Multi-Generational Marketing: Targeting Generation X

By Jill Wangler, Director of Marketing

In full disclosure on this post, I am a smack-dab-in-the-middle Generation Xer. At 46 million in the US alone, we are actually dwarfed by the sheer numbers of the Boomers (80 million) and Millennials (76 million). But that’s not to say we aren’t a force to be reckoned with. Our spending power amounts to about $125 billion annually; not pocket change.

So, if you peddle technology, leisure products, fashion, time-saving products and services, fitness, etc., understand what makes this audience tick!

Molded by years of discredited institutions and authority figures, this group is skeptical and hard to impress. They value a balance life, are self-reliant, question convention, and are very educated.

 

Things to think about in designing your marketing strategy:

• Provide information and any rules or strict guidelines; they’ll figure it out.
• Leverage technology wherever and whenever you can.
• Personalize the communications (make it authentic) and ask for (and respond to) their feedback and suggestions.
• Give them multiple ways to respond, react, and interact with your brand.
• You might need to invest more in the frequency of your message, given their reluctance to be brand loyal.

So, tactically, how could this look for your marketing program? Consider messages around:

• Convenience and saving time and money
• Support to the family and quality of life
•  Options: “Do it your way”

Appropriate media choices include direct mail, targeted television programming, radio, Internet, email, social events, and word of mouth.

Stay tuned for our final recap from our recent Fineline University: marketing to the Millennials.

For your free Fineline Generational Marketing Guide, inquire here.