The Creating Results team is happy to each week explore and deliver to our friends/followers those resources which help us all learn more about our targets: mature consumers. Now, time to learn what links “clicked” last week with those who share our passion for baby boomers and beyond.

1. MOST SHARED: 5 reasons email is ideal for creating loyalty with baby boomers and seniors: http://bit.ly/KrqOQq

2. MOST CLICKED: That terrifying moment you realize: You are old. – http://bit.ly/LtWREf Insights from Dr. Carol Orsborn, writing for the new Next Avenue.

3. MOST IMPORTANT: Marketers should be aware of a new “generation gap:” Debt.

The average American carries $78,030 in debt, reports Experian. Last week they shared details on who owes what by generation. The news isn’t good for Gen X, which has the highest amount of debt and low credit scores. Baby Boomers “tend to be equal to or under the national average in nearly every category with the exception of their second mortgages, which is proportionally 23 percent higher than the national average,” the study found.

It was especially interesting to see the breakdown by age group and debt type. I was surprised to see that what Experian calls the Greatest Generation (which seems to be anyone older than a boomer, which would include the Silent Generation as well) had the highest percentage of bank card debt – 43% above the national average.

Read the whole article at: http://bit.ly/KrrEwm

Debt and aging. Which do you think your 50+ prospective customers fear most? Does your marketing reference these fears or challenges in any way? Please share your thoughts using the comments tool below.

Two quick stats on moms:

My mother, Patricia Read, was an "older mom"-trendsetter. She had me at 38. Today she supports an adult child & several grandchildren financially.

1) Mothers today are older and better educated, compared with mothers a decade ago. Roughly 7,500 women gave birth at age 45 or over in 2008 and an increasing number of those women who have their first child after 35 don’t stop with just one.

2) MetLife found that nearly 80% of women of all generations have the desire to be able to give more financially to children or grandchildren. More than half of boomer moms are supporting adult kids financially today.

Marketing take-away: Check your assumptions about 50+ women being “empty nesters” with newly liberated wallets at the door. Be sure you really listen to your prospect and understand their personal situation.

Now, on to our weekly round-up of top baby boomer and seniors marketing links, resources and articles.

1. MOST SHARED: Our post on “Re-Thinking Retirement – 6 Lessons for Marketers” was re-tweeted and shared widely last week. Those lessons aren’t unique to retirement communities. We’d love your thoughts on how your organization is responding to the re-invention of that lifestage called retirement.

Read the post/add your comments: http://bit.ly/IR6PtO

Related post with a senior consumer perspective, courtesy of North Hill retirement communities: http://blog.northhill.org/?p=1480

2. MOST CLICKED: Baby boomers appear to be sacrificing their own retirements for the sake of their (adult) children. As the Wall Street Journal reports,

Ameriprise Financial in 2007 surveyed three generations—boomers, their children and their parents—and learned that less than half of boomers (44%) were trying to save for retirement while also providing support for their children and parents.

Fast forward to December 2011: The portion of boomers saving for their own retirement has fallen to one in four (24%)—but they’re still helping out their families. More than half (58%) are assisting their aging parents, including helping them pay for groceries (22%), medical expenses (15%) or utility bills (14%).

“It’s disturbing that people are still providing the same, intense level of support, up or down, and they’re five years closer to retirement,” says Suzanna de Baca, Ameriprise’s vice president of wealth strategies. “This is not registering with boomers.”

Read the full article: http://on.wsj.com/J4l8Pm

Chart from OptiRate based on Harris Interactive survey data:

Also re-tweeted repeatedly, two quotes that seem to have struck a chord with followers and blog readers:

- “A tweet is like toothpaste – once it’s out, you can’t put it back in the tube.” ~ www.scrambls.com via the Social Media Insider (Twitter “handle” @socialmedia411 and worthy of a follow)

- “Plan your life like you’ll live to 100. Live your life like you’ll die tomorrow.” Jim Firman of the National Council on Aging

For your own smiles, read what 100-year-old employee Rosa Finnegan and her fellow panelists had to say on this blog post by Kevin Burke,  CEO of North Hill Communities (a leading Massachusetts CCRC and the event sponsor).

For thinking and acting, here are 6 key lessons for marketers from the launch event.

1) Work during retirement years provides a paycheck …. and much more.

If you stopped working today, what else besides money would you miss? When Lynch put that question to the panel of Vita Needle employees last week, every single one responded “the people.” 40-something Dave Shumway said “It may be cliche, but it’s family.” This factory provides elders with people who care for them and who they can care for. The connections are strong and critical to enjoying retirement years.

