The state of our economy has been on everyone’s mind as of late. It certainly has been a big topic of conversation with the retailers we speak with each day. Everyone wants to talk about the same thing: how can I build foot traffic and increase sales? Will traditional advertising methods still lure shoppers to my store?
The answer is yes. And no. Some methods will attract some generations, while others will not work at all. Let’s take a look at how to reach the generations shopping with you today: The Millennials: ages 15 – 26, Generation X: ages 27 to 43 , Baby Boomers: ages 44 – 62, and the LOMLOTs™ (Lots Of Money, Lots Of Time): people of retirement age and better.
The Millennials are an important group because they influence and/or spend well over $200 billion a year. Their parents might be Baby Boomers or Gen Xers, either way, these kids were born into high tech times. They’ve been told they can do and be anything they want to by their parents, teachers, and coaches their entire lives. And they've never been told no.
Technology is critical if you want to reach a Millennial: they have no memory of life without it. They utilize technology in every aspect of their lives; they simply cannot function without it. This is one big communication generation.
Cellphones have become appendages – Millennials don’t leave home without them. Thanks to “Mosquito” tones that only kids can hear, they can text on their cell phones all day long and the adults around them never know it. These tones are a classroom favorite because they fly under the teacher’s radar. Hear for yourself: visit http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/ and take the Mosquito tone test.
Generation Xers are a misunderstood generation. Called “Latch Key Kids”, Xers are the very independent children of work-driven parents. This made them tough customers, and a challenge to marketers. Xers grew up in the age of self-service, waiting on line at big discount stores. Nowadays, they are the new luxury customers who enjoy personal service. Like the Millennials, Gen Xer use technology in every aspect of their lives.
76 million Baby Boomers were born after World War II and things have never been the same since. Every company did whatever it could to attract this consumer. Boomers grew up surrounded by optimism and opportunity and progress. Even today Boomers are considered the ultimate consumers: Americans ages 50 + account for nearly 50 percent of consumer demand.
LOMLOTs™ were born prior to 1945. They are the children of the Great Depression and World War II; this made them life-long value conscious consumers.. LOMLOTs™ have strong traditional values. They are loyal, they respect authority, and they believe in hard work and dedication to family.
Here’s how to reach technology-rich consumers:
E-mail Blasts: Members of each generation tell us they like to receive e-mail blasts. Millennials and Generation Xers grew up with e-mail; Boomers and LOMLOTs™ have embraced it as well. But there’s the thing: if your e-mail blasts have more words than photos, customers will give them a cursory glance before hitting the delete button. E-mail blasts that grab attention incorporate large photos and plenty of clickable links that take the reader right to your website.
E-mail blasts are still the cheapest and quickest way to reach your customers, so collecting e-mail addresses should be a top priority. According to Direct Marketing Magazine, customers that know and love your business like you to keep in touch. You can send these customers a blast about every 20 days and you’ll be good to go.
It’s a good idea to segment your e-mail marketing lists – don’t send cross-stitch customers scrapbooking offers. They will not only delete them, they just might delete all future e-mails from you without reading them.
Text Messages (SMS): Text message ads for your store sound like a good idea, but its an idea whose time has not yet come. Unless a customer specifically signs up to receive ads via text message, texting is for friends and family only. However, text ads are on the way as companies like CellFire ( http://www.cellfire.com ) are luring consumers with offers they can choose to receive via text message on their cell phone. (Note: Cellfire is not SMS text messages but rather a discount service that consumers access when they want via a mobile web application, or from a computer. Click on "Comments" to learn more.)
The Internet: Just like the associate who offers you a shopping cart at Wal-Mart, your website is your greeter – people from each generation will visit your website before coming to your store.
That being said, if your website does not do your store justice; if it does not represent your store well, you have some work to do. The days of putting up a not-so-great website you promise to upgrade later are over. Shabby websites create the perception of shabby stores. Your customers prefer interactive websites, websites with lots to do, websites that can hold their attention for hours. To attract visitors your website, it needs to be loaded with ideas, information, and activities.
Blogs: A recent article in BrandWeek magazine reported that 10,000 moms start blogs every, single day. And that’s in addition to the time they spend updating and commenting on other blogs.
Blogs are a big deal: a post on iMediaConnection.com reads, “While it's easy to imagine a typical blog reader as hip, youthful and borderline penniless, a survey has found that most readers are older, have bucks and are professionals – making them a distinct, desirable and significant demographic. In fact, Blogads.com surveyed 17,159 blog site visitors during a two-day period in May, inquiring about their age, income, media consumption, online spending habits and political affiliations. The survey learned that 61 percent of blog readers were more than 30 years old and nearly 40 percent of those surveyed have a household income of $90,000 or more.”
