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

What the panelists have in common is persistence, creativity and success. What distinguishes them is the variety of approaches they use to reach 50+ homebuyers – from senior rentals to multifamily to age-qualified communities and $900,000 single family homes. As Todd puts it, “Success in 50+ housing doesn’t come in one size anymore. ”

No one disputes that the population is aging.

No one disputes that there is opportunity in addressing the housing needs of people in their fifties and beyond. However, there is much debate over what the housing and communities for the active adult should look like and live like.

Let’s face it, our world has changed. We know that the large scale master planned retirement communities are too capital intensive to get started today. We know that many age-qualified communities are struggling. What isn’t clear is where the opportunity is to make money with the 50+ homebuyer.

Economic Realities Differ by Age Group

Money is a critical issue with today’s 50+ buyer, as Todd demonstrates in the following three graphs. These show how developers must consider the different circumstances of different age bands within 50+ housing.

75+ homeowners saw their income go up in the late 90s and then pretty much go flat in the last five years. Those who are 65 to 74 are continuing to do well. They had a little dip in the last recession of 2001, but in 2010 they were hardly hit.

Contrast that with the next chart which shows 45-54 year olds. Their incomes have taken a much harder hit. This group had been the “move-up buyer.” Now, they’re not moving up.  This in turn is making it harder for active adults to sell their homes.  “It’s not just the rich that are getting richer, it’s the older getting richer”, observed  Todd

As the following chart shows, older Baby Boomers are actually better off economically than most other age groups. If you were fortunate enough to be in your 20s in the year 2000, your household income was nearly $46K a year. Ten years later, the household income of mid 20-year-olds is struggling to get to$40K. But for the people who are 65+, every year is getting better and better. Their best year was last year!

Asking the Tough Questions about the Future of 50+ Housing

Todd will be putting some challenging questions to his panel today, including:

* Are age qualified communities viable anymore or are they too restrictive?
* Is it possible today to have a successful homebuilding business that focuses on high-end homebuyers?  What features and amenities do today’s buyers want?
* How is the age-in-place movement helping and hurting 50+ housing?
* What advice would you give to a builder looking to succeed in this market?
* What did you do differently last year that was successful?

Tune into this blog next week to read some of the answers provided. Or, share your own answers and thoughts, below!

RELATED POST: What is the Future of Active Adult Housing?

The chart (below) shows the visit share by age for the big four social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus. And the age breakdown of the (US?) online population.

As eMarketer has noted, “The average age of Internet users is rising in tandem with that of the general population.” It appears so far Facebook is the online social network that most closely mirrors the age diversity of our offline world. Twitter continues to appeal to GenX and GenY. And LinkedIn continues to be an excellent if underappreciated network for reaching 55+ adults – 57% of users are baby boomers or beyond!

I was surprised to see Google+ have a larger audience over the age of 55 than Twitter, but on second thought its design and functionality is so similar to Facebook, it might feel more comfortable to older users.

Stat #8 wasn’t a surprise to us. As Dougherty writes, “Facebook” is the most searched term in the US and Facebook-related terms account for 14% of the top search clicks.” We shared that insight with a team of social media marketing ambassadors from a leading continuing care retirement community just two days ago. It was terrific to see their excitement for how the network could promote deeper relationships with their senior prospects and adult children.

If your organization needs help turning social media stats into social media strategies, please check out these related posts (or give us a call – we’d love to help).

RELATED POSTS:

• The Face(book) in the Mirror is Getting Older
• Can Twitter Drive Sales with Older Generations?
• Mature, Affluent, Educated and LinkedIn
• Gaining Boomer and Senior Marketing Insights from Social Media

1. MOST CLICKED: Poor photo choice – unprofessional, young – for a press release about marketing to professional baby boomer women. http://bit.ly/w43h1Z

Do you agree with our critique of their image? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Do you worry that your own photography may not be doing the job with baby boomers and seniors? To learn how you can spend less money and see more results with the right photography, download our free eBook – “Photo Finish: Images that Motivate Mature Consumers” – today.

Photo Source: Sirius Bark by Temple3

2. What influences changes in aging brains? 24% of mental #aging due to genes (Wall Street Journal) http://on.wsj.com/y2hPvP

3. MOST SHARED: Apparently consumers use QR codes for the same reason kids touch hot stoves: to see what will happen http://ow.ly/8wSgY

Related Post: A Q&A about QR Codes and Baby Boomers http://bit.ly/yF3yqF

And here’s one link that should have captured more clicks:

Five Ways Content Marketing Connects Brands & Customers (@1to1media) http://ow.ly/8uHBA As Anna Papachristos writes for 1to1Media:

“Joe Chernov, vice president of content marketing at Eloqua, defines content marketing as ‘the art of creating, distributing, and measuring share-worthy content that grows and engages an organization’s audience, while deepening affinity for the brand.’ But as this ‘share-worthy content’ expands in terms of form and delivery, content marketers need to blend old and new tactics to keep their content effective and engaging.”

Some of Papachristos’ five ways may be new to you; others, helpful reminders.

