Marketing To Seniors
Relationships matter when marketing to seniors
The days of cold calling seniors with any amount of success are nearly gone. Most direct mail is more successful at killing trees than getting a strong return on investment and often seminar marketing is merely an exercise in proving that there is a free lunch. So what are the successful techniques when it comes to marketing to seniors?
Seniors have had a lifetime of advertising, marketing and sales pitches directed toward them. In short, they have heard it all. By far, the best approach when it comes to marketing to seniors, is to develop a relationship first and then get permission to share your offer. Let’s explore some of the ways that relationships can be successfully developed.
Relationship building by proxy
One of the oldest and easiest ways to build a relationship is with a referral from a trusted source. With a referral, you already have something in common with your prospect, that being the person granting the referral. There’s a good chance that that your referral partner has already built a relationship with the prospect and you can benefit from that good will.
One benefit of getting a referral is that you have a higher conversion rate compared to cold marketing. The problem with referrals is that there never seems to be enough of them. Joining a networking group can help you generate more referrals but often individuals in networking groups target such a diverse group of prospects that they may never interact with your target market.
The best type of networking group for senior services professionals, is a group where all members have seniors as their target market. A good example of this type of group is the Senior Resources Roundtable which has groups in Coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
All members of the Senior Resources Roundtable offer products and services that are directed towards seniors. Members pay nominal membership dues and all money goes for the benefit of the group. Marketing to seniors can be cost effective with this type of networking group. This business model is quite different from some national networking groups that are more about the franchisee earning a living.
Start the conversation with free information
Everyone appreciates something free, especially if it have a high perceived value. I’m not talking about cheap calendars or pill organizers. Remember. seniors have seen it all. If you can offer information on a topic important to them or solve a problem with a free report ot mini-course, you have opened the door to a relationship. If you are an insurance agent, for example, you may offer a free mini-course on Medicare plans. If you are a Reverse Mortgage professional you could offer them a booklet or DVD on reverse mortgages. If you budget is tight, maybe a referral to a website on Reverse Mortgages that offers valuable information would earn you some good will. Keep in mind that marketing to seniors is a process not an event.
Social media and article marketing
Recently I have read some articles where the author believed that social media really wasn’t marketing and would probably not result in attracting senior clients. I disagree. Remember marketing to seniors is a process, not an event. You would be mistaken to believe that seniors are not using Facebook and other social media sites. Links on these sites to your website or blog are one way to start the conversation.
Published articles online are often ranked well in the search engines and found when one of your clients searches for a product or service. All articles should contain a link to your website where you can offer something free or start the converstion. If you are not offering a free report, make sure that your site contains a RSS feed so your prospects can subscribe.
The easiest way to get started is to set up an account at HubPages.♦ Creating an account takes about two minutes and once set up you can post articles with a link to your site. Each article is a unique HubPage and you can publish as many as you would like.
These are just a couple of ideas of ways to start the conversation and develop relationships when you would like to attract senior clients. And remember, marketing to seniors is a process not an event.
♦ (FTC disclosure) Website owner earns a referral commission.
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Most people don’t think that Seniors are savy enough to understand the internet and use it as a resource. To get into the hearts and minds of the seniors we have to look at them as people who are in the prime of their lives. They really are open to all sorts of opportunities and products. We must remember that they want to do business with people who they feel share their values and that they trust.