We’ve all been bombarded with Michael Jackson’s news in the last few weeks. While many, fans and non-fans alike, were affected by his death in some way, MJ’s father went on the offensive to promote his new business venture just days after. In these modern days, I guess there are still salesmen so blinded by money that they sell their souls too. So now’s a good opportunity to get back to basics. Marketing basics, that is.

Marketing – whether push or pull, traditional or online, outbound or inbound – is a game of either creating your own buzz, or riding someone else’s buzz. Creating your own buzz is tough to do, unless you have something new, unique with mass appeal to tell people about, or you can ride on your own reputation built over time. Riding someone else’s buzz, on the other hand, is quite easy. It’s popular for those who want a quick spike in their marketing performance and return on investment. It’s a legitimate marketing technique if done properly.

Here are a few “riding someone else’s buzz” ideas:

• Associate with well-known or recognizable brand names. It’s all about attention grabbing, and household names and celebrities give you instant buzz and attention.
• Hot topics or stories of the day. By definition these are already hot, so huge attention base already exists. All you have to do is make it relevant to your products, services or situation.
• Controversial or outrageous people and stories. These can come from anywhere and take many shapes and forms, but the bottom line is the controversial and the outrageous command free publicity, which also benefit from its natural viral characteristic.
• Stealing someone else’s great content. Even though this works well, it’s short-lived. Therefore it’s not recommended, and it’s against many laws, including the social networking law.

I may be guilty as the next guy who mentions MJ is his post. And maybe I am. But more importantly, if this post can stop a few marketers and help them think about what they do just for a little while, it’s done its job.

So, no, marketing basics do not start with what you may learn in business schools, from others in the industry, and certainly not by your desire to be successful. They start with you and your integrity.

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Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Marketing Basics and Building Buzz – What About Integrity?

Okay I guess the buzz on Bing has died down a little. When it first came out, everyone is eating up their marketing spiel about Bing’s capability to “help you make decisions.” My initial reaction was: “What!? Somehow they have gathered enough information on me, and know how my mind works, to help me make my decisions now?” I had reasons to worry.

But a few quick searches on Bing helped put my worries at ease. Bing gives search results. Bing doesn’t help you make decisions, it’s just a search engine. I said “just” because Microsoft had search engines before (MSN and Live) and it’s not meant to belittle Bing. But to me Bing looks like a search engine with some pre-programmed searches, if you will, plus other new features.

Some people can argue that if Bing gives you search results then it’s helping you make decisions. They must have been living under a rock, because all search engines do this! What matters most to me is being able to find relevant information to make my own decisions.

According to Bing on itself (meaning I typed “what is Bing” into Bing,) this is what I got

Bing is a search engine that finds and organizes the answers you need so you can make faster, more informed decisions.

The question becomes, how does Bing find and organize the information I need to make my own decisions, that live.com or msn.com didn’t? Microsoft (MS) has been consistently third in the search engine war and is trying to improve traffic. With a reported marketing campaign upwards of $80-100 million, I think MS would be better off revamping their search (which they did,) and running $100 lottos every hour with the winners selected from Bing searchers. That would get their usage up against Google and Yahoo.

But do you know what’s real interesting? I still can’t get Bing to help me make my decision to use it regularly, or at all.

For SEOs who want to take a closer look at Bing SEO, Benj Arriola has some good views in his article “MSN, then Live, now Bing – What do SEOs need to know?” at BusinessOnLine.com.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Bing – Helps You Make Decisions or Just Another Search Engine

You know what I’m talking about. New media. You know, social media, social marketing, blogging, and Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc, for your company? Many have found success where many others have failed. In the corporate environment, pursuing social media marketing is a full-time job.

Corporate social networking functions require individual special skills and knowledge, plus clear corporate objectives and goals. For companies that want to get with it in social media and marketing, don’t just try a few things here and there using inexperienced resources. What you need is focus and dedication. The key is to develop a clear reason why you want to be in the blogosphere, and provide dedicated resources to achieve those goal.

Here are the minimum considerations that must exist for your social media marketing to stand any chance of making a difference. Anything less will be just a waste of your time, money and human resources.

