The type of products and services you offer often dictates which generations you market to. For example, if you sell extreme sports products, your target audience is going to trend younger. However, if you sell something related to retirement or an offering that would appeal to older adults, you’ll definitely want to include baby boomers in your marketing plan.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are an estimated 73 million people in the "Baby Boomer" generation—and they'll all be 65 or older by 2030. The baby boomers are characterized by their strong work ethic, competitiveness, and goal-oriented attitudes—though there is some dispute if these are all features of the generation or if they may be the result of a more general shift in attitudes as people age.
Additionally, like with any generation, not all baby boomers will be the same. They run the gamut of political ideologies, just like with younger generations. Understanding what baby boomers want can help you form a successful marketing strategy.
Baby boomers include anyone who was born between 1946 and 1964. This audience age range includes people who are around 59 to 77 years old in 2023. They were given the name "baby boomers" because of the increase in births after World War II during a great economic boom.
They lived through the rise of TV, various political protests, the civil rights movement in the U.S., the women's liberation movement, and the first-ever Woodstock concert. These events and countless others not mentioned here shaped and influenced who they are.
Some boomer characteristics include the following:
Most of the baby boomer generation didn't grow up with technology like later generations, which means they often have a different approach to purchasing products—I'm sure most of the people reading this have at least one story of a parent or grandparent who struggled with using technology.
However, you may be surprised by some of their character traits, including the following:
Essentially, baby boomers are a great generation that still has a lot of relevance in today's marketplace. This is where the concept of generational marketing comes into play.
Generational marketing is a marketing approach that segments specific generations. In generational marketing, a company tends to adapt its marketing messages to fit the needs of its target generation.
The marketing tactics a company uses are dependent on the common traits and behaviors of the generation.
Some of the living generations today include:
Baby boomers are particularly unique because they have the highest value as consumers on the market today! To take advantage of this, you must know how to market to them in a way that is valuable to them and to your business.
Here are 12 tips to help drive marketing geared toward baby boomers:
Even though baby boomers are a lot more hip than some might think, it is best to stay away from slang or abbreviations that might be confusing to this crowd.
They are used to texting with their grandchildren, but those texts contain proper grammar, and abbreviations often have to be explained. In your marketing efforts, make sure you are spelling things out and being clear. Abbreviations can lead to confusion for any generation.
Just because older people sometimes struggle with technology doesn’t mean they don’t own the latest gadgets. Over the last decade, smartphone ownership has increased drastically amongst all age categories, and baby boomers are no exception. According to the Pew Research Center, 83 percent of U.S. adults between the ages of 50 and 64 own a smartphone, and 61 percent of those age 65 and up own one as well.
Camping World does a good job of maintaining consistency between their desktop and mobile websites. At the same time, the site is responsive for smaller screens, allowing shoppers to browse RVs easily from a smartphone.
Note how the images between the desktop and mobile versions of the site are consistently designed, but feature optimizations that make the mobile version of the site easy to scroll and review. For example, the RV trailer in the image on the left in the desktop is still on the mobile site, but blended into the background so as not to clash with the text on the module.
Baby boomers are smart. They aren’t going to fall for clickbait articles. If you don’t come right out and tell them what the article is about, they aren’t going to bother with it.
However, if you present what you have to offer in an upfront way, then they are more likely to click on it as long as the topic pertains to them.
Baby boomers are mature. They’ve been on this earth for quite a while and they don’t have time for a bunch of nonsense. They want information that will help them live their lives to the fullest.
They want it up front and factual. If you give baby boomers the information they need, they will run with that information and feel they are equipped to make the best decision possible.
Medical Guardian offers a blog that provides information to help seniors live healthy, full lives. They cover a variety of topics, including personal finances for seniors, how to age successfully, and even tips on how to know if you need a medical alert system.
When it comes to marketing on social media, you need to figure out where seniors congregate. Even though Instagram and Snapchat are popular, growing platforms, they are not so much so with baby boomers.
Remember the statistic cited earlier about how 78 percent of baby boomers use Facebook? It's far and away the most popular social media platform among the demographic. So, the key to marketing to this generation is figuring out where they congregate and reaching out via Facebook ads.
The specific key terms you want to use, which Facebook groups you market to, and other considerations might need to be adapted to match your company's industry or the specific products and services that you want to market to older generations.
