A week ago my post To Email or Not to Email reviewed recent research and examined different ways to make email work for you when engaging Boomer consumers.

The news at first glance doesn’t appear great for those who target consumers aged 55 and better, as many of these folks are moving away from checking email on the web.

But don’t worry, Chicken Little, the sky isn’t falling – especially for those who target the mature consumer. The same report shows that Boomers and seniors are actually relying more and more on email. This is a trend Creating Results has seen on the rise for a while and even highlighted in a post by one of my colleagues.

You see email really isn’t dead –  it’s just our definition of what email is that is changing. I believe that “email” isn’t just a pretty html piece that hits an inbox.

It’s any online or SMS messaging that is sent in an effort to engage and, if you look at your various avenues and messaging in that light, you can apply many of the same email principles to achieve desired results.

The challenge for marketers is to know their target consumers as intimately as possible in order to identify their preferred channels – email, second channel, third channel. Then we must become experts within those channels and modify messaging accordingly.

There are some key channels that are gaining popularity with the mature consumer segment. eMarketer recently reported that 43% of Boomers on Facebook have established themselves as brand advocates by “liking” brands (and that is a pretty significant increase over the course of less than a year). With the ever expanding ways we can message (email) directly through Facebook this stands out as an avenue to test to reach this segment.

One note of caution for those putting all their marketing eggs in the Facebook basket:  not every mature consumer is active within social networks (something to keep in mind when looking at your media mix).  In fact, during a recent Creating Results study of the web and social marketing preferences of “Social, Silver Surfers,” 68% of respondents who hadn’t tried social media avenues to date indicated they would NEVER venture down that path (a response repeated most regularly among 55-64 year olds and those 75 and better) . And those who are active in online social networks, aren’t jumping over themselves to LIKE your brand.

Percentage of social networkers who want to engage with brands by age

Another avenue that is popular among those 55 and better is blogging. This audience is looking for authentic, informative insights to help drive their purchase habits and preferences and reading insights from contemporaries speaks directly to this desire. Who are your current brand ambassadors? Is it a current home buyer for a senior living community or a family member with a mother who just received excellent rehabilitative care from your health care professional? Encourage them to contribute to your blog or post on your social media sites to help reinforce the value of your brand.

All this is well and good – but consumers have to know where to find your message.

When creating email programs for national restaurant chains during my previous life, I found this to not only be true but to be an important key to driving traffic. By informing consumers of the wide range of avenues through which they can receive messages we were able to expand our reach and drive measurable and immediate results.

Variety is the spice of life and offering a number of online avenues through which you communicate with consumers is especially important, if your marketing goal is to drive traffic and sales. Remember I may not check my various email accounts for a week (evident by the fact that one of my email accounts has 500+ unopened messages – a fail for any brands who have reached out) but I have my cell phone with me at almost all times. If you know that and want me to act, tell me I can receive information that way and make it easy for me to subscribe.

Knowing not only who you are talking to but how you are talking to them is an important piece to your messaging (email) strategy. Not all boomers are created equal when it comes to their avenue of choice but one thing is universal among this cohort – they want us to listen. It’s up to us to demonstrate through our messaging that we are.