Common sense tells us that if you truly want to improve your direct mail response rate and get the right message in front of the right person at exactly the right moment, you need to know as much about who you’re talking to as you possibly can. That, in essence, is what generational marketing is all about. As the name suggests, this is a particular type of targeted mailing technique that places a priority on someone’s age as it relates to the buying group they fall into.
It’s an incredibly effective form of list segmentation, but it does require you to keep a few key things in mind.
Generational Marketing: Breaking Things Down
These days, the majority of the buying public falls into just three generations: the Baby Boomers, the Gen Xers and the Millennials. Therefore, it makes sense to laser focus your efforts on these key areas.
The Boomers are a no-nonsense generation, but they’re also one that is somewhat easily distracted. The former is a part of their upbringing in post World War II America, and the latter has to do with aging. Because of this, you need to make sure your messaging comes through crystal clear. Get right to the point, lean heavily on white space, go easy on the images and make sure that your core message is in a nice, easily legible font.
Gen Xers, on the other hand, are busy people. Therefore, you need to grab their attention as quick as you can. By and large, the customers in this generation love a good deal so this is where you’ll want to focus a lot of your efforts in terms of promotions, referral offers and similar types of bonuses.
Millennials have proven themselves to value social issues above almost everything else – even economics. Therefore, you need to frame your messaging around something they really care about. Don’t lead with your products and services. Lead with how you do your part to help your community and then work your way back to the product. Customer testimonials and similar techniques also work wonders with Millennials because again, nothing is more important to them than that social element.
If you’d like to find out more information about the finer points of general marketing, or if you’d just like to learn more about how techniques like list segmentation can help kick your next direct mail campaign into high gear, please don’t delay – contact us today.
