There is no such thing as a single mature market.
So asserted consultant Kurt Medina at DMA05 in Atlanta Monday. Rather, there are three distinct groups of people aged 50 and above: pre-retirees (people between 50 and 62), active retirees (63-74) and seniors (75 and over). And the key to reaching them is to use the proper segmentation and to tailor direct response ad copy in exactly the right way, ideas Medina compiled into his book "77 Truths About Marketing to the 50+ Consumer," some of which he excerpted at the conference.
For example, marketers should never use the words like "infirmities" in ad copy and should always try to stress the positive and active as much as possible, Medina told a standing-room-only session at the conference.
Even though 70% of people over 70 have some sort of chronic condition, they tend not to dwell on it and neither should marketers, said Medina. Rather, marketers should talk about how their products empower people to live fuller lives over which they can assert control.
Just the same, marketers would be well advised to use what Medina termed "positive but realistic images" of people, preferably real people, rather than what he termed plastic images of smiling older couples -- an image so common that Medina termed it "clip-art."
Generational references can help in direct mail copy as well. Case in point: sending mail pieces via Western Union have a strong likelihood of getting opened because in its day, Western Union conveyed a sense of urgency.
However, many Web sites such as medcohealth.com, aarp.com, blair.com are used by the 50+ crowd, Medina said.
Most importantly, this demographic group is growing. This year, persons aged 50 and above account for nearly 30% of the U.S. population and that number is expected to mushroom in the coming decades as Baby Boomers continue to get older.