Getting a paycheck is part of the equation, of course, but it often signifies something different for many of these older workers. One gentleman basically works to afford more travel!

Other benefits? 82-year-old Joe Reddington would miss “the being busy. And using the brain to work out problems.” 76-year-old Bob O’Mara said he’d miss “the chance to feel meaningful and busy and contributing.”

Marketing Take-Away: Marketing a retirement community or a fitness center or a club? To illustrate the benefits of becoming a part of that “family,” find ways to use the first-hand testimonials of the family members. Traditions of America encourages homeowners to describe what they like best about their active adult community in videos posted on YouTube and their website. The results are quite motivating when you hear a real owner like Judi Whitehouse say “we have a great family here.”

2) Retirement work needs to feel different than work at other life stages.

The median age of Vita Needle employees is 74. They include retired teachers, retired GM line workers, retired bank execs, retired architects …

Mike LaRosa is Vita Needle’s Operations Manager. He’s been with the company for about 20 years. He commented after the event that many of his employees had far loftier titles, far more important jobs and made far more pre-retirement than he may make if he stays at Vita Needle for another 20 years. Those titles and positions are not important in their retirement work.

Even for those elders who did factory or machinist work during their career, Vita Needle work is different. It offers flexible hours and different experiences.

Marketing Take-Away: If even work in retirement needs to feel different than other life stages, what is that unique benefit your product or service offers that is different than the benefits the buyer would have enjoyed earlier in their life? How will life experiences be different – how will they mean more – when your target retires?

3) Rich connections are forged when old and young work together.

Old and young working together. Photo courtesy Vita Needle.

Vita Needle’s business model is based on a workforce of part-timers. That means elders and teenagers and everyone in between. The factory has workers born in almost every decade of the last century. At the North Hill program last week, you could see the obvious friendship and respect. And you could hear them laughing frequently, together, with humor that cut across the ages.

Marketing Take-Away: Create and foster intergenerational connections whenever possible. These can be simple – Westminster at Lake Ridge has a grandparents day each year that is tremendously popular – or a bigger part of the culture – Lasell Village encourages residents to mentor and advise students on the Lasell College campus, and students work throughout the Village.

These old-young connections can distinguish you from your competitors. Fairing Way is a new community on Boston’s South Shore. One of the most unique and most motivating aspects of Fairing Way is that it is in the heart of an all-ages master-planned community. As Fairing Way put it on their website, “we prefer friendly greetings to gates … wide open spaces to closed doors … laughter to limits. We believe most active adults value these things as well.”  

4) Under the right circumstances, work arrangements can benefit employers and also workers.

It’s a win-win for employees: they get paid and do what they want in retirement. (Bob the traveler is a perfect example.)

It’s a win-win for Vita Needle: they get a dedicated, skilled workforce without having to pay for benefits/full-time perks. With the old people, they can leverage the wide experience of their workers. And they bring with them an incomparable work ethic. LaRosa said “work ethic is something people learn from experience.”

Marketing Take-Away: LaRosa says managing older workers isn’t magic. “You have to look at the individual as that: an individual. Not an older individual, not a younger individual. An individual.” What a great idea for marketers, as well!

5) Membership and mattering are key values for today’s older Americans.

Many of the workers told Prof. Lynch that outside of Vita Needle they are unrecognized or even invisible. Many old people feel that way. “Old people just want to matter,” said Lynch.

My own  parents definitely find ways to matter. They are nearing 80 and living independently. Each is very visible in community groups, serving on boards related to historic preservation (Mom) and justice issues (Dad). But Mom and Dad are lucky – no health issues keep them from getting to meetings several nights a week or mentoring youth during the day. Transportation and health prevent many who try to age in place from being full members who matter.

Marketing Take-Away: Life can be like a funnel, where the number of people we connect with daily shrinks as we age. Does your retirement community marketing tell the story of aging like an hourglass, where social connections actually swell? Willow Valley Retirement Communities has more than a hundred clubs where you can find membership and feel you matter. The marketing team wisely features these clubs in a special brochure and on the website.

6) The lifestage called “retirement” can use some re-thinking.

Lynch described looking at retirement cards at her local pharmacy. There are cards that feature pictures of fishing, or drawings that show torn-up calendars, melting clocks, vanishing to do lists … When the reality is that people will have 30 years of “retirement,” is fishing and nothingness what they really want to do?

When asked what would happen if he couldn’t work at Vita Needle, Joe Reddington said “I’d get rotten if I didn’t work.” Rotten like a tomato on the ground. What are his plans for the rest of his retirement? “I expect to retire for real some day. And then die. I’d rather die at my bench.”