Just the customers you want to reach! Our “Retail Adventures in the REAL World™” blog (http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com ) has tens of thousands of hits each month. You just can’t buy the visibility and word-of-mouth a blog is capable of attracting. And by the way, creating a blog on BlogSpot is free. Visit http://www.blogger.com and get started today.
Social Networking Websites: Millennials are all about social networking on the Internet so it’s a good way to reach them. Other generations are getting involved as well.
Representing your store on a social networking web site such as MySpace or Facebook can give your business a boost as long as you follow the rules. Focus on giving information – if your goal is merely to acquire new customers, no one will want to be your “friend.” Today’s consumers are big on word-of-mouth; so don’t play the social website game unless you understand how it works.
Visit Angie Pederson’s “Go Scrap Yourself” for a good example of what a MySpace page looks like: http://www.myspace.com/GoScrapYourself
Virtual Communities: Consumers like to join virtual communities, case in point, the hundreds of friends every member has on their Facebook and MySpace account.
Huggies Baby Network (http://www.huggiesbabynetwork.com/ ) is a good example of a viral community that was started by a business. Moms, and moms-to-be, can connect with one another, share tips and stories, get coupons and more. This site works because it formed a partnership with the moms. BrandWeek warns that virtual community members will be your BFF (best friend forever) if you treat them right, but if you make them angry, they'll put up a fire wall and block you, or send a MySpace bulletin telling their thousands of friends to follow suit.
Magazines and Newspapers: Although still viable mediums, print medias are tricky. Millennials prefer magazines over newspapers. 59% of Gen Xers subscribe to one or more magazine, but only 3 out of 10 read newspapers. Baby Boomers subscribe to even more magazines than Gen Xers, and are still reachable via newspaper. And the LOMLOTs™ are the generation most likely to read a daily newspaper, the problem is, many can’t easily read what’s printed on the pages.
Presbyopia kicks in around the ripe old age of at 40 (Gen Xers: are you listening?) making it hard to read small type fonts without reading glasses or bi-focals. Switch to a larger font for e-mail, coupons, in-store signing, newsletters, etc. It makes it easier for customers to buy what you are selling.
Direct Mail: All of the generations respond to direct mail IF they like the store or the product the mailer represents. But you don’t get a lot of time to capture their attention. Like e-mail, direct mail pieces need to be more about photos than copy. Marketers call good direct mail ads "5 second reads” – if you can’t get your point across in five seconds or less your ad is likely to get tossed.
Coupons: Millennials, particularly those with families, clip coupons. Our focus groups tell us they prefer to get their coupons online.
Time-starved and stressed-our Gen Xers say clipping coupons takes time, but it's worth it. These shoppers tell us they often buy the Sunday paper specifically for that purpose. Xers also enjoy on-line coupons – it makes life easier.
Baby Boomers also like coupons, both in print and on-line. They demand instant gratification – they want their coupons NOW. One woman told us about a Regenerist face cream television commercial that promised a $5 coupon on Olay.com. She went online and spent 20 minutes watching the required video and filling out the required online survey to get her coupon. When she was finished a box popped up telling her the $5 coupon would be mailed to her in 4 - 6 weeks. She wasn’t happy. She wanted to know why the coupon couldn’t appear as a pop-up she could print right away.
When it comes to coupons LOMLOTs are old school; they’re still willing to clip them from newspapers. These customers tell us the Sunday paper is by far the most important paper of the week.
New ways to make coupons available to consumers are popping up each day. Visit Shortcuts.com ( http://www.shortcuts.com ) for a glimpse into the future of couponing.
Yes, this a long post -- we’ve covered a lot of ground -- yet our message isn’t complicated. The advertising and marketing methods that worked for you ten years ago, five years ago, will not always work today because the world has moved on. It’s not that the medias we all grew up with haven’t changed, they just haven’t changed enough. But your customers have – thank technology for that. So, here’s your take-away: Get out there and become a techno geek! Embrace the new medias and find new ways to communicate with your customers. You’ll be so glad you did!
The answer is yes. And no. Some methods will attract some generations, while others will not work at all. Let’s take a look at how to reach the generations shopping with you today: The Millennials: ages 15 – 26, Generation X: ages 27 to 43 , Baby Boomers: ages 44 – 62, and the LOMLOTs™ (Lots Of Money, Lots Of Time): people of retirement age and better.
