Driving Sales

Why Baby Boomers Still Matter as a Marketing Target

In the youth-oriented world of advertising, that aging but eternally young-thinking group known as "Baby Boomers" is still proving their worth as a well-moneyed, open-minded target for marketers. So says an eye-opening TV Land study entitled "Generation BUY: A Close Look at the Boomer Consumer."

The TV Land findings dispel myths about 40 and 50-somethings being set in their ways and unwilling to try new products or brands as much as Millennials and Gen Xers.  In constrast to conventional marketing wisdom, the study revealed that Boomers are more open to new brands and less brand loyal than people under 40. Twenty-six percent of Boomers said they are not at all brand loyal versus 21% of Gen X and Millennials. Gen Y, surprisingly, are the most likely to say that once they have made a commitment to a brand, they will stick with it, come what may.

For marketers that stereotyped Boomers as a fading factor in many of today's marketing campaigns, the study gave compelling evidence for a fresh look at their desirablity as a target audience. Boomers will consider new brands if the product or service is more useful, functional and offers the most benefit/value. Compared to Millennials and Gen Xers, they are less likely to be influenced by the notion that the brand is more prestigious or the latest style. The report notes that they are not afraid to change for something they feel will improve their lives.

The study found a "cut through the fluff" attitude among Boomers who routinely reject "teaser" ads that create a mood but do not offer much in terms of substance. On the other hand, they appreciate ads that use humor well more than their younger counterparts.

So what's a marketer to do? It depends on the product or service being pitched, of course.  But considering Boomers' purchasing power, their willingness to try new brands, and their priority on products or services that deliver quality and value, failing to consider their clout as a marketing target could be an oversight that hits your bottom line like a blast from the past.

For more ideas to drive sales, check out archives or visit Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.

 

Sell, Sell, Cell!

While cash-strapped Americans cut back on such cherished routines as eating out, buying the latest electronic gadgets, and driving their cars here, there and everywhere, a relatively new custom shows no signs of  abatement: buying and talking on cellphones. 

Love them or hate them, cellphones have become an ubiquitous part of life in America, as visible and inseparable as the clothes on people's backs. The total integration of cellphones  into modern life is creating a vast new opportunity for savvy marketers to promote their brands and sell products and services through mobile advertising.

According to a study by Harris Interactive, teens are proving to be strong early adapters to mobile advertising, with adults quickly building a comfort level. Among teens surveyed, 56 percent said they would be interested in viewing mobile ads with incentives, while 37 percent of adults noted that they would be receptive to such advertising.

Top incentives among teens included:

• Cash (70 percent)
• Entertainment downloads (61 percent)
• Free music (57 percent)
• Free minutes (53 percent)

Top incentives among adults included:

• Cash (80 percent)
• Free minutes (49 percent)
• Discount coupons (37 percent)
• Free entertainment (31 percent)
• Music downloads (24 percent)

While matching the right incentive to the right audience is clearly a critical part of mobile advertising success, the survey revealed that the method of delivery is equally consequential. Text messaging was the advertising approach of choice for all consumers, appealing to 69 percent of adults and 64 percent of teens. Reflecting their more visual-orientation than earlier generations, teens were more open to seeing advertising images on their cellphones (47 percent) compared to adults (35 percent).

As consumers grow more personally connected to their cellphones, mobile advertising is a medium that's grown from the outskirts of marketing importance to the forefront.  As the Harris study and other industry reports show, the key to acceptance for mobile marketing efforts is to know your audience, personalize your message, and offer meaningful incentives that make you a welcome caller instead of a pushy intruder.

For more ideas to drive sales, check out archives or visit Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.

 

Learning the Language of "You"

A wise man once observed that there are two kinds of people in the world -- those who walk into a room and say "Here I am," and those who walk into a room and say "There you are."

If you want to convert the maximum number of potential customers into paying customers, having the "there you are" mindset is exactly the right focus for marketing your business. Not sure if your focus is where it should be? Take a look at your website or a recent ad or brochure that you've done.

Are you using words that talk about all the great features of your products or services or the impressive accomplishments of your company? Or are you talking about all the liberating ways your prospects can benefit from your products or services? To put it simply, are you speaking the enagaging language of "you," or are you stuck, tongue-first in the alienating language of "we"?

In every communication, every marketing opportunity, the words you use and how you use them tell your potential customers where your focus is loud and clear. If you're like the guy at the party who rattles on and on about himself without once asking you about your life, you're inviting people to tune you out, cut things short, and avoid any future interaction.

Want to get potential customers to hear you out and see the value of acting on the messages and insights you offer them? Then fuel their curiousity by talking about them, their hopes, their goals, their wants, their needs. Most importantly, talk about how they can get those hopes, goals, wants and needs fulfilled with a little help from you.

To see how well you speak the language of "you," check out www.futurenowinc.com/wewe.htm. The site provides a handy tool/calculator that scans your website or other text for self-focused words such as "I," "we," "our" and your company name, as well as for customer-focused words such as "you" and "your." It then calculates a customer focus ratio and other ratios that indicate whether your audience is likely to perceive you as genuinely focused on them or caught up in your own self-absorbed world.

Give it a try and test your text. You may already be doing well in speaking the language of "you." Then again, it may change the way you speak to your customers, the way they react to you, and the success that flows from tapping into the basic human need to be listened to and valued.  Think of it as walking into a room, and instead of announcing "Here I am," shouting out "There you are." 

For more ideas to drive sales, check out archives or visit Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.

Building a Facebook Following that Leads to More Business

If you run a business, some of your employees are spending time on Facebook. Some of your friends, past and present, are there, too.  Then there's your current and future customers and business associates - on-board, connected, and hungry for your latest news, views and updates.

The fact is, if you're not exploring Facebook's business potential as a social media networking site and channel of communication, you're probably missing a pretty big boat of prospective new customers or clients. 

While Facebook started as a social networking utility for the net generation, it has quickly evolved into an enormously popular and highly efficient tool for connecting people over a range of interests and communities. Since its launch in 2004, it has steadily grown to include more than 90 million active users, many working in professional, sales, executive or technical careers. For business purposes, Facebook leverages opportunities to:

• Build communities with customers and stakeholders that increase your business exposure
• Collaborate externally with people you wouldn't otherwise have access to
• Get to know potential customers, see what they read, what groups they belong to, what they post in the cyberworld, and much more
• Gain "word of click" free marketing as your Facebook "friends" or followers share and comment on your information on their pages and profiles
• Get messages out, with credibility, to groups that really care about what you have to say

Having a Facebook business page is like having an e-mail database of super-interested contacts, only with one major difference. With Facebook, you're providing the tools for them to stay connected, be engaged, personalize their communications, and be ambassadors of your brand wherever they go. That's a dramatic improvement over the one-way, static communication that the e-mail blast traditionally has been.

Getting your business in on Facebook's powerful merging of media, collaboration and community is as easy as setting up a free profile or business page. Here's how to do it:

1. Visit www.facebook.com/pages/create.php.

2. Choose the best category to list your business under, then enter your business/product/brand name and click "Create Page."

3. To create initial content that you can build on later, enter a description of your business, web site address, and upload your logo as a photo/image.

4.  Click on your business name in the top left corner and then click "publish this page."

5. From your new profile page, click "add to my products." This enables you to become the first "fan" of your business. When you become a "fan" of your business, your Facebook friends (some of which are likely customers) will see a message on their home page. Ideally, some of your Facebook friends will befriend your business, then their friends will see a message, and so your exposure grows.

If you want to see a sample Facebook business page, check out Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.

For more ideas to drive sales, check out archives or visit Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.