Google or Ask.com “Boomer Women Marketing to” and you will get a lot of experts in the field. Many are very credentialed or cite those who are or studies that legitimize insights, input, and opinion, in general. The view from the trenches, in part, legitimizes these experts, but in the real world (mine), marketing to boomer women has been the key to the international success of a small, off-Broadway show – Menopause The Musical® - that has launched everything from a foundation and wine club to a magazine specifically targeted to our show attendees, in the main, women 45 – 65.It was easy to market to this audience. Moreover, from 15 years of running an advertising agency, I learned the knack of setting aside my own ego and viewing the audience as the persons to whom I must listen…for they will tell me into what they will invest their time, energy, and money. The top ten concepts are basic to advertising when dealing with a core group of people as a life stage as opposed to an age:
1. Don’t “sell me” on something about which I know very little; educate me so that I can see the value in what you are offering me. For years, women have been going to their trusted doctors to deal with the symptoms of menopause. He writes a prescription; she heads to the neighborhood drugstore to, hopefully, buy relief. Now, we are being barraged by ads for compounding pharmacies and natural hormones, and the larger percentage of us does not have a clue as to what compounding is, does, means. Tell us what you do that is different from my neighborhood Walgreen’s. Otherwise, it is just a confounding pharmacy.
2. Allow me the opportunity to “choose” with a valid point of comparison. Let’s face it, boomer women are the first generation who made the concept of “choice” intrinsic to our existence; we chose to take birth control pills; chose to enter the workforce when it was not about income; chose to reproduce…or not. As the person who overwhelmingly holds the seat of Purchasing Agent for any household, the boomer woman…who is at least 50% of the income source for that home – will make the bigger purchases based on comparison. The most gas mileage or environmentally friendly car will be chosen over the sleek lines of a SUV. Show me sound comparisons; don’t show me styles!
3. Talk to me through my community…the group of people who create the core of my day to day existence. Find me; create “word-of-mouth.” I will believe my neighbor…and often my neighborhood newspaper…more often than I will believe commercial messages shouted at me in the middle of “Oprah.” Unless, of course, Oprah IS my community, and if you can get her to mention it, I will buy it. Boomer women invest themselves in developing relationships, a personal survival network. Stepping outside of the usual advertising box and talking to her through that community is a key to successful sales.
4. If you are talking to me through a spokesperson, give me someone to whom I can relate. Someone who I perceive as believable. Someone who talks to me without the Hollywood affectations. Select an actor/actress who has played solid roles, who is believable and actually creates a relationship with me as a consumer of the product she is selling. Case in point is the success of Sally Field as the spokesperson for a bone health drug.
5. Understand that I may not want to look/dress/drive younger. I want to live longer, celebrate life, be healthier. Most of us who look in the mirror and see our mothers have earned every wrinkle there. Choose to honor my age, not convince me that I have lived the last 10 or 20 years in vain. Respect my age in your choice of words and music.
6. Make me laugh…at situations, at myself. If I can laugh, I can relate; I know that I am not alone and, perhaps, can benefit in sharing what others are laughing at also. Somewhere among worldwide war and poverty and starvation and all the other strife that is showcased on television, I need a reason to smile. Make me laugh because our world is making me cry. Laughter is another facet of community. Who didn’t smile at the California Raisins as they boogied across the screen?
7. Give me a reason to celebrate who I am as I am. Let’s face it, more of us boomer women are a size 14 rather than a size 4. Give me permission to celebrate all of me…not just the thinner person inside wanting to get out!
8. Feed my spirit! Bring me joy! Sell the part of me who knows that there is something greater than the color of a lipstick. Let me know that the colors of my life truly matter.
9. Give me, bottom line, dollar-and-cents value…because it will be the final determinant as to whether or not your product makes it through the noisy, crowded world of my mind. There is a reason why boomer women – boomers in general - are the most affluent generation walking the face of the earth. We understand the value of longevity and the depth of what money can truly buy. Although we readily try what is new and improved, if the perceived value is not in the mix, we will stick with the tried and true.
10. Finally, take out the earplugs. Listen to me. I will tell you what I want to buy, how I want to support you. Don’t make decisions for me because your four-year marketing degree has no clue who I am or what I want. Ask me. I will tell you. When it comes right down to it, baby boomer women are no more a mystery than any other woman on the planet; however our buying power makes us a lightning rod for retailers and manufacturers who are desperate to pique our interest (or at least our pocket books).
Does my own status as a boomer woman provide insight not inherently available to the average ad agency sans a focus group or months of market research? Of course. But that doesn’t change the fact that in order to understand what attracts my generation, one must accept and exercise these 10 tips.
I know they are spot on because they’ve worked for me (and on me).
Jeanie Linders is best known as the writer and producer of Menopause The Musical® http://www.MenopauseTheMusical.com Jeanie is also publisher of me* magazine and has become a passionate voice of a generation of women facing more than just hot flashes. Her work in entertainment spans three decades, but finding ways to help women over 40 connect and support one another is what she focuses on now. Email tocpro@aol.com. | 