1. Encourage Sharing – with short-form content that engages targets in conversation
2. Solve Problems – with content that is informative, not self-promotional
3. Re-Use and Re-Purpose – to extend the reach of each piece
4. Observe and Report – “Content marketing isn’t about simply dumping a glut of articles or videos online; it’s about strategically presenting customers with particularly
   applicable information at crucial points in the buying cycle.”
5. Serve It Up Social – leverage social networks to extend the reach of your content … and your brand

If you found this content relevant, we hope you’ll use the tools provided to share it with your networks. Thanks!

1. MOST CLICKED/MOST SHARED: What is Pinterest? A guide to this hot new social network via @cspenn. http://bit.ly/ziSQNO

And why should organizations marketing to baby boomers or seniors care about Pinterest? As Mashable’s Rob Lammle puts it “Not only has the company received $27 million in venture funds, but the site’s popularity has exploded from 1.2 million users in August to over 4 million today.” And early statistics from Hitwise appear to show that it’s popular with Southern baby boomers with a passion for Hobbies/Crafts. If that’s your niche, Pinterest might be a terrific opportunity to find your targets.

2. Demographer Neil Howe – famous for his 1991 book, Generations, co-authored with William Strauss – told the National Journal that 20-something Gen Y/Millenials will win the battle over society’s resources. http://bit.ly/Archwq

(If you’ve got an opinion on Howe’s opinions, we hope you’ll share it in our comments below.)

3. New statistics from Nielsen show 1 in 3 US households owns 4 or more TVs. Where do they put them???  http://bit.ly/wc5rln

Related post from our blog: 41.6 Percent of Americans Are On Facebook … … and 98% of Americans have at least one television set. http://bit.ly/yKB8BP

4. Recruiting baby boomers to join a senior center in Buffalo, NY is proving challenging. http://bit.ly/AzprFJ

And today’s boomers and seniors are absolutely telling marketers what works – and what doesn’t – in motivating them to buy a product, sign up for a list, join a club or take other actions.

You just have to know what to ask and how to listen.

Unfortunately, many organizations working to attract or motivate older adults aren’t taking advantage of new, digital research methods. Why? I addressed three main reasons in my presentation:

1. Misconception: seniors and boomers are not online or expressing their opinions online
2. Fear: digital research requires costly, specialized tools or platforms
3. Cloudy vision: not seeing the gold to be found in the marketing platforms and services already in use

Didn’t make it to ICAA 2011? Never fear. 

All this week I’ll challenge the obstacles noted above. Posts will share actionable tips for following your customer’s lead. I’ll include lists and links to resources available to organizations of all sizes. And I’ll look to you to lead us to your favorite resources via the comments below.

Mature Market Research 2.0

Thanks to the wild and wooly world wide web, market research has gone from formal and established methods to insights that are often offered informally … sometimes without research “participants” even being aware of what they’re sharing. Data has gone from a hard-earned trickle to a flood. As Tom Webster says, we’re now “drowning in numbers.”

For example, mystery shopping has long been a terrific but time- and person-intensive way to see first hand how sales teams interact with prospects. Or to spot potential turn-offs at an active adult community or destination.

Today, you can mystery shop without ever leaving your keyboard. Want to find out why people leave your floor plan page without first signing up to receive a brochure? Program a quick poll to ask that very question of web visitors. Curious about your sales team’s performance? A few quick web searches for your brand name plus “customer service” can let you know what customers really think.

But Baby Boomers … Seniors … Older People … Aren’t Online, Are They?

Yes, Virginia, there is an older and wired consumer. In fact, the Internet population in recent years looks more like the actual population.[link to another post of ours]

And per Creating Results’ Social, Silver Surfers research we know baby boomers and seniors are expressing their opinions as they interact with websites and social platforms. We found that 36% of 40+ respondents had voted or ranked items online, 25% used comments or message boards to share their thoughts, and 21% had posted a user review.

Voting/Ranking, Blogs, Message Boards and User Reviews are most popular with older Baby Boomers. This mirrors their offline preferences. They love to talk and share; there is value in a peer’s opinion of a product or service.

And that’s just the information they’re volunteering. In the Wall Street Journal’s terrific series “The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets,” reporter Julia Angwin writes “… the tracking of consumers has grown both far more pervasive and far more intrusive than is realized by all but a handful of people in the vanguard of the industry.”

While all this can seem scary, there are big benefits to moving to market research 2.0:

* For consumers, they get more relevant content, better customized experiences and time-saving short cuts

* For marketers, you can be more targeted, more cost-efficient and more effective

Tune in tomorrow for ways you can enjoy these benefits by following your customer’s lead online.

During a recent coming together of the marketing minds of Creating Results we discussed the phenomenon of QR codes and their implications in marketing to the mature consumer.  We debated the benefits and challenges and explored several opportunities that could be leveraged for this cohort.

Just the facts, ma’am!

