Boomer Marketing: Emotional Drivers Are Key

Mark Goldstein, founder of Impact Presentations Group, has made a name for himself in the 50+ housing industry for his in-depth trend knowledge and cutting-edge ideas. In his presentations, he shows remarkable insight into the 50+ market—who’s in it, what’s driving it, and where it’s headed. 50+ eSource recently spoke with Goldstein about what makes boomers tick.

Hear more from Goldstein at his IBS presentation, Reinvention of the Building/Housing Market: Boomers and Beyond – Second Edition, held Thursday, Jan. 12, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., in West 304A-D, Level III at the Orange County Convention Center.

A Satisfied Mind: Get to Cautious Boomers with Quality of Life

There are a few reasons why some boomers have a cautionary feeling about spending money. Social Security was designed in the 1930s. Since then, we’ve extended longevity by 30 years! We never dreamt people would live so long. So boomers’ biggest concern is “How are we going to maintain our health for our lifetime?” The next question is “How are we going to finance the rest of our lives?” And that leads to the next big question, which is about housing. For boomers, buying a house isn’t something they’re doing out of a sense of need. First-time homebuyers and move-up buyers are buying homes because they need them. When boomers buy a home, it’s an emotionally driven purchase. And this is where builders and developers need to get creative. They’re selling something the consumer may not need or even want. It’s the difference between selling a car to someone who doesn’t have one and selling one to someone who already owns a perfectly fine car. The auto industry has been doing a great job with this for years. So with housing, you’ve got to cater to the emotional drivers. You get to people by convincing them that their experience of life is going to be enhanced by making this purchase.

Forever Young: Emotional Marketing Is Key

One of the big drivers for boomers is that they’re a unique generation that has always been in the limelight. After World War II, their parents started having children and they decided that their kids weren’t going to go through what they did. Boomers were the first generation to be marketed to as a “generation.” They had this generational identity from the time they were kids, when everyone had to have a Davy Crockett cap and a hula hoop! So now that they’re getting into their 60’s, their fear is, are we going to have to leave the limelight? What the 50+ housing industry likes to believe that their whole market wants the same thing—like that older people don’t want to live in two-story homes. But there’s a whole segment of that population that does want two-story homes. So we have to acknowledge that this is a segmented market. Take a look at what Del Webb did with the previous generation of retirees. Did those retirees have to move to the Sun Belt and play golf and go to the “early bird special” every night? Of course they didn’t. Sun City living wasn’t a necessity, but boy did that emotional marketing work. That same lifestyle won’t work for boomers, but the marketing style will. Emotional drivers are the key.

Slow Train: Boomers and Technology

Generation X was brought up during the technology boom. They’re used to instant response time. The boomer generation never expected an instant response. Some of them don’t want any technology, and

some don’t understand it. And the world of technology is not to the point of “need” yet. But the building industry should get proactive on this. Who would have thought years ago that Americans would want SUVs with GPS in them? The auto industry told us we needed that. A lot of boomers aren’t aware of what kind of technology they can have in their homes. So maybe nobody’s thinking about it, but if builders make it available, people will start to think about it and then they’ll want it.  

Bringing It All Back Home: Implementing Ideas after IBS

The thing I try to create in my 90 minutes is a mindset change. I want listeners to change their thinking—that will give birth to new ideas, new designs. The ultimate thing is to make strategic planning a big part of your company and of your career. For instance, real estate agents come to IBS to get a better understanding of the industry. They need to set aside time for strategic thought. The best way to do that is with a group, even if they just get together for lunch once a month. They need to ask themselves, “What am I doing today that targets the trends of the future?” There’s an old saying, “We were so busy mopping up the floor, we didn’t have time to shut the faucet off.” We’re so reactive, so “now” focused that we don’t see that there’s a genuine opportunity in front of us. There has never been an industry so poised for a boom because of trends converging. So we’ve got a huge opportunity here. It will take very smart people making very smart moves. We’ve got to get a lot smarter and a lot more proactive. [Return to top]