• Establish a clear corporate social networking policy, the rules of engagement so to speak. It does not have to be detailed or elaborate, but it needs to have the basics in place. Remember this is still emerging technology.
• Create your team from enthusiastic and knowledgeable individuals. They don’t have to be your best marketers or sales persons. In fact they should not be. The key characteristics you’re looking for include: being savvy with new technology and tools, being passionate about the company, its products and services, and above all, being honest with high ethics.
• Empower and authorize team members to do what’s best for the company. If your team is knowledgeable and passionate, then they’ll do anything to ensure the best interest and protection for the company and its reputation. They are smart, and they’ll do the right things.
• Always be on the look out for opportunities to go viral, especially in support of customer-generated viral media. All you need is to be there, provide support, and maybe give a little nudge. It’s social marketing after all. Do it right and you’ll attract loyal followers.

What about corporate legal? Do you need to get their blessing all the time? Probably not. Just do what’s right. Here’s what I mean. As long as you’ve made the proper communication with legal department and addressed corporate policies from the beginning, legal may just be your best friends in the company to get your social networking job done.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

How to Build a New Media Corporate Marketing Team

Trending topics on Twitter is a double-edged sword. It gives users instant snapshots of what the hot topics are on Twitter. At the same time it opens the floodgate for Twitter spams and misinformation. I’m all for pushing the latest and greatest tools for marketing use, but it should be done responsibly.

We all know Twitter is free (at least for now.) And because it is a social tool, interestingly, Twitter itself can potentially be destroyed by how its users use it – mass destruction so to speak. Spams and misinformation will only have negative effects on Twitter, which eventually will hurt the whole community.

So here are some tips on how to use Twitter trending topics to your benefits while maintaining your own integrity and ethics.

• Get involved in hot and active conversations.
• Stay on topic and be relevant.
• Have fun, be yourself, and help others.
• Leave self-promotions at the door (or at the keyboard.)
• Un-follow those who regularly and knowingly start and/or re-tweet spams and falsification.
• And most importantly: Don’t try to benefit from Twitter trending topics.

Share your views with a comment below.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

How to Benefit from Twitter Trending Topics and Keep Your Marketing Integrity and Ethics Too

Twitter is a great tool as many would attest. It can do so much with so little and provide the intimacy, simplicity and immediacy that not many other platforms can even come close. While many social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace can expect to continue to command large memberships and usage, Twitter needs to get its act together before its Archilles’ heels bring it down. I’m talking about Twitter spams, and to a less extent, Twitter’s lack of a business/commercial model.

In recent years, it seems that there is a new social network kid in town every year that gets all the attention and leaves everyone else in the dust. This year it’s Twitter. Last year it was Facebook. Before that, MySpace. For Twitter, numerous third party tools and applications have been created to make it even easier to use while providing amazing additional features. But because of the (seemingly) lack of strict quality guidelines of what the users can and can’t do, Twitter spams are becoming prevalent.

Twitter spams are not out of control yet, in my opinion. But it’s reaching a point where it hinders additional explosive growth of the Twitter platform. Sure there are many new users signing up. But I think the vast majority joined out of curiosity and not necessarily needs. And let’s face it, Twitter itself is simple but not very intuitive, so it requires somewhat of a learning curve on the part of new users, and requires them to stick with it to “get” it. Coupling this with high potential for spams will probably keep Twitter to the status of being just another cool, but niche, tool for individuals, and just another tool for business, as opposed to a great tool for the mass and an essential tool for marketers.

But then again maybe we’re trying too hard to make Twitter our own. According to Twitter creator Jack Dorsey as reported on theonion.com, “Twitter was intended to be a way for vacant, self-absorbed egotists to share their most banal and idiotic thoughts with anyone pathetic enough to read them….” Mr. Dorsey said about how Iranians are using his tool that, “I couldn’t believe they’d ruined something so beautiful, simple, and absolutely pointless.” According to theonion.com, “he is already working on a new website that will be so mind-numbingly useless that Iranians will not even be able to figure out how to operate it.”

So the fact remains that Twitter will do whatever it wants to do. And lacking a clear (publicized) business/commercial plan, we’ll just have to take Twitter for what it is right now and be glad that such tool exists. Only the strong will survive, for both Twitter and its users.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Twitter’s Achilles’ Heels May Be Its Biggest Challenge

Most businesses sell some sort of products or provide services to other businesses or consumers. This selling or providing process relies heavily on the staff in marketing and customer service department of a company. Marketing can be seen mainly as a pre-sale responsibility, while customer service traditionally takes care of the customer after the sale. In actuality, and most importantly in the current social media environment, the line between marketing and customer service is becoming more and more fuzzy. In fact from the customer point of view, marketing and customer service of a company may be slowly becoming one and the same.

