Todd - along with co-presenters Dee Minich, Group Senior VP of Sales & Marketing for industry leader K. Hovnanian Homes and Jennifer McKee Hannon of the McKee Group – will present “50 Ways to Engage 50+ Consumers Through the Web and Social Media.”  They’ll show attendees how to create their own Internet marketing action plan.  And, they’ll share key findings from Creating Results’ soon-to-be-released national study, “Social, Silver Surfers.”

If you’re headed to Orlando, find your way to West 314B on Friday, January 14th.  For the rest of us, here’s one big “ah-ha” Todd and his co-presenters will be stressing:

Want to pursue active adults? Stop hunting.  Start gathering. 

Gathering?  Yup. Gathering. 

Let’s be honest.  No longer are builders simply “hunting” 50+ homebuyers with oversized postcards targeted by age, zip and income.  Prospects begin hunting on their own – starting their research online, on their time, long before they think of paying you a visit in the real world.

So an integrated Internet Strategy that matches your prospects’ preferences is a critical resource to help you pursue AND nurture Leads.

Lead nurturing is an ongoing conversation, not a series of hit-and-run campaigns.

The Internet lead and the in-person lead should receive the same level of energy and service from your team. Start and maintain a conversation.  Find out where they want to talk to you (your website? by email? on Facebook?) and respect that choice.

Give generously and frequently of your (online) time and (relevant, useful) content.  Offer friendly incentives and discounts. Don’t think huge dollars, but make people feel special. 

Play match-maker for other resources.  That time-strapped Baby Boomer, trying to figure out how to downsize 30 years of household memories while caring for elderly parents and adult children and still keep her job … she’ll really appreciate your sharing a link to a reliable local plumber,  contractor, Realtor or moving consultant.

By shifting your mindset and pursuing an integrated online plan, you’ll build your brand, attract new leads through lots of lovely keyword-rich content, AND you’ll nurture those leads. 

Happy hunting gathering!

If you’d like to gather more insights into the online preferences and pet peeves of active adult homebuyers, register to receive the findings from Creating Results “Social, Silver Surfers” research at www.CreatingResults.com/social_silver_surfers.

Active Adult communities have been age-qualified; you must be 55 years old or better to live in one.  For years, this type of housing has been a sweet spot.

However, the Baby Boomers were hit hardest of all by the crash of the financial, real estate and employment markets.  Now, gone are a willingness to pay for golf course views or useless and expensive upgrades.  Is the willingness to live in an age-qualified community gone, too?

Redefining Reetirement Communities

Even before our current economic challenges, Baby Boomers were already redefining retirement, and therefore redefining retirement communities.  Tennis courts were being replaced by business centers.  Bonus rooms were used as home offices.  Research we conducted for Central Parke 55+ Resort Communities led to the establishment of an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) campus at their Victoria Falls community.

As I wrote for the 50+ Housing Magazine in 2007,

What’s next?  At this year’s International Builders Show (IBS), industry experts told me the future was in:

• Urban infill
• Co-housing
• Aging-in-place
• University-affiliated senior housing
• Intergenerational communities

Everyone seemed to have a different opinion of where the industry would go. I think that they are all right, and I’m not even a politician. I say The Active Adult Market is Dead – Long Live the Active AdultS MarketS.

The Baby Boom is a generation of roughly 78 million.  The US 50+ population is becoming increasingly diverse.  One size of housing will not fit all; indeed, it never has.

For builders and developers, the challenge is to define which 50+ subgroup you’re targeting, and to take steps to truly understand them.  Hire a good market research agency.  Comb through your database.  That prospect on your list is in a different place, economically and psychologically, than they were in 2008 or 2009.  Conduct new surveys and listening sessions to understand what they now need and desire.

What do you think?  What is the future of active adult housing?  What can builders, developers and mature marketers do to thrive in a world with many different active adults marketS?

What are builders, developers and others charged with marketing active adult communities (also known as 50+ or age-qualified housing), looking for in 2010?  New marketing ideas, approaches products that could help their companies standout in a crowded and competitive market.  

In the past, these real estate professionals may have traveled to the International Builders Show (IBS) for insights and tips.  I was one of the 55,000 people who made it to IBS in Las Vegas this year (a dramatic decrease from years gone by).  I attended over a dozen educational sessions (spoke at 3), taught the new Marketing to Active Adults course for the NAHB, walked the entire floor and interviewed more than 20 builders and developers. 

The result:  ten top take-aways and tips for builders and developers who are ready to take action in 2010. 

You can download a PDF with my thoughts, findings and insights from www.CreatingResults.com/

And, every day this week I’ll share one of the more provocative take-aways in a conversation with readers of this blog.  I hope you’ll share your thoughts and best practices for marketing to mature homebuyers, ask questions, or tell me I’m flat-out wrong.  (It won’t hurt; my wife’s got me trained.)

We’ll start tomorrow with tip #4: The Active Adult Market is Dead – Long Live the Active AdultS MarketS.  Was 2009 the end of active adult housing?  Where do we go from here?

Can’t wait until tomorrow?  Get the conversation started by asking a question/leaving a comment below.