Marketing Take-Away: Make sure your marketing campaigns do not use outdated imagery to depict retirement living. Vita Needle is the right and remarkable answer to the needs of the Joe and many other retirees. However, not every retiree wants to work in retirement. Marketers must illustrate the many, varied opportunities available in retirement. Our marketing must be relevant and appealing to segments of one, each re-thinking and re-defining retirement for themselves.

What are you thinking or re-thinking about retirement? Please share your thoughts and actions in the comments below.

This series has been quite powerful, combining the latest facts and figures with personal stories. NPR’s community also has responded strongly; you’ll find many insights in the comments.

Listen to and see charts from the series: http://n.pr/IgLPuV

2. MOST SHARED: Three resources that paint a more complete picture of our baby boomer and senior targets:

- Women over 65 use home health at higher rates than men, finds the CDC. ow.ly/aDM7q

- 71% of #babyboomers / #seniors say we need a return to more privacy online (a reminder that our Social Silver Surfer research found there were three distinct types of privacy issues that concern matures). ow.ly/aBVVo

- By the numbers: characteristics of seniors living in CCRCs & residential facilities (Senior Housing News). ow.ly/aEiHZ

3. MOST FUN: Who took the Fig out of Fig Newtons? Find out what baby boomers had to do with the name change of a beloved brand.

Read the article: http://nyti.ms/J6M6Xq

Also of note …

- Six ways to improve your YouTube marketing, especially … Make the videos short! As this blogger writes, “Long Videos – Nobody Watches Them.” http://bit.ly/Lu2S2w

- Aging tech expert Laurie Orlov takes the long view, noting that most (59%) of older adults are still not online. http://bit.ly/IRIH8z

At Creating Results, we appreciated Laurie’s call to do your own research when others lump together large age bands or overlook 50+ers altogether. We’ve done so several times, as readers of this blog know. Please help us shape our next initiative. Share your priorities in this two-question survey: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/893869/Spring-Newsletter-Content-Matters-Survey

1. MOST SHARED: As the number of baby boomers now eligible for “senior” discounts swells, this traditional marketing tool is under fire.

Some critics wonder why older generations deserve a price break when younger generations are struggling more. There’s also the question of affordability: Will businesses keep cutting prices for seniors as hordes of baby boomers push into their 60s?

“This is a huge influx of people,” notes Margaret Lynn Duggar, a consultant in Tallahassee, Fla. “It’s one thing if [senior discounts] apply to just 5 percent of the population, and another if you’re talking about 35 percent.”

Could senior-discounting go the way of the blue-plate special or dish night at the movie theater? “I can’t imagine that five years from now any senior discounts will still be available,” says Ken Dychtwald, founder of Age Wave, an Emeryville, Calif., consulting firm specializing in the mature market. “It’s silly to give the most affluent segment of our society [an age-based] discount.”

The Bard says: “How quickly nature falls into revolt When gold becomes her object!”

Read the article: http://bit.ly/Jl1Lh7

2. MOST CLICKED: Six ways PURLs (personalized URLs) can increase the virality of your campaign. We noted that we like PURLs for baby boomers because they impart a VIP feeling – something that jives well with the boomer mindset.

The Bard says: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Read the article: http://bit.ly/IrzTIu

3. MOST COMMENTED: This public service announcement quickly the social media world a-twittering. SaferSex4Seniors.org has a serious mission – to promote the use of condoms and safe sex by older adults. (The STD rate among baby boomers and seniors has doubled in the last ten years.) When sharing on our Facebook page, we wrote that it was a fun ad that recognized and celebrated seniors as sexual – finally! Several commented it was a little too much celebration for their comfort …

Here’s the PSA:

Dr. Pepper Schwartz of the AARP said: “It’s a bit racy (some of those positions take some gumption) but oh so welcome.” My CFO said: “What in God’s name were you thinking posting that video?”

The Bard says: “Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?”

What do you say? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

MOST CLICKED:  Top Five Regrets of Dying What would your greatest do-oever be as you faced your last day of life?  This touching article from the guardian included insights from a palliative nurse regarding her patient’s biggest regrets as they faced their final days.  Number 1 on the list: following their dreams.  Click here to read the full story.

MOST RESOURCE-FULL POST: Ragan.com’s 50 (mostly) free social media tools for brands.  Great article that includes a variety of tips and tools for managing your social media initiatives.  Our top pick from the list? Love the recommendation of SocialMention.com for real time listening to what people are saying about your brand.