The Millennials are an important group because they influence and/or spend well over $200 billion a year. Their parents might be Baby Boomers or Gen Xers, either way, these kids were born into high tech times. They’ve been told they can do and be anything they want to by their parents, teachers, and coaches their entire lives. And they've never been told no.
Technology is critical if you want to reach a Millennial: they have no memory of life without it. They utilize technology in every aspect of their lives; they simply cannot function without it. This is one big communication generation.
Cellphones have become appendages – Millennials don’t leave home without them. Thanks to “Mosquito” tones that only kids can hear, they can text on their cell phones all day long and the adults around them never know it. These tones are a classroom favorite because they fly under the teacher’s radar. Hear for yourself: visit http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/ and take the Mosquito tone test.
Generation Xers are a misunderstood generation. Called “Latch Key Kids”, Xers are the very independent children of work-driven parents. This made them tough customers, and a challenge to marketers. Xers grew up in the age of self-service, waiting on line at big discount stores. Nowadays, they are the new luxury customers who enjoy personal service. Like the Millennials, Gen Xer use technology in every aspect of their lives.
76 million Baby Boomers were born after World War II and things have never been the same since. Every company did whatever it could to attract this consumer. Boomers grew up surrounded by optimism and opportunity and progress. Even today Boomers are considered the ultimate consumers: Americans ages 50 + account for nearly 50 percent of consumer demand.
LOMLOTs™ were born prior to 1945. They are the children of the Great Depression and World War II; this made them life-long value conscious consumers.. LOMLOTs™ have strong traditional values. They are loyal, they respect authority, and they believe in hard work and dedication to family.
Here’s how to reach technology-rich consumers:
E-mail Blasts: Members of each generation tell us they like to receive e-mail blasts. Millennials and Generation Xers grew up with e-mail; Boomers and LOMLOTs™ have embraced it as well. But there’s the thing: if your e-mail blasts have more words than photos, customers will give them a cursory glance before hitting the delete button. E-mail blasts that grab attention incorporate large photos and plenty of clickable links that take the reader right to your website.
E-mail blasts are still the cheapest and quickest way to reach your customers, so collecting e-mail addresses should be a top priority. According to Direct Marketing Magazine, customers that know and love your business like you to keep in touch. You can send these customers a blast about every 20 days and you’ll be good to go.
It’s a good idea to segment your e-mail marketing lists – don’t send cross-stitch customers scrapbooking offers. They will not only delete them, they just might delete all future e-mails from you without reading them.
Text Messages (SMS): Text message ads for your store sound like a good idea, but its an idea whose time has not yet come. Unless a customer specifically signs up to receive ads via text message, texting is for friends and family only. However, text ads are on the way as companies like CellFire ( http://www.cellfire.com ) are luring consumers with offers they can choose to receive via text message on their cell phone. (Note: Cellfire is not SMS text messages but rather a discount service that consumers access when they want via a mobile web application, or from a computer. Click on "Comments" to learn more.)
The Internet: Just like the associate who offers you a shopping cart at Wal-Mart, your website is your greeter – people from each generation will visit your website before coming to your store.
That being said, if your website does not do your store justice; if it does not represent your store well, you have some work to do. The days of putting up a not-so-great website you promise to upgrade later are over. Shabby websites create the perception of shabby stores. Your customers prefer interactive websites, websites with lots to do, websites that can hold their attention for hours. To attract visitors your website, it needs to be loaded with ideas, information, and activities.
Blogs: A recent article in BrandWeek magazine reported that 10,000 moms start blogs every, single day. And that’s in addition to the time they spend updating and commenting on other blogs.
Blogs are a big deal: a post on iMediaConnection.com reads, “While it's easy to imagine a typical blog reader as hip, youthful and borderline penniless, a survey has found that most readers are older, have bucks and are professionals – making them a distinct, desirable and significant demographic. In fact, Blogads.com surveyed 17,159 blog site visitors during a two-day period in May, inquiring about their age, income, media consumption, online spending habits and political affiliations. The survey learned that 61 percent of blog readers were more than 30 years old and nearly 40 percent of those surveyed have a household income of $90,000 or more.”
Just the customers you want to reach! Our “Retail Adventures in the REAL World™” blog (http://www.kizerandbender.blogspot.com ) has tens of thousands of hits each month. You just can’t buy the visibility and word-of-mouth a blog is capable of attracting. And by the way, creating a blog on BlogSpot is free. Visit http://www.blogger.com and get started today.
