What Do Older People Do Every Day?

A recent Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends Survey on Aging among a nationally representative sample of 2,969 adults uncovers some interesting characteristics of senior’s lives.

Survey respondents ages 18 to 29 believe that the average person becomes old at age 60. Middle-aged respondents put the threshold closer to 70, and respondents ages 65 and above say that the average person does not become old until turning 74. I am in my early fifties and know so many vibrant  people in their 80’s that I think old age is not chronological, but a state of mind.

So what is old age? The average response was 68.

What I found most interesting among scads of findings was what older people do every day. One key finding was not to market to them over the internet as only 28% use the internet. Magazines, newspapers and TV are the best mediums to reach this group.

Below is a chart published by Pew Internet that details the daily activities of older people:

Daily Activities of Older Americans

You can read more on the Pew Research website by clicking here to go to their website.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Marketing With Twitter

I started using Twitter www.twitter.com/GoodIdeas a few months ago as a social marketing experiment and have grown to value it as both a marketing tool and an educational tool. While I can only track a few instances of direct business as a result of being on Twitter there have been dozens of times where I learned something that I would not have known had it not been for following people on Twitter.

First let’s recap what Twitter is.  Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that lets you update your status and let the world know what you are up to. There are millions of Twitter user all over the world, and the number of active users has increased by 900% in the past year.

When you sign up for Twitter it is a bit like looking at a blank canvas and not knowing where to start painting. Most Twitter users sign up and then do nothing as it is not obvious what the next step is. What I recommend is you sign up at www.twitter.com and then do a search for me, GoodIdeas or Mike Blaney and Follow Me. I will be notified you are Following me and I will choose to Follow you. Your Twitter profile will then show you are Following 1 person and 1 person is Following you. The next step might be to see who is Following someone you respect and then Follow them.

The next step is to post a 140 character or less update. Here are  couple of my recent posts. They are dry, but informative. The last one is an attempt to get people to visit this blog:

1. People more likely to open email marketing messages relating to their interests than ones sent at a particular time of day or day of week.
2. Men interrupt women a woman’s conversation 76% of the time but rarely interrupt a man. Men, stop interrupting and start listening!
3. Mike Blaney – Today 145 people have googled business card and found my post about How to Make Your Business Card Stand Out http://tr.im/hgFK

Twits fall into two categories; the social tweeter (that is what a post is called) and the addict.  While I try to post tweets that will be of interest to people a lot of people Tweet a dozen or more times a day on every aspect of their life and you find yourself skimming past these people

But the point of this post is that companies can also use it to promote themselves.

Zeke Camusio, a serial entrepreneur and founder of The Outsourcing Company, wrote a great post on Startup Nation. His 7 steps are:

Step 1: Import Your Contacts

• Twitter allows you to to import contacts from Gmail, Hotmail and your own address book. Do it.

Step 2: Make Sure that Your Profile is Complete

• Fill in all the fields (both required and optional) and include your website URL. You can also personalize your Twitter page to match your company’s branding.

Step 3: Understand the Dynamics of Twitter
Twitter is a social tool, not a classifieds site. These are some tips that will help you to get followers:

• Don’t spam others about your specials
• Follow other users
• Don’t promote your company directly. Do it the smart way. For example, if you sell widgets, write a buyer’s guide about the kind of widgets that you sell and tweet about that blog post. That is useful information. Avoid tweets like “Great Widgets On Sale – Starting at $9.99!”

(See the article for a complete list)

Step 4: Build Your Followers Base
There are many things that you can do to build your followers base:

• Put a link to “Follow Me on Twitter” everywhere (your email signature, forums, website, and business cards)
• Every time you post on your blog, invite people to follow you on Twitter

(See the article for a complete list)

Step 5: Balance Your Followers/Following Ratio

• Try to have a balance between people you follow and people that follow you. If a lot of people follow you and you don’t follow them, they will stop following you. If you are following plenty of people but just a few are following you, you’ll be seen as a spammer trying to grow your follower base as quickly as possible.
• Grow slow. Instead of adding 200 new friends all of a sudden, add maybe 50 and wait for them to follow you back. Then follow another 50.