It’s the case of “marketing promises me this, but service gives (or not) me that.” It’s one of the classic examples of customer dissatisfaction, and in the social network environment, the news goes far and wide, at a very fast rate. What a business needs to realize are two things:

1. Customers are now talking, researching and sharing on the Internet, in general, and on social networking sites, in particular.
2. You need to be where your customers are and engage them, especially with those who make the most noise.

The best customer experience is achieved when customer desires and needs are fulfilled by your products or services (good marketing,) and their issues are resolved quickly and satisfactorily (good customer service.) If these do not give you strong reasons to get your business into the social networking arena, then I don’t know what will.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Marketing and Customer Service Are Really One and the Same to Customers

So you have 3 choices: reduce, maintain or increase your marketing in this recession. Obviously the answer lies in the budget that is available for your operation. But more importantly, and independently of the budget, your marketing program needs to be a lot smarter than what it used to be. This means doing more with less, working smarter and harder (not smarter than harder,) focussing on your strengths and putting aside nice-to-have stuff.

Considering that people still need to purchase products and services in order to live their lives, regardless of market condition, here are some typical market-in-decline realities that may help shape your new marketing strategies:

• Consumers are still buying, though they may be searching harder and longer for cheaper alternatives or products.
• Used product sales are on the rise, including pre-owned cars. It’s all about getting the best deal for a given amount of money paid, and cars with 1-3 years of age are the best bargains.
• Sales at goodwill industries are booming. These have their own industries because the markets are big. There are quality items to be found, and smart consumers know this and want to take advantage of it.
• Comfort foods are selling. While consumers do cut back on eating out at high-end establishments, they still look for cheaper ways to enjoy a meal once in a while. Home-cooked style and no-frills eateries with great value and fulfilling foods are the best.
• Do-it-yourself is now the superstar. Homeowners come to the realization that the roofs over their heads are still the best thing they own, so it make total sense to spend what little they have to spend on this large investment. And do-it-yourself (DYI) is where you get the best bang for the buck.
• DIY fitness is more popular. Recreation is another area where people as a creature cannot do without. And fitness is one of the most fun and best value people can do with the least amount of money spent. Expect products like running shoes, bicycle helmets, etc. to take a leap in sales.

Of course these are not meant to be a complete list. Rather they are illustrative of the type of market conditions and consumer behaviors you need to understand right now to help redirect your marketing strategies. The real question is not about whether or not you should scale back or step up your marketing effort. The real question is how do you implement effective marketing campaigns that put your best strengths forward to address the current new market demands.

Here are 3 practical things you can do right now:

1. Analyze your offerings and focus on your key products and core customers. Place heavy emphasis on your key products that are relevant to core customers. Nothing else matters.
2. Acquire insights from experienced colleagues and take advantage of the experience of those who have survived through previous recessions. This alone is one of the most overlooked affordable secret weapons that you can find.
3. Just as important, know where to make cuts (if you must) and where not to make cuts. Smaller budgets are a reality. It’s how you prioritize your marketing activities that will determine how you will recover when the market picks up again.

With a sharply focussed marketing strategy, it doesn’t matter if you scale back or step up your efforts. What matters is you understand your new market forces and meet its demands with the lowest cost and most effective tools you can find.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Scaling Back or Stepping Up Marketing in a Recession? Maybe It’s the Wrong Question

Content and relevant information are king. We all heard marketing experts say if you want to attract visitors, you should provide relevant content. Even Google itself says so in its Webmaster guidelines. Let’s face it. Web users, both the consumer and the business kinds, are all after a single thing when using their search engines: information. So it makes good sense to give them exactly what they want. You’ll achieve your SEO goals fasters, while retaining visitor loyalty at the same time.

Knowing what web users do is the key to attracting them to your site. You have essentially two challenges:

1. To be found by information seekers, and once found,
2. To attract and retain them.

While we can follow a number of steps to address each of these challenges separately, there are things we can do that benefit both, killing 2 birds with one stone, so to speak. Let’s look at some key behaviors of typical web visitors:

• Web users are information hounds. Because of the speed and convenient of the Internet, information is always at the users’ fingertips – both good and bad information. So give lots of information, and differentiate yourself from the amateurs with great quality content.
• Web users are analytical. While the fingers are clicking, the minds are on high level of awareness and working overtime. There are only two kinds of visitors that matter to you. One is the browsers who want something but not sure exactly what. The other is those on a mission to find exactly what they want at the best deal they can get. Either way, the web users are actively analyzing the content they find.
• Web users are impatient and critical. Because of the available choices and the speed available to get to those choices, web users have been trained to be impatient. If they can’t find what they want, they’ll just move on to the next provider. 
• Web users scan content. They don’t read content. Web users know there may be better choices out there waiting for them to discover, and their impatience kicks in. Web users are fast scanners. So if your content is thousands of words long and contains just fluff in the first paragraph, or requires 3-4 paragraphs to lay out your case, then you’re losing readers fast.
• Web users don’t like to be sold. Sales pitches are so old school. You and I don’t like to be sold, we like to decide for ourselves. So consider dropping the aggressive spiel. 

