018 survey, 64 % of people in the 50-64 year age group (which is most of the Boomer population) are now on at least one social media site.

65% of this group use Facebook and 68% watch YouTube videos.  It’s been estimated they spend more than 27 hours a week online on social media sites and reading blogs and 95% use email.

As Baby Boomers have embraced the various social media platforms, Facebook posts and ads and email marketing can be effective ways to attract them.

How to Reach Generation X

Generation X is the smallest generation.  They are currently at a very busy point in their lives, juggling child care, home ownership and careers.

They are also busy online.  PEW estimates that around 78% of people in the 30-49 year age group use Facebook and a significant number use Twitter.  This means Twitter campaigns and Facebook ads are a good way to reach them.

But, overall, it turns out email marketing is the most effective medium for Generation X.

They are so plugged into email for work and family updates checking email several times a day at home, at work, on tablets, computers and iPhones, it’s natural that they would respond to email marketing. 

How to Reach Millennials

Millennials are slowly taking over the workforce and outnumbering Baby Boomers.  Most started using technology in their “tween” years, if not earlier, making it second nature to those who have often been called the “selfie generation”.

They are active on all social media platforms but more so on Facebook and Twitter.  They use smart phones and tablets more than previous generations so using text messaging and mobile marketing makes sense when trying to reach this group.

Millennials are also highly influenced by social media ads, comments and peer reviews so social media ads for Facebook and Twitter should be an important part of a marketing strategy.

They typically read reviews, blogs and user feedback before making a purchase.

But even though Millennials like social media for communicating with friends, they prefer email to communicate with brands when making a purchase as long as the transaction is easy to complete.

How to Reach Generation Z

Generation Z is the first truly digital generation.  The internet and social media have been around since they were born so they are very adept at communication on social media and are very tech-savvy.

In fact, they almost view their smartphones as an extension of themselves so it is important to prioritize the mobile experience to connect with them.

Marketing channels such as Facebook or email used successfully to reach previous generations platforms are not as valuable to Generation Z. 

Rather, a recent report by Accenture indicates visuals are a more important part of the Generation Z purchasing decisions.  They use platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat for inspiration before deciding what to buy.  Memes are also an attraction for this group.

Back to the Smith Family

Successful generational marketing should be tailored according to the preferences and needs of each age group including what platforms they use and what kind of content they consume.

Let’s take another look at the Smith family.

Grandma and Grandpa Baby Boomer use Facebook and respond favorably to simple messages and brief blog posts.

Generation X parents, Lisa and Brian, also use Facebook and are tied to their email accounts.

The Millennial son, Nick, prefers text messaging and social media.

Nick’s Gen Z children primarily utilize handheld communication devices and are on messaging apps 57% of the time they are on their smartphones.

Families come in all shapes and sizes and are made up of members from all different generations.  We now know that a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy aimed at the family will not work but we can positively influence the shopping decisions of the entire family separately using generational marketing.