(See the article for a complete list)

Step 6: Make it Worthwhile to Follow You

• Tweet interesting stuff. Every time you are about to post something, ask yourself “Is this something I would be interested in?” If the answer is no, chances are that your followers will feel the same way.

Step 7: Learn from the Best

• Find users with several hundred followers and learn from them. See what they are doing right and get ideas from them.

Done right, Twitter should be part of your marketing arsenal as it provides positive exposure for your business. Depending on your business, Twitter could be an efective tool.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Gen Xs and Gen Ys – Joining the Middle Aged Simplifiers?

Watch out for a new brand of consumer in 2008: the Middle-aged Simplifier

According to John Quelch, a non-executive director of WPP Group plc, the world’s second largest marketing services company, they spent the boom years accumulating status symbols. “As [those at the top] grew richer,” Quelch reports, “pressure increased on those below to trade up. And, as they traded up, pressure increased in turn on the well-off to buy even more—the second home, the big screen TV and the latest sport-utility vehicle.”

These consumers are now dealing with an over-consumption hangover, and Quelch says their mantra now sounds a bit like this:

• I have more than I need.
• I’m embarrassed by my gas-guzzling Range Rover.
• I no longer feel the need to impress others with possessions.
• I want meaningful experiences, not more stuff.

“Tomorrow’s consumer will buy more ephemeral, less cluttering stuff: fleeting, but expensive, experiences, not heavy goods for the home,” says Quelch.

So where do the the Gen Xs and Ys fit into this new mantra? These generations form the backbone of our workforce and are major consumers.  How is the current economy affecting them?  Although this survey was conducted in January 2008 you can see the concern is palpable.

Just as a reminder the Gen X generations is usually defined as those born between 1968 and 1979 and the Gen Y generation are those born between 1980 and 1988.

A study* from the American Savings Education Council (ASEC) and AARP surveying 1,752 individuals ages 19 to 39 years old, shows that 91% of young adults report having financial goals for themselves, only 53% report sticking to a monthly budget. And while 62% have given at least some thought to their own retirement, 61% feel their retirement savings is behind schedule. 42% of these young adults give themselves a grade of D or F to describe how well they are saving.

Are they saving for retirement?
In total, nearly four in ten members of these younger generations report that they or their spouse have personally saved money for retirement, not including Social Security taxes or employer-provided money (38%). Gen Xers (45%) are far more likely than Gen Yers (27%) to have started saving for retirement.

Are they financially independent?
57% of the respondents describe themselves as “financially independent.” While 62% of the Gen Y’rs (ages 19 to 27) and 54% of Gen X’rs (28-39) feel financially independent,  Gen Y’rs (45%) are significantly more likely than Gen Xers (25%) to say that they have received financial support from family or friends in the past year. Apparently, concludes the report, that at different stages of life, being financially independent has different definitions.

Are they carrying debt?
Four out of five young adults report having some type of non-mortgage debt. This includes 63% with credit card debt, 48% with car loans, 31% with student loans, and 27% with medical debt. However, more than three out of five describe their debt obligation as either a minor problem or not a problem at all.

According to Quelch “This growing segment of Simplifiers presents a challenge to marketers. These are well-off people who value quality over quantity and do not buy proportionately more goods as their net worth increases. Their increasing reluctance to consume will dampen expected demand growth in developed economies further and therefore slow economic recovery, requiring consumer-goods multinationals to further focus their efforts on emerging markets where stuff will still be king.”

*The online survey of 1,752 Americans ages 19-39 was fielded in January 2008. The data were weighted by age, sex, education and race. For more information, contact Colette Thayer at (202) 434-6294.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.