If you stop and think about it, these are exactly our own behaviors, aren’t they? It’s pretty easy to understand and all you have to do is focus your efforts on what many call “inbound marketing” instead.

So what do we do with these behaviors? The best thing to do is addressing them head-on. Marketers have a single goal which is to sell something. But amateur marketers don’t realize that it’s very easy to fall into the selling mode trap. It takes more effort, but with much more effective results, to attract attention through a good combination of relevant information and great value proposition. The sales process will follow naturally.

Here are a few tips on writing relevant content.

1. Define your topic clearly and early in your content. This gets you found in relevant searches above your competitors, and lets visitors know immediately that they are in the right place with the right information, effectively answering their key question: “Am I in the right place?”
2. Keep your content short and to the point. If you have a lot to say on the subject, break them into sections, bulleted lists, or even series of articles. This does 2 things: a) it answers quickly the visitor’s question “is there something for me here?” and b) facilitates their tendency to scan your content.
3. Drop the use of teasers and fluff. I’m never a fan of teasers. They waste my time and indicate to me that the website has nothing to offer me. If you have to read through paragraphs after paragraphs of copy, and at the end still have to take additional actions with the promise of receiving the information sought, wouldn’t you feel cheated? So take the direct approach, don’t play around and make the content easy to get to.

The bottom line: consider how your visitors like to consume content and present your information to benefit their search. In the end, if your content is relevant with clear value proposition, you’ll reduce your bounce rate without resorting to sneaky tactics.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

How to Write Relevant Content by Understanding Search Behaviors

Updated 08-18-09. We’ve read all the buzz about using Twitter, from sources in print and online, from friends to co-workers. Do a quick search on your favorite search engine and you’ll find the latest tips on how to deploy and employ Twitter for personal and business purposes. It’s not hard to find tweeting theories, tips, tools and zillions of other advices on how to tweet successfully. What’s really lacking is a practical, realistic step-by-step guide to tweet, but I believe I’ve found one that’s easy yet detailed enough that will work with almost all things you apply to. I’m still testing it but so far it’s working great for me, and based on the process I believe it will continue to help me for a long time to come.

Like many marketers, I’ve looked for solutions for tweeting but never really found anything that sounded and looked good enough to even start. And I know many others have actually tried a few with varying degree of success, but those were never long-term successes for many reasons. This process I’ll describe here works because it’s simple, realistic and doable. There are some pretty basic ideas mentioned here, plus a few more advanced concepts. Together as a package they provide one powerful tool. So here’s the process.

1. Social network etiquette still rules. Whatever you do, do not forget the basic rules and etiquette of social network and social marketing. After all Twitter is a blogging tool and a social networking tool that you should respect while using it. Take advantage of it like you would LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace, but do not abuse.
2. It’s still all about helping others find what they need. Unlike traditional marketing (some call it “outbound marketing”,) social network has never been and will never be about you and/or your company. It’s all about contributing what you can to the social network and help other people solve their problems.
3. You must know your target social groups and customers. Assuming you have something to offer (expertise, skills or knowledge,) you need to focus on your niche and not take the shotgun approach. By focussing on your target groups you’ll be more relevant. There are plenty of tools out there to help you find people with particular interests, but one of the best ways to target a group is to tweet from both your heart and your head, consistently (see 5. below.) Over time your group will find you. It’s inbound marketing at work.
4. It’s important to apply your branding to your Twitter account. This includes your username, bio, background, etc. Use your business sense to do this, but whether this is for personal or business purpose, your brand is what you present to the world about you.
5. Start blogging, not just about what you had for lunch, but what you’re all about, what your interests are, and what you find important and useful you can pass on to others. You should know what your brand is about, and many tools are available to help you post/blog relevant topics all day long (as your time permits.) One such tool is the Google Alerts service. Also there are tools to automate posting of your content as well.
6. Find your targets to follow. Just like in any other industry, it’s all about finding and associate with people with the same interests, problems, pursuits or passions as your own. In the business world, another layer would be finding people with the same interests, problems, pursuits or passions as your business, either to give help to or get help from. In time if you have something to offer they will follow you back. And this is how you build your network. Again automation tools abounds to help you find targeted people and build your follower network.
7. Set up automation to greet new followers when they first follow you. It’s part of the social landscape, and greetings, together with your brand, are the first impressions in the social networking sphere. Be professional and never pushy. People who greet others with a sales pitch give a poor first impression.
8. Know what you want. I saved this for last but it may as well be your very first step. You must know what you want to achieve with Twitter in particular, and with social network in general. Whether it’s brand awareness, click through rates, traffic counts or whatever else is important to you, only you know this. So clearly define your goals and stay on track.