GOOD-TO-KNOW POST OF THE WEEK: 1 in 4 people will abandon a website that takes more than 4 seconds to load. This great infographic includes a variety of great insights about how people utilize the internet.  Other interesting facts included:

• In the US: 25% of mobile web users only browse using their phones
• According to 1 survey people wouldn’t wait in link for ANYTHING for more than 15 minutes.

Want to learn more Boomer and Senior attitudes towards everything social media?  Download a complimentary copy our Social Silver Surfer eBook.

WORTH REPEATING: Loyalty is the key ingredient to a successful email program. Explore 5 elements to creating (and leveraging) email in this blog post: It’s Loyalty My Dear Boomer, Email Loyalty

While retail brands have the benefit of built-in special offers and deals they can use to engage, those brands that are selling something different, such as lifestyle and home, tend to face a few challenges in making their email programs as effective.  As an email expert people will ask me “but why does it work” or “what’s so special about email?”  To answer these inquiries I simply channel a response of super sleuth Mr. Sherlock Holmes: “It’s Loyalty, My Dear Marketer.”

What are some key elements that enter into the mix to create loyalty for boomers and beyond?

#1: We found through our Social Silver Surfers research that email is the #1 online activity among 50+ prospects.  The fact that they are using email makes it a viable channel (as long as marketers use it for good and not evil). Additionally, older boomers tend to view email as a social sharing tool.

#2: A recent article from eMarketer  reveals 47% of Internet users respond favorably to email – ranking this avenue as the most favorable online channel.

#3: The mature consumer relies heavily on referrals from friends when making decisions.  While they may act faster when the referral is for a product, the referral process is just as important for relaying positive referrals for CCRCs and active adult communities.

#4: Relevancy is the key currency when it comes to building a loyal email subscriber database. In a world where we are constantly bombarded by messaging, those that specifically address our interests are going to win out.

If you capture preferences of subscribers based on the type of news they want to receive for your community you have a powerful tool for creating relevancy, and thus loyalty.  This can be achieved by sending emails about new home models to subscribers BEFORE releasing online (relevant and exclusive) or extending an invitation to upcoming events to your database BEFORE you invite the general public (exclusive). Here you’ll see an example of some simple categories for subscribers to choose from.  Any of these can be turned into a segmented message to drive relevancy.

#5: Just this morning eMarketer reported on the reasons people subscribe to email programs. It confirmed what we heard when interviewing mature consumers for our Social Silver Surfer research: the primary motivator is discounts and special offers (our research of boomers and seniors found 21% of respondents saw this as the top benefit).

According to the eMarketer piece, 26% of people subscribe to gain access to exclusive content (see point #4- I told you so).

Check out the full article via eMarketer.

You can transform your news into a special offer.  This, combined with relevancy is the perfect mix for a loyal mature consumer who will subscribe to your email program (and stay).

What do you do to engage your silver surfers through email? Share your thoughts in the comments section, below.

I imagine some younger person at THR putting together the sample and figuring, why bother including old people in the survey? People over the age of 50 don’t watch TV, buy movie tickets or play video games – right?

Wrong.

FACT: The average age of a prime-time TV viewer is 51. Even shows strongly identified with America’s youth depend on a graying group for their strong ratings. American Idol’s average viewer is 43.8; baby boomers account for 21% of Glee’s regular fans.

Read more: Television’s Senior Moment (Wall Street Journal); Why Has the Network TV Audience Gotten So Old? (Vulture); TV and Advertising to Baby Boomers and Beyond (this blog)

FACT: In 2011, one in four movie tickets in the US and Canada was sold to a person over 50. As the Motion Picture Association of America puts it, “A slight increase in the oldest age group (60+) indicates that more of these people went to the movies (28.8 million) and bought more tickets (170.2 million) than in 2010, representing a 13% market share of both.”

Read more: 2011 Theatrical Market Statistics (Motion Picture Association of America); Is Hollywood Finally Growing Up? (Washington Times); Hurray for Hollywood’s Mature Marketing Insights (this blog)

FACT: In 2011, nearly 1 in every 3 Americans over the age of 50 played a video game. Per the Entertainment Software Association, that’s “an increase from nine percent in 1999. This figure is sure to rise in coming years with nursing homes and senior centers across the nation now incorporating video games into their activities.”

Average age of a game player? 37. Average age of a game buyer? 41.

