Would you be surprised to learn that middle-aged and older women account for about 85% of consumer purchases in this country?
Those of you with pre-teen and teen aged daughters might be scratching your head at that!
If you’ve been with us for a while, you know we do a host of planning and strategizing in the summer. We dig in to new books and online classes beach side on Summer Fridays.
In the past we’ve shared our reading list (and sometimes a favorite drink recipe or two!) and what we are focusing on during these planning days.
One book that’s been on our reading list since last winter came to us from the crew at MIT AgeLab. It’s called, The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World’s Fastest-Growing, Most Misunderstood Market by Joseph F. Coughlin.
Sure it’s a heavy lift in terms of digesting all the demographics he outlines and shares. But it’s great insight to have when you are putting your marketing plan together, especially as it relates to content strategy.
Two things leaped out to us that we wanted to share with you.
How Seniors View Your Marketing Campaigns and Ads
First point was what older adults think of us…the marketing teams who are trying to engage them.
Coughlin shared survey results that showed older adults see current ad efforts that target them as overly stereotypical and…unappealing.
Womp. Womp.
Seniors want marketing campaigns that address them and not just their family members.
Read that last sentence again.
Yep… that means you need to speak to two audiences, right?
The senior who is feeling ignored AND their adult child influencer.
In terms of digital content, that means your senior living site needs at least two personas and content designed to attract each one. (You can read more about senior living personas here if you aren’t familiar with them.)
August is a great month to audit your site’s content and identify opportunities for improving it, including opportunities to speak to both audiences.
Senior Living Content: The Future is Female
The other point we wanted to share with you is how much purchasing power women have!
Chapter Three of the book is quite an eye opener. Here are just a few of the nuggets you’ll want to digest and keep in mind as you are planning:
- Older women are more active, savvy, and affluent than most of us realize and give them credit for
- Middle age and older women account for 60% of the wealth in this country
- Women—especially those 50 and older—make 85% of all purchasing decisions
- Females make 90% of all health care decisions, from doctors to senior care women are the decision makers
- Women buy almost 70% of all personal computers— who knew right?
While most of us who work in the aging services industry know women are caregivers and decision makers in higher numbers, the extend of their buying power isn’t as well known. It’s something for all of us to keep in mind as we are strategizing new ideas for 2019.
The book is a good read—but not a quick one! You’ll find lots of demographics and statistics those of us who work in senior living are always on the hunt for.
While we still have a wait list for our blog services (boo hoo), we do have some space open on our fall short-term projects calendar. If you are looking for help pumping up your senior living content before the holidays, shoot us a note today!