I have applied the above process successfully in conjunction with a tool called the “Twitter Traffic Machine.” It is an effective tool and process combination, and I’m applying it with great results for my clients. The Twitter Traffic Machine, and a few other similar offerings currently floating around the Internet, are getting a bad rap for what they’re trying to do as the end goal and are considered spam tools by many. My view is, of course any tool in the “wrong” hand or used irresponsibly can result in undesirable consequences. For me as a marketer, it’s a tool that I’ll take advantage of in my own ethical way.

The bottom line is, if you put this tool/process combination in your marketing toolbox and use it everyday with your other tools like SEO, SEM, direct/email marketing and ad promotion and tracking apps, then you’ll benefit from it. And like other great tools of the trade, you’ll have to really use it to benefit from it.

By the way for interesting reads on the Twitter bird and the brand, read Nils Geylen’s “The Twitter Logo, Or Is It?” and Cormac Kelly’s “The Birdie brand and the Twitter bird.” As it turns out Cormac Kelly is not making his post available online any longer, but he is very generous to allow his full post content republished here. Thanks Cormac! Find out what Cormac is up to these days, head over to Birdie Web Design.

The Birdie brand and the Twitter bird

Since I launched the Birdie site a couple of weeks back, there has been loads of great feedback, which is always appreciated, but it’s been mentioned a couple of times that the Birdie icon is similar to the Twitter bird. In this post i’ll address the comparisons and give a bit more background on the brand.

About Twitter

Twitter, for those living under a rock, is a mobile micro-blogging application. Users send and receive updates via text messages, and there are a load of third-party apps to feed updates to blogs and the like. I havn’t played with it much myself (it’s a bit too pervasive for my taste, but thats just me) but it’s a bit of a phenomenon and is widely used. Twitter have a very strong brand presence as a result.

In hindsight the comparison was always going to happen. Twitter has a lot of momentum right now, especially within the blogging and web communities, so pretty much anything with a little bird reference is going to bring Twitter to mind at the moment. Obviously this wasn’t my intention!

The origins of Birdie

A bit of context on the Birdie brand will help here. I came up with the name while I was looking at domain hacks, inspired by the social bookmarking site del.icio.us and the (really nice) Irish photo sharing site pix.ie. I started going through words that end in .ie and came across Birdie. It was perfect – memorable, personable and, in combination with the domain name, it gave me a real ‘smile in the mind’ as they say.

It all tumbled along from there really. I ran it past a few people and they liked it (and my girlfriend loved it), so I registered the name, and then the URL. (Which I couldn’t believe was still available.)

Visual Designs

I designed the logotype and decided on the colours based on nothing more than my current personal taste. The final element was an icon to fit the name.

It’s here the Twitter comparisons really come in I guess. I don’t think it’s all that similar, or at least it’s no more similar than any other vector bird. Nils Geylen has kindly provided a comparison which puts this better than I can. (Thanks Nils.) Thing is, the two birdies have very similar histories: They are from the same place.

The Twitter bird imagery, on the home page at least, is from iStockPhoto, and is mostly by Simon Oxley of idokungfoo. The Birdie, um, birdie, is taken from iStockPhoto illustrations by Freelance Bloke. Take a look at Twitter’s here and Birdie’s here.

So there you have it. It’s all very flattering to be compared to such a good brand, and though I resent the rip accusation a bit I know it’s not true. There is also quite a long story about how I got my particular icon, but it’s too long and dull to get into here. Anyway, you know what they say – there is no such thing as bad publicity!

