So, you have to write copy that targets this infinitely diverse and viable population. Understanding this generation from a socio-commercial perspective can increase your client’s chance of successfully nailing it!
Before You Sit Down To Create Your client’s Marketing Piece, Let’s Talk -
Know Your client’s Product (or Service) Inside and Out
Take a closer at your client’s product or service. Make a list of every benefit (e.g., it increases productivity, saves time, etc.). Sometimes it helps if you list your client’s product’s features in one column and then list the benefit the feature provides in another column. Remember to include on your client’s list those benefits that your client does not mention on their website or in their other marketing materials. A customer may find important something that you take for granted. Are there things on your client’s about page that they do as part of their business that they don’t mention in their marketing tools, because it just comes with the territory? Add their benefits to the list.
Know Your Client’s Market Segment
Read about boomers and seniors so you can identify what it is they really want, how to classify them, what matters to them, what offends them, beyond the subjective “obvious.” Don’t make assumptions about the trends, the lifestyle and nature of the mature markets. You can have two 60-year-olds, who are chronologically the same age, but are cognitively far apart in age For example, one lives the life of an active 30-year-old, free-spirit and shops at the Gap and the other has a much slower-paced, regimented routine and no longer shops for clothes, because she has enough to wear.
This is not to say, however, that the energetic 60-year–old wants to be 30 again; she or he is just living an active life often associated with that of a younger person. Unless your client’s product or service is distinctly age-related, like hearing aids, arthritis creams and burial plots, keep your client’s marketing words age-neutral! Steer clear of mentioning old age’s cousins, as well, e.g., golden years. Delicately and discreetly convey that you are including the mature generations, not that your client’s product is for their generation.
Example: If you have a resort and the most attractive feature you want to promote is the 24-hour golf course, promote the benefits that would appeal to most golfers (and particularly the older golfer), like, “24-hour golf just got better. We now have glow in the dark golf balls!”
There are, however, a few generalizations about the 50 plus generations that you, as a copywriter, must make.
Primarily: People over 50 nowadays are not the same as people over 50 in 1978 and before. Additionally, mature adults no longer feel or live like a homogeny.
■ Today’s 50 plus are more alive than yesterday’s 50 plus.
■ Today’s 50 plus are more health-conscious than yesterday’s 50 plus.
■ Today’s 50 plus tend to be more active and fit than yesterday’s 50 plus.
■ Today’s 50 plus are more likely to do something about not being considered relevant than yesterday’s 50 plus would.
■ Today’s 50 plus expect to be treated as independently as they feel, which is very independent.
■ Today’s 50 plus are more open-minded than yesterday’s 50 plus.
■ Today’s 50 plus prefer if marketers use more concrete advertising claims like specifying which vitamins their product is fortified with.
■ Today’s 50 plus are not a niche market and want marketers to recognize this fact and demonstrate it in their advertising.
Creating Your Client’s Marketing Piece
Pictures
The mature market of today is not ready to be carted off. They prefer to enjoy their relevancy. Thus, your client’s pictures should reflect their involvement among people of different ages. The pictures should, of course, fit with what your client’s product is about. Don’t just throw in a picture of a man with his son and grandson which has no connection with what you are promoting. Pictures should help to sell the product, not decorate it.
Headline
You must begin your client’s marketing piece with a headline, whether it is a brochure, sell sheet, or the Home Page of your client’s website. This is where your client’s USP (unique selling proposition) makes its first appearance. You have 3 to 10 seconds to capture the attention of anyone, but particularly the mature market; advertisers are increasingly vying for their attention.
Example: If you are an Image Consultant who targets boomer and senior women, your client’s headline should immediately shout: “Comfort. Fit. Style. Finally, an Image Consultant Who Gets It!” Make the mature consumer want to read further.
You need to make an immediate, emotional connection with the person glancing at your client’s marketing collateral. This is why identifying your client’s USP is paramount. The company name should not be the first thing they see, unless its name helps the prospect understand something about the product or service that will help sell the product or service.
Body
Begin with most critical benefits and features of your client’s product and work your way to the least critical. One simple way to handle the body of the marketing piece is to weave the product’s features quietly between the benefits, with more weight on the benefits. Your client’s job at this point is to convince the reader or site visitor of the value of the product, by painting a credible picture of the exceptional advantage of the product’s introduction into this fabulous 50 plus person’s life. She should smell the scent of the shampoo wafting past her nose as she throws her head forward to secure her helmet.
Separate categories of information with bolded subheadings. Short paragraphs or bulleted lists work best, because they have built-in rest stops, they are fifty plus, reader-friendly.
Testimonials
If you have them, use them. However, if you don’t have them yet, when you request them, ask the customer to provide a detailed account of their experience. Fifty plus folks are big on facts and do not like ambiguity in marketing and advertising. The more details in the testimonial, the better.
Mature market consumers cannot be understood unless you have a clear assessment of their assorted and particular experiences. Remember to take into consideration elements like life stage (e.g., mid-life parents, empty nesters, second career professionals, etc.) when writing copy for your client’s mature target audience.
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