According to a recent article on MarketingCharts.com , 72% of consumers could pick a QR code out of a line up and 55% of those aged 55 and better were familiar with the technology (surprisingly a higher percentage than those 45-54).  The bad news….30% of the same survey respondents across all age breakdowns didn’t know exactly what it was. Further, comScore reported  that those 55-64 and 65+ only make up 7% of overall QR code users.

Media Post’s Online Media Daily also examined usage within advertising avenues  noting that use of QR codes in print rose as much as 228% over the last year.

The QR Recipe for Mature Marketing Success

Mature consumers may not be familiar with this code today, but that shouldn’t stop us from leveraging it.  Here are a few ideas for how marketers can maximize their efforts and aid in fostering an awareness of QR codes among baby boomers and seniors.

1. Spell out HOW: So many times I see QR codes being utilized in advertising with no messaging that alludes to what to do with them.  If your target audience is 55+ consider incorporating directions. It could be as simple as “Scan with your smartphone QR reader.”

2. Create opportunities:  If your organization already offers classes and tech experiences to seniors, why not excite those seniors who already have an established smartphone comfort level? This is a great avenue for CCRCs. Retirement community North Hill, a client of Creating Results, is introducing QR code scanners to members of its iPad club (a group of 70+ early adopters).

3. Know where opportunities exist: One of the cardinal rules of marketing is knowing your target market.  If you know how Boomers typically access information you can determine marketing avenues that would most benefit and be most effective for QR codes.

According to Vertis, 52% of Boomer women rely on ad insertions and print/online coupons and incentives.  Have an upcoming insert scheduled?  Why not incorporate a QR code as a way to gauge how your target will respond.    And as with every avenue you will want to test, test and test until you ensure the perfect storm of elements to motivate to action.

4. Spell out WHY: Boomers and seniors are concerned about their digital privacy and how their information will be used. We heard that over and over again during our Social Silver Surfers research. And they’re incredibly time-strapped – working, caring for elderly parents and adult children and grandchildren. By spelling out the benefits at the other end of the QR code – the what’s in it for me? – you’ll earn their trust and earn a scan.

 
5. Make it worth while: As with any new technology there is a comfort curve for seniors, which is a slightly more extensive than their millennial counterparts.  Make sure that your QR code usage complements your marketing efforts and doesn’t just lead to a landing page replica of your ad.  No one appreciates that and seniors especially will find this inauthentic and unworthy of their time. (And you don’t want to get them there only to lose them).

 
Following this recipe will ensure that your QR codes get the love they deserve and become effective elements of your marketing plan.

1. MOST CLICKED: “What if we cherished our elderly as we worshiped youth?” Hi-impact video from Rogerson Communities.  Thought provoking look at the value of services and care of #Seniors.  Click here to see the full video.

2. MOST SHARED: 27% of Virginia #babyboomers & 19% of VA #seniors say they’re not financially ready for retirement ow.ly/7wGmV.   Informative survey into the insights and perceptions of #boomers.  Other interesting results include 68% #seniors feel prepared for impact of aging and 42% say their communities are ready to meet the needs of that process.  See the full report here: www.olderdominion.org.

Actionable tweets of the week:

1. Blah, blah, blog, #blog: Takeaways from BlogWorld conf from which all can benefit ow.ly/7sDEm

2. Study: radio has positive impact on all stages of purchase funnel ow.ly/7tWPn Chart w/ % lifts ow.ly/7tWSF

3. Understanding paid vs organic search, & why to think LEFT for better results (@tedives) ow.ly/7sEBv

4.Something to think about: Leading retailers commit to paid search, email & SEO in 2012 ow.ly/7sLRG What are your priorities?

5. Shameless plug of the week (and shared case study): Case study on another CCRC website that increased leads from 5/mo to 25/mo after re-design ow.ly/7sAWh

TOP TWEETS THIS WEEK

1. MOST CLICKED: A SmartMoney blogger offers 10 boomer “facts” with the intro ”The aging Me Generation is still putting itself first.” Facts include “Paws off, Junior, the cash is mine” and “We can’t face reality.” http://sm.wsj.com/vgSXrp 

I was inspired to instantly figure out her age via her LinkedIn profile (31 years old). Matt Thornhill called her a boomer basher. Comments call her hateful. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

2. MOST SHARED: How technology adoption is changing among the generations. 2010 data from Forrester Research shows both younger boomers (45-54) and older boomers (55-65) ”fall behind the younger generations in terms of almost anything technology related” — except the amount of money they spend. Read the full report at http://bit.ly/tTFzIU

3. Google + has opened its platform for business profiles. As usual, we’re using Creating Results as a guinea pig to learn about Google+ biz pages and then will apply our learnings to clients. We’re at http://bit.ly/sPPRLc

4. Baby Boomers are anxious about real estate decisions (Inman News) http://bit.ly/s4HORw

5. “Green Houses” try to de-institutionalize nursing homes (NYTimes) http://nyti.ms/vSAUlZ.  We note this is similar to what client North Hill will be doing with their new “small house” design.

6. Social media explained in 61 words by David Meerman Scott http://bit.ly/scrgZ5