Have a tweet tip? Share it with us.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

How to Increase Twitter Followers: Putting Twitter in Your Marketing ToolBox

Online marketing. It’s very important to know your numbers. For marketers, especially Internet or online marketing professionals, analytics is an absolute must-have. But while your own numbers can tell you a lot about where you need to improve, looking at the wider market analysis and trends can quickly point out where the big holes are in your marketing strategy. If you’re not targeting your products or services to the 45-and-older demographics, you may be leaving a lot of cash on the table.

Here’s the problem. Many think of the younger generations as being web savvy. You know, the Gen-X and Gen-Y demographics. This is definitely true. However, the latest numbers may surprise you. In the post called “Generations Online in 2009“, Sydney Jones, Research Assistant, and Susannah Fox, Associate Director, of Pew Internet & American Life Project, reported on the latest trends of online activities of different age groups by specific activities. While you can go there and read the complete article, here are a few things online marketing professionals can take some action on immediately based on the numbers. All graphics courtesy of PewResearch.org.

Below is the definition of generations as segmented by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Internet use and email

While the younger generations (Gen-X and Gen-Y in the 18-44 age groups) dominate Internet use, older folks are actually getting more involved. At 22% (ages 45-54) and 13% (ages 55-63) for a total of 35%, older Internet users are coming on strong and are expected to continue to push this trend in the future.

There’s no surprise here as we’re really looking at the group of Boomers. With modern advancements, life expectancies continue to increase and people stay active for many years longer, further contributing to the growth of Boomers’ presence on the web.

With respect to email usage, the tendency is also similar. While the younger users prefer instant messaging, social networking, and blogging as their communications tools of choice, email are still the most popular application among older Internet users.

So without knowing these facts, many may not realize the following:

• A third of Internet users are above the age of 45. And the trend is continuing upward, not downward.
• Though the exact numbers can be argued, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that peak earning years of U.S. male workers are now between the ages of 45 and 54 (1999 data). That’s exactly the leading group of this 35% older Internet users.
• If you’re not marketing to this group on the Internet and via emails, you’re missing out.
• The point: Don’t forget the 45-and-above demographic!

Tool for research, shopping and banking

While fully 80% of Gen-Xers continue to lead in online shopping, noted the study, the 45-and-above crowd prefer information research (mainly health care and other products), shopping and banking. And even though still trailing behind younger generations in shopping, 56% of users ages 64-72, and 47% ages 73 and older do in fact buy products online. However you look at it, these are pretty big numbers.

In the online banking segment, both Gen X and Gen Y maintain their high rate of activity to manage their day-to-day spending and finances online. And as these users grow older, they will effectively take their habits with them into the older age groups. Again

• The point: Are you prepared for the 45-and-above demographic?

Video downloads, online travel reservations and work-related research

What about these other online activities like video downloads, travel reservations and work-related research? Well an interesting trend emerges here. According to the study,

Generations on the oldest end of the spectrum also became significantly more likely than they had been two years before to download videos. Some 13% of G.I. Generation internet users (age 73+) reported downloading videos, up from 1% in 2005, and another 13% of the online Silent Generation (ages 64-72) say they download videos, up from 8% in 2005.

If one looks at these “smaller” numbers in context, they are actually huge. Considering that the Internet concept itself never existed to these age groups during most of their life, the numbers really indicate that the older folks are not only already savvy with Internet technology and communication, but their numbers are increasing as well. And again when you further consider that the younger generations are growing older all the time, you’re looking at a growing market.

• The point: You need to target for the 45-and-above demographic!

Broadband Internet Access Tripled in Oldest Groups

Let’s take a look at the broadband Internet access in the homes in the U.S.A. This is an indication of the capability of the users to do more online. It really is an enabler, because without it, user experience (or the lack of it) will always keep the users away, resulting in limited Internet use and growth.

Recent technology advancements, and more affordable price points, have helped large growth in broadband install for home use across the board (see graph below). While there was a doubling of broadband access in the home between 2005 and 2008 for many age groups, the real kicker is the tripling of broadband access in the 65-and-older group. Again absolute numbers are probably small, but the growth is phenomenal.

• The point: Go ahead and market to the older demographics. They’re well-equipped and ready for you.

So online marketers, times may be bad and the economy may not recover for a while. But if you dig deep and make an honest assessment of your online marketing goals and strategies, you may find new and untapped opportunities right in front of you in the form of the 45-and-above customers. Like in any other market groups, just make sure you understand your customers, prepare the proper and targeted marketing messages to solve the customers’ real problems and needs, and you can position your organization for growth.

Share your experience with us. All comments and feedback are welcome.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Online Marketing Success: Don’t Forget the 45-and-Older Demographic