Effective Marketing – Understanding All 6 Generations Of Consumers
Posted by Emily Brooks
Money, Mood, Movement, and Market are the Four Pillars of Consumer buying behavior - known as the 4M's. Money is of course defined as available resources. Mood is the mental/psychological state and the likes/dislikes which fluctuate. Movement is defined as the days/dates/times that a person is willing to buy something and includes such factors as opportunity and time. Market is defined as availability, accessibility, proximity to consumer, and purchasing opportunities of the product.
So as a local food or agricultural business, how do you effectively market your goods and services across generational divides to appeal to the broadest audience possible?
Let's study the general characteristics of each of our 6 generations!
GI Generation: (born before 1925)
Made up of those who lived through and fought in WWII. Also known as "The Greatest Generation" this group has negligible buying power themselves, but has a very strong influence over the buying power of the other generations. While they are the generation that grew up with local food and agriculture industries, they perceive cost barriers to purchasing healthy or local food and these subjective perceptions (actually disproven) are a powerful influence on their purchasing behavior. They are typically not swayed by nostalgia and are exceedingly price-sensitive. They are not to be dismissed! The GI Generation are passionately loyal and an extremely reliable sales base. Once a customer of your product, ALWAYS a customer. They are disinterested in competing marketing tactics and do not need to be marketed to over and over again.
The Silent Generation: (born 1925-1944)
Those generally thought to be too young to fight in WWII and those born during the war. They are the smallest generation of the 20th century as a consequence of low depression-era birth rates. Buying power is considered negligible. It has been shown that there is a strong relationship between decreased discretionary income as a barrier to the purchase of healthy or local food, and like the GI Generation are LEAST LIKELY to exhibit a purchasing pattern consistent with nutrition messages or socially conscious messages (local, sustainable, environmental.) When buying local food, the Silent Generation tends to buy more food for the home, but do not consume local produce when eating out - or make their dining decisions on whether local food is served. The Silent Generation requires tangible relationships and responds well to intimate and face-to-face buying experiences.
The Boomers: (born 1945 to 1964)
Children of the GI and Silent generations. The second-largest generation (78.2 million) and the second most coveted consumer base, with about $2 trillion in annual buying power. Greatest marketing response is direct mail. They are receptive to multimedia messaging, but respond best when multiple, traditional forms of direct marketing is combined with multimedia channels. This makes them the most expensive group to effectively market to. Boomers are the biggest buyers of "young" and a majority of the marketing messages on the market place are targeted directly at their need for youth, desire for thinness, fear of aging, and overall vitality. They are the spenders who fuel the billion-plus Diet Industry. Gavin Turrell and Ann Kavanagh have shown that there is a statistically significant association between education and dietary knowledge, and they are the group most receptive to public education about diet and heatlh, and the group most active in altering their purchasing behavior as a direct result of this public education.
Gen X: (born 1965-1984)
Largely children of the Silent Generation, numbering about 69.9 million. Regarded as technologically "bilingual," but do not always respond to internet marketing efforts, but straddle the divide between traditional and new media platforms. Gen X mirrors the Boomers' receptivity to multimedia (aware, but not completely trusted) simply because the technology revolution did not take off until the 80's and 90's. This generation is the most "split" of generational groups - some being tech savvy, and others lagging far behind even the Boomers. This group is seldom targeted with direct media campaigns of any type because they are sandwiched between the two most influential Generational groups. While Gen X as a whole group is not easily definable, do not count them out. They are largely ignored, and as they age, have more discretionary income, and become the new targets for marketing and advertising they will demand a long relationship with the organizations that have marketed to them over the previous years when they're perceived to have not much influence. Early and steady with the Gen X-ers. Nurturing this consumer base is a long term relationship, and Gen X will require multiple-time messaging and will require many interactions with your product before they become reliable consumers. The buying behavior of Gen X have a very powerful influence on our society and has led to cybercafés, entertainment eateries, and the newer trends in the wine and hotel industries. This group buys less local food for the home, but will consume local produce and specifically choose a restaurant or caterer who serves local food.
Gen Y: (born 1985 - 2004)
Also know as "Millennials," "Echo Boomers" and "The Net Generation." They are the children of the Baby Boomers and the largest generation at 100 million Americans. The most coveted buying group, consuming at a rate of more than five times the Boomers in adjusted dollars. These are bright, educated, multi-taskers with a social conscience. The Millennials are forecasted to have the greatest effect on almost all American industries. These individuals don't read newspapers, don't listen to radio, or buy magazines. Gen Y goes right to the internet, and they are a very fickle group to effectively reach because they are continuously bombarded with savvy electronic marketing. This group will purchase products with a "social conscience." They consider buying based NOT on quality or freshness, but rather to reduce greenhouse or environmental impact, sustainability, and ethics. The flip side is that while the only way to reach them is online, current farm market -farm stand models require Gen Y to get OFF LINE to find your product. Bringing local food into the online marketplace is key to capturing Gen Y consumers and nurturing them for long-term customer buying relationship for the next 40 years.
Gen Z: (born 2005 - present)
2007 was the largest birth year in US History. Latinos make up about 14% of our total population, but accounted for more than 25% of total babies born in 2007. This new generation is already more than 20 million strong. The most tech-savvy of all generations, the only marketing that has effect are digital media campaigns through TV, film, and the internet. Most susceptible to industrial food advertising and their peers. According to the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, 3-5 year-olds have an annual purchasing influence of $15 billion; $45 billion for 6-8 year-olds; $65 billion for 9-11 year-olds; and $90 billion for 15-17 year-olds. They also say that parents are two to three times more likely to name a child - not themselves - as the family expert for selection of fast food, snack food, restaurants, and new breakfast cereals. While yielding the greatest influence over food purchasing behavior, there is a direct correlation that the number of children in a household does not appear to influence buying behavior for local and regional foods. This should be the most coveted group to market your product to simply because they have the most power. They do not care about health or obesity (yet). They care about their peers and about fun. Agritourism has made great strides in reaching Gen Z with a local food & agirculture buying message.
Effective Marketing and Product Placement
Most local food and agricultural businesses target market their products to the Baby Boomers who are price-insensitive, health conscious, Gourmet-primed, and currently the most vociferous.
Fast growing, successful, and effective local food & agricultural businesses make sure to market their product across ALL 6 generations - creating specifically tailored marketing messages, product availability and accessibility options, and a mix of online/offline and tradition/new media techniques.
There is overwhelming marketing noise to the Boomers, while the remaining 5 generations are currently untapped as local food & agricultural consumers.