Read more: Industry Facts (Entertainment Software Association)

FACT: 32% of Baby Boomers say they visit a social networking site each day, per the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Read more: Generations Online and other resarch (Pew); Social, Silver Surfers ebook (Creating Results)

With these facts in mind, I’d love to hear The Hollywood Reporter explain: since 50+ adults are big consumers of entertainment AND are active on social networks, why weren’t they a part of your survey?

1. MOST COMMENTED, DISCUSSED AND SHARED: Is 50 the new 30? That’s what thought-leader and typically thoughful writer Seth Godin stated on his blog last week. I took exception to his reckoning that Baby Boomers are acting like 30 year olds. In my opinion,

“Baby Boomers are clearly not acting like 30 year olds. They’re acting like the best 50 year olds they can be. They’re acting like a new kind of 50 year old.

You might even say they’re not acting at all – they’re just living lives with purpose and vibrancy.”

Turned out I wasn’t alone in my frustration with Seth’s take on 50+ers. Please check out our post and the lively discussion it sparked at http://bit.ly/H5YGA8.

2. MOST CLICKED: Did you know that 1 in 4 people will abandon a web page that takes more than 4 seconds to load? This eye-opening infographic shows how patience may be a lost virtue in “Instant America”: http://ow.ly/9Ke41

Jeremiah Owyang shared a New York Times article on a similar topic, how Google engineers have discovered that people will visit a web site less than a competitive site if they perceive it to be slower by miliseconds.

While the data isn’t broken out by age group, we imagine it would apply to the time-starved baby boomers and un-retired seniors out there. (Yes, even those of us who remember waiting patiently for the dial up modem now get antsy.)

Do you know how fast the pages on your web site are loading? You could try this tool from Pingdom: http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/. Google also has a site speed report built in to its Analytics: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/05/measure-page-load-time-with-site-speed.html.

3. Five ways to “use content to get the attention of those all-important prospects — the men and women who are in the market to buy what you have to sell.” In this post, Sonia Simone of CopyBlogger shares tips including guest posting, how-to videos, Q&A series, professional networking and finding online traffic in the off line world. But it was her caveat that convinced us to share the post with our followers: “None of this works if your content sucks.”

Read the whole post here: http://ow.ly/9LyDS

And I may have gotten cranky with Seth, but I really am a softie:  

For her 100th birthday, a man gives his beloved the wedding she always wanted! Grab a tissue, watch this amazing video and you’ll start your Monday truly inspired.

Tip o’ the hat to @50Plus for bringing this lovely video to our attention.

Here’s what Seth wrote on his blog this past Saturday:

“Baby boomers continue to redefine our culture, because there’s just so many of us, we’re used to being the center of attention.”

I couldn’t agree more. Baby boomers have had an impact on every aspect of US culture – from the workplace to mass marketing to “helicopter” parenting to self-help to lifelong learning to …

Seth continues and I continue to agree with him:

“Add into that the fact that we’re living much longer and careers are becoming more flexible …”

But then he states:

“… and it’s pretty clear that in just about every cultural respect, fifty year olds are living, acting and looking more like thirty year olds every day.”

Sorry, but this is where we part ways.

Baby Boomers are not “acting more like 30 year olds.”

* 30 year olds do not raise grandchildren. Nearly 1 million American kids have their basic needs met exclusively by a grandparent, no parent present. A total of 4.9 million live in households headed by grandparents. As the AARP put it, “Clearly, grandparents are increasingly providing the stability and security of home for their families.”

* 30 year olds aren’t balancing careers, their families and caring for their own aging parents.

* 30 year olds aren’t paying off their kids’ college tuitions while pursuing continuing higher education themselves.

* 30 year olds do not pay for their grown children’s cell phone bills, as do 59% of Baby Boomer women. Or pay for their child’s insurance, rent, cars, computers and more. (Get the full picture of what Boomer moms pay for at VibrantNation.com.)

* And 30 year olds don’t have that ability to be understanding that life satisfaction comes from within. That kind of introspection requires another 20 years or so …

Baby Boomers are clearly not acting like 30 year olds. They’re acting like the best 50 year olds they can be. They’re acting like a new kind of 50 year old.

You might even say they’re not acting at all – they’re just living lives with purpose and vibrancy.

Seth’s blog closes by noting that “most traditional advertisers are stuck in the mindset that thirty is the end of your chance to find a new customer or build a new brand.” It’s a frustration our team frequently voices.

But if your brand wants to tap into the Baby Boomer market, you’ll have to look beyond slogans like “50 is the new 30″ and see them for who they truly are: exciting, challenged, challenging, thoughtful, skeptical and lucrative consumers who absolutely are acting their age.