Social Networking Websites: Millennials are all about social networking on the Internet so it’s a good way to reach them. Other generations are getting involved as well.
Representing your store on a social networking web site such as MySpace or Facebook can give your business a boost as long as you follow the rules. Focus on giving information – if your goal is merely to acquire new customers, no one will want to be your “friend.” Today’s consumers are big on word-of-mouth; so don’t play the social website game unless you understand how it works.
Visit Angie Pederson’s “Go Scrap Yourself” for a good example of what a MySpace page looks like: http://www.myspace.com/GoScrapYourself
Virtual Communities: Consumers like to join virtual communities, case in point, the hundreds of friends every member has on their Facebook and MySpace account.
Huggies Baby Network (http://www.huggiesbabynetwork.com/ ) is a good example of a viral community that was started by a business. Moms, and moms-to-be, can connect with one another, share tips and stories, get coupons and more. This site works because it formed a partnership with the moms. BrandWeek warns that virtual community members will be your BFF (best friend forever) if you treat them right, but if you make them angry, they'll put up a fire wall and block you, or send a MySpace bulletin telling their thousands of friends to follow suit.
Magazines and Newspapers: Although still viable mediums, print medias are tricky. Millennials prefer magazines over newspapers. 59% of Gen Xers subscribe to one or more magazine, but only 3 out of 10 read newspapers. Baby Boomers subscribe to even more magazines than Gen Xers, and are still reachable via newspaper. And the LOMLOTs™ are the generation most likely to read a daily newspaper, the problem is, many can’t easily read what’s printed on the pages.
Presbyopia kicks in around the ripe old age of at 40 (Gen Xers: are you listening?) making it hard to read small type fonts without reading glasses or bi-focals. Switch to a larger font for e-mail, coupons, in-store signing, newsletters, etc. It makes it easier for customers to buy what you are selling.
Direct Mail: All of the generations respond to direct mail IF they like the store or the product the mailer represents. But you don’t get a lot of time to capture their attention. Like e-mail, direct mail pieces need to be more about photos than copy. Marketers call good direct mail ads "5 second reads” – if you can’t get your point across in five seconds or less your ad is likely to get tossed.
Coupons: Millennials, particularly those with families, clip coupons. Our focus groups tell us they prefer to get their coupons online.
Time-starved and stressed-our Gen Xers say clipping coupons takes time, but it's worth it. These shoppers tell us they often buy the Sunday paper specifically for that purpose. Xers also enjoy on-line coupons – it makes life easier.
Baby Boomers also like coupons, both in print and on-line. They demand instant gratification – they want their coupons NOW. One woman told us about a Regenerist face cream television commercial that promised a $5 coupon on Olay.com. She went online and spent 20 minutes watching the required video and filling out the required online survey to get her coupon. When she was finished a box popped up telling her the $5 coupon would be mailed to her in 4 - 6 weeks. She wasn’t happy. She wanted to know why the coupon couldn’t appear as a pop-up she could print right away.
When it comes to coupons LOMLOTs are old school; they’re still willing to clip them from newspapers. These customers tell us the Sunday paper is by far the most important paper of the week.
New ways to make coupons available to consumers are popping up each day. Visit Shortcuts.com ( http://www.shortcuts.com ) for a glimpse into the future of couponing.
Yes, this a long post -- we’ve covered a lot of ground -- yet our message isn’t complicated. The advertising and marketing methods that worked for you ten years ago, five years ago, will not always work today because the world has moved on. It’s not that the medias we all grew up with haven’t changed, they just haven’t changed enough. But your customers have – thank technology for that. So, here’s your take-away: Get out there and become a techno geek! Embrace the new medias and find new ways to communicate with your customers. You’ll be so glad you did!
© KIZER & BENDER . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Thanks for mentioning Cellfire. Indeed our service is an excellent way for advertisers to target their desired audience and deliver an offer that can be tracked through the point of sale. One point of clarification, Cellfire is not SMS text messages but rather a discount service that consumers access when they want via a mobile web application, our mobile Website, or from a computer. We are similar to Shortcuts in that consumers can use Cellfire digital coupons to save at the grocery using their computer but we are much more in that we allow consumers to access the savings with their mobile phone (which is always with them) and to achieve savings at non-grocery merchants such as GameStop, Caribou Coffee among hundreds of other merchants.
ReplyDelete