Although a quick post with hashtags might seem like a great idea to reach people searching for that tag, it may not be effective with baby boomers and might just confuse them. According to a study, those over the age of 55 were the least likely to know what a hashtag is and about 1 in 4 baby boomers supported teaching proper hashtag usage in schools—compared to the 68.5 percent of young adults age 18-24 who felt it was unnecessary.
Instead, just state what you mean upfront and avoid cutesy hashtags. If you use a hashtag, keep it to a single word. Don’t try to put in hashtag phrases, as this can make it harder for older audiences to parse.
Look at how AARP markets to its members and potential members on Twitter/X. Even though they are on the site that is the king of hashtags, they don’t use a hashtag to present this short video. Instead, they use straightforward text and facts to pull the user in.
Baby boomers grew up in a time when there were no cell phones or automated machines that interacted with them as customers. They like one-on-one interactions as a group, and they appreciate companies that go above and beyond to show that they are an important part of the business.
If your target audience is baby boomers, look at the world through their eyes and figure out where your interactions might lack the human touch.
Remove the word “old” from your vocabulary. Even though they might be over 60, they don’t feel old. Baby boomers as a generation are living longer than the generations before them.
They want to spend every moment of that time experiencing life, traveling the world, and going on adventures. Also, be wary of using copy that could be construed as being a bit condescending about their age.
T-Mobile seems to have realized that more and more Boomers are buying smartphones. They've even added plans and pricing specifically for customers over the age of 55.
Yet, nowhere in their advertising do they say the word "old." They note that this service is special for age 55+ customers—making them feel special and that they've earned a reward instead of making them feel old.
There exists a "generational wealth gap" between millennials and baby boomers. Trust & Will stated that "millennials only hold 4.6 percent of the wealth in America" while "boomers hold 53.2 percent, or $59.96 trillion." That's a more than 10 times gap between these two generations.
While boomers may have more money to spend, they want to spend it wisely, so make a case for why your product will be a good match for them and why it is the best choice out there.
This messaging can be tied into your company's unique value proposition and how it relates to a baby boomer's concerns.
For example, Aflac poses its life insurance for seniors as a way to provide support for the insured person's loved ones after their passing—highlighting how it helps to cover funeral costs and bills. This messaging can really resonate with family-oriented baby boomers who are determined to provide for their loved ones even after they're gone.
When creating your marketing campaign, hone in on how your product or service will improve the baby boomer’s lifestyle. This is the generation that saw televisions come into every home and began to use telephones for everything.
Even though they do prefer face-to-face interactions, they also will go online. Because they have disposable income, they also don't mind spending money on a little comfort and luxury. Appeal to how you can improve their lives, and you have a better chance of selling to them.
While it's easy to make generalizations about a generation of people—the "boomer characteristics" listed earlier in this very article do that—it's important to remember that the members of any given generation are going to be individuals with their own unique wants, needs, and challenges.
So, it's important to conduct some buyer persona research and profiling that goes beyond the generational stereotypes about baby boomers. For example, are you targeting boomers who are more concerned with supporting their grandchildren or ones who want to go on adventures in exotic locales?
Travel + Leisure created a blog article centered around the best vacation destinations. The article directly addresses retirees and picks spots throughout the USA based on their amenities for the retiree and their extended family (particularly the grandkids) which they might find useful.
Baby boomers have a lot of life experience—which can make them wary of trusting new companies that they haven't heard of before. When marketing products and services to this generation of consumers, finding ways to build trust can be crucial for earning their business.
One way to do this is to use "social proof" such as customer testimonials, reviews, and case studies to demonstrate to baby boomers the reliability and impact of your brand.
These folks have been around for all kinds of crazy marketing strategies, are regularly subjected to the same scam calls to their cell phones as the rest of us, and predate the concept of email phishing. A slick piece of marketing material making bold, but unsubstantiated, claims isn't so likely to earn their trust. A solid brand reputation combined with social proof that the prospect can find can have a strong impact on their purchase decision.
To effectively market to any generation, you need to understand the basics of what makes that generation unique. Study the time period in which baby boomers grew up, talk to people in that age group, and look at generalizations about the generation as a whole.
At the same time, however, be aware that each person is an individual. You have to find the exact mix that works to reach those who are interested in what you have to offer.