Forward on reverse: Insights for marketing to maturity: Part VI: A different kind of customerAtare E. Agbamu, CRMSReverse mortgages,HECMs
One of the pearls of marketing wisdom I have taken away from my
study of David Wolfe's work thus far is this—almost
everything we know about marketing was learned and developed when
youth ruled the marketplace. Think about that statement for a
minute. If we accept the idea that knowing the customer is the
first law of marketing, then we need to ask, "How well do we know
aging and aging customers beyond popular stereotypes about age and
aging?" This series, which we began in September 2005, was designed
to answer the latter question. In this concluding installment, we
look at eight traits of aging customers and their implications for
marketing to older adults.
Trait #1: Grounded in reality
The older adult customer is more realistic and more practical about
life. He has gone beyond the idealism of youth. This means your
marketing communication should under-use shock, novelty and fantasy
to grab attention. Use simple and familiar attention-grabbing
tactics, such as a picture of a flower, a baby or grandparents
picnicking with a grandchild on the shores of an iridescent lake.
What is simple and familiar is more effective with older adults
than the usual shock and novelty fare that appeals to younger
customers.
Trait #2: Perceptions more dependent on
context
Their perceptions are more dependent on background factors in
contrast with the more black-and-white view of reality in youth. If
you are doing marketing research among older adults,
black-and-white or categorical questions will not yield the
insights you are looking for. Positioning your products or services
in absolutist language will not help either. For example, if you
say, "We are the ultimate reverse mortgage company," you will only
draw a laugh. They won't buy it.
Trait #3: More resistant to change from
outside
The older adult is more autonomous and more difficult to persuade
from the outside. Hyped claims about product or service features
and benefits may fall on deaf ears, because they have been there,
done that. They have seen more than their share of snake oil
artists. Recall the AARP-funded Roper ASW study we mentioned in
Part I ("Unlearn 20th Century Marketing," The Mortgage Press,
September 2005) of this series. Three out of four older consumers
are unhappy with marketing aimed at them. The do-not-call
phenomenon of recent times may be telling us something about the
mind of the market. Present valuable information about your product
or service, and let them make up their own minds whether your
product or service meets their needs. Aggressive, pushy and
manipulative marketing tactics will backfire.
Trait #4: Detached from, not caricatures of their
peers
With youths, if you see one, you've seen them all. So,
one-size-fits-all marketing makes sense. It's not so with older
adults. They are more individuated and detached, according to
author David Wolfe. Generic marketing communication based on
stereotypes of older adults will not get you far. Customized
values- and needs-based marketing anchored on a solid,
research-based understanding of the aging customer is the key to
this market.
Trait #5: More comfortable with intuition
Let me share a family story to illustrate this trait. A few years
ago, as I sat down to watch SuperBowl XXXVI with my sons, Akporefe
(then 9 years old) said, "Daddy, the Rams are going to win! You
want to bet me?" Awesiri (then 11 years old) promptly threw the
same challenge at me.
Then I asked them, "Why do you think that the Rams are going to
win?"
They rattled off a torrent of football league statistics to
support their forecast. They knew their football facts and NFL
history very well, and they communicated their knowledge with
passion and confidence. No football or sports statistics guru
myself, I was outgunned, but I was deeply impressed with their
command of football history and facts. I told them that I would
reserve my choice until the first few minutes of the game. Then the
game started. The St. Louis Rams were introduced individually, with
star quarterback Kurt Warner and other strong team members getting
extra applause. The New England Patriots chose to be introduced as
a team. I was impressed. From pure gut feeling, from knowing that
challengers tend to be a little hungrier than champions and from
ignorance about football and the season's activities up to the
Super Bowl, I made my choice known to my eager sons—New
England Patriots. Awesiri and Akporefe had football facts and
history. I had intuition and life experience. Second-half customers
do pay attention to facts, but they look at the facts and draw
conclusions informed more by gut feelings or intuition.
Trait #6: More focused on experiences than on
products
The older adult customer tends to want less stuff and more
experiences. A marketing plan designed to induce desire for stuff
may fail, but one created to enhance an experience will succeed.
With older adults, experience is the marketing. Push experience,
not product benefits and features. What kinds of experiences will
extra cash from a reverse mortgage give your customer? Focus on the
experience.
Trait #7: More introspective
In contrast with younger customers, whose orientation is more
outward and social, the older adults look more to the self for
guidance. They are more self-directed and self-taught than younger
customers who often take their cues from peers. So, a marketing
message that says, "Get a reverse mortgage, because your friends
are getting one" will not work with this group of customers. Again,
try to understand their needs and communicate in terms of their
needs.
Trait #8: More authentic
In the last quarter of life, consumers tend to prefer what is real,
as opposed to the ideal. In other words, they know that the perfect
cover girl or the GQ man or woman is not real. Hype and mindless
self-promotion will not help you bond with these groups of
consumers. Tone down the volume and be real to connect with
maturity.
Now, let's review some key insights from the series:
• To market to older adults, we must unlearn hucksterism,
the dominant worldview of 20th century marketing. The "aggressive,
pushy approach in marketing, which seeks to conquer and overwhelm
and manipulate the consumers" is a recipe for failure in the mature
market.
• Older adult customers are different customers
developmentally. We must first attempt to understand why they are
different from younger customers if we plan to market to them
successfully.
• To understand older adult customers, we must understand the
season of life that they are passing through. We can safely assume
that most reverse mortgage customers are in their winter years.
Some may be in the fall years. Knowing the developmental priorities
of these years give us potent tools for effective marketing
communication.
• The general direction of the older adult customer is toward
inner growth. They are searching for meaning and purpose. Marketing
communication must speak to these deeper yearnings to be
effective.
Finally, the eight traits of the older adult customer above will
help you know your mature customers better, leading to better
marketing communication. Remember David Wolfe's sage assertion,
"Almost everything we know about marketing we learned and developed
when youth ruled the marketplace." We have some new learning to do.
My forthcoming book on marketing and originating reverse mortgages
offers more insights and strategies for marketing to the new lords
of the 21st century marketplace.
Think reverse. Move forward!
Atare E. Agbamu, CRMS is president of ThinkReverse LLC, a
reverse mortgage training and consulting firm based in the Twin
Cities and is a consultant with Credo Mortgage. Atare is regarded
as an emerging authority on reverse mortgages and is frequently
consulted by financial professionals and families across America.
His reverse mortgage interviews have been Web cast on MortgageMag
Live! He can be reached by phone at (651) 389-1105 or e-mail
[email protected].
