Saturday, August 3, 2013

Seniors More Tech Savvy Than Mobile Marketers Think


One of the greatest advantages to mobile marketing is that it has the ability to target specific audiences like no other form of advertising can. No doubt marketers typically visualize teenagers and young adults when they think about smartphone users. Until recently, that speculation may have been accurate but recent research suggests that an important demographic is for the most part being ignored when it comes to mobile and digital marketing. That demographic is seniors and baby boomers.


Tech Savvy Seniors
The assumption most people make about seniors is that they don’t want anything to do with technology. In actuality though, seniors aren’t as hesitant to use new technology as they used to be. Not only are seniors beginning to use mobile devices, tablets, and other new gadgets, but they are using them to do their shopping as well. That should be an exciting prospect for any mobile marketer. Studies show that 84% of the baby boomer generation considers the internet to be the best source of information while 77% of seniors consider the internet to be the best source of information.


A Different Strategy
Even though seniors are becoming more tech savvy, the same strategies that work for younger mobile users may not work as well for seniors. While text message marketing or mobile apps may attract younger audiences, videos seem to have the greatest impact on seniors. Videos are much more likely to drive seniors to act than any other mobile marketing strategy. According to one study, 75% of boomers and 68% of seniors will take action in one form or another after viewing a video. 57% will go to a retailer or store after viewing a video while 37% will call the store or organization behind the video. Perhaps most important to marketers, 41% of the seniors in the study even forwarded the link to the video to others they felt would be interested in the product or service being advertised.


The Takeaway
The implications of these studies are huge for mobile marketers. While further research will still need to be conducted to gain more understanding about how seniors’ behavior is influenced by mobile marketing strategies, the research so far indicates that seniors shouldn’t be ignored as they have been in the mobile marketing industry. Because the human lifespan continues to increase, it’s expected that the senior population will continue to grow and become an even larger demographic. When marketers learn how to better target older audiences via mobile advertising, the result will be game changing.



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Source:  http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/why-digital-marketing-strategies-should-not-ignore-baby-boomers-34859/

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