Boomer women

Women’s Travel Trends for 2018

In 2018—the year of the woman—women have the power to do anything. That includes traveling if they wish, and they really do wish. According to the George Washington University School of Business, nearly two-thirds of today’s travelers are women. In fact, 80% of all travel decisions are made by women, regardless of who they’re traveling with, who’s paying for the trip, and where they’re traveling to. Many of those women traveled solo, with 73% of travel agents saying women are more likely to travel on their own than men.

Following are some women’s travel trends for 2018 that marketers should understand in order to capture this critical travel market. More

Put Boomer Women on Your “Nice” List This Holiday Season

boomer women

Today, every fifth adult in the United States is a female over 50. They are the healthiest, wealthiest and most active generation of women in history who control half of the country’s discretionary income and 75% of the country’s wealth. That’s a lot of spending power for one generation of women. It’s a mystery why marketers ignore Boomer women, even during the holidays, but ignore them they do.

During the holiday season, this generation of women likes nothing more than to spoil their families. They buy food to create memorable family meals, and gifts for family members, spending a collective $35 billion on grandchildren alone. It seems clear that marketers would target this group as much as any other. Instead, they spend less than 10% of their holiday marketing budgets targeting Boomers. It’s time for marketers to put Boomer women on their “nice” list this holiday season. More

Marketing to Mothers In the Sandwich

Mom in the Sandwich I recently read an article by Liz O’Donnell about marketing to “mothers in the sandwich,” those women who are caring for their parents while also raising their children and trying to balance careers. Life in the sandwich raises unique challenges for these women, but also provides unique opportunities for those products, services and businesses that support these women. I should know, because I am one of those mothers in the sandwich.

These women are busy, savvy (they need to be; they are managing crises, averting crises, and solving problems every day), and influential. As Liz notes, they’re making health care decisions for three generations, managing money for three generations, consuming services for three generations, and purchasing products for three generations.

So whether it’s car services to transport seniors to medical appointments and children safely to afterschool activities, or errand and meal delivery service, these women have purchasing power that shouldn’t be ignored. Marketers would be wise to listen to them, support them, and help solve their problems. For that, they’ll be rewarded with a lifetime of loyalty.

The Importance of Boomer Women to the U.S. Economy

Eileen Fisher Markets to Boomer Women

Boomer Women and the U.S. Economy

Boomer women control more than half of the nation’s discretionary income and three-fourths of the country’s financial wealth. The youngest of these super consumers are turning 50 this year, and over the next two decades their ranks will swell with the force of a tsunami. So why do marketers continue to ignore them?

That is the subject of Boomer Women: The Invisible Goldmine released today by Girlpower Marketing.

Download the free white paper here.

Today’s Boomer women are vibrant and young. They are much more media savvy and financially independent than their predecessors. Yet 91 percent of Boomer women surveyed feel that marketers ignore or don’t understand them.The primary problem is that marketers believe these consumers are no longer relevant, and are locked into brands that they fell in love with decades ago. That is simply not true. In fact, research shows that these women are just as likely to switch brands as their children.

In a recent survey of Boomer women conducted by Girlpower Marketing, 64.2 percent admitted to saying goodbye to a product because they felt they were being ignored by the brand. Brands that respondents felt have done a good job speaking to them include Eileen Fisher, Dove, L’Oreal, Cadillac, Olay, Amazon, Target and Avon.

The days of Boomer women being ignored by marketers are numbered. More than any generation before, these women know their own power and won’t be marketed to in a disingenuous way. Trillions of dollars are at stake as marketers begin to discover the unexpected consumer gold mine that these women are.

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake

We’re huge fans of Anna Quindlen and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use her genius book title in a blog post. We love that she celebrates the concept of lots of candles, when practically all of America runs from it. So what’s the book about? It’s a memoir with the Pulitzer Prize winning author writing about looking back and ahead—and celebrating it all—as she considers marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, faith, loss, all the stuff in our closets, and more. Using her past, present, and future to explore what matters most to women at different ages, Quindlen serves up generous portions of her wise, commonsensical take on life.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Marketing to Women: Life After Mommyblogging

Marketing to Mommybloggers

It’s nice to be validated by the Harvard Business Review! As we’ve been saying, marketers seem to have missed – or ignored – the arrival of Boomers, particularly women boomers, online. What do these women want marketers to know? They want them to help women age well: it’s about looks, finance, dreams, work, parents and kids. As Morra Aarons-Mele points out, even the original cadre of “mommybloggers” have reached an age where their kids are older, and their lives and blog content are expanding to reflect that. The fullness of a woman’s life demands a 360-degree view from marketers; her interests cannot be contained to a narrow lens or a defined age group.

Check out this great read!

The Badass: Marketing to the Boomer Woman

Marketing to the Boomer Woman

Women Baby Boomers Have Money to Spend on Everything

Women baby boomers know their own strength – but brands are still having a hard time recognizing it.

Because I’m a baby boomer and specialize in the marketing-to-women space, I’m particularly conscious of how I’m treated by brands. I’m certainly not ready to be stored in the attic, and neither are my friends. Yet, as boomer women we’re continually marginalized by brand managers (primarily male) who don’t think any women of value exist over the age of 39. What they must realize is that those inconsequential 45+ women are the ones that have the most money to spend on everything from vacations, to new homes, and from cars to cosmetics. Some interesting statistics on the purchasing power of Boomer women:

The net worth of women ages 50 and older is $19 trillion. They own more than 3/4 of the U.S. financial wealth
Boomer women buy 65 percent of new cars, 91 percent of new homes, and 92 percent of travel
Boomer women spend more than $55 billion per year on consumer electronics
Disposable incomes are highest for women aged 45-54
Boomer women are at the peak of their careers, and statistically are the least impacted by the recession
91 percent feel that marketers do not understand them

In addition, this group of women will experience the largest population growth over the next 10 years, and the largest transference of wealth from inheritances left by parents and husbands. Yet rarely if ever does one see a marketer’s target audience that extends beyond the age of 49 unless it’s for the senior market.

Brands Should Learn to Recognize the Badass that Is the Boomer Woman

Marketers and the media need to finally realize that the women most ignored are the ones who can do the most good in this economy. The time for patronizing ads and ignorance is long gone.

So marketers, take it from Katherine Hepburn: boomer women are older, but certainly not old. They’re strong, capable and generally pretty badass!

Marketing to Women: Baby Boomers and Beauty

We’ve spoken often about how women baby boomers are the most affluent consumer segment today; yet they are continually underrepresented or (worse yet) completely ignored by marketers. BOOMbox Network conducted a survey with women over the age of 45 to see how they feel about their beauty at this life stage. As the survey notes, it was no surprise to find respondents lamenting about how most beauty brands do a very poor job of communicating with them. Details of the findings are in the infographic below, but some highlights of the findings include:

For women over 50, hair is super important!

They feel more beautiful in midlife than when they were in their 20s

They do not believe most beauty product claims

They do not like the use of younger models or celebrities in advertising targeting them

They define beauty in terms of confidence

Beauty marketers, are you listening to these Baby Boomers?

Truths About Marketing to Moms

Marketing to Moms: A List of Truths

Recently Holly Pavlika shared her predictions for how marketers will attempt to engage moms. We’ve noted a few of them below:

Television, social media, and motherhood will recognize that they need each other. It’s already happening with blogger integration. Television is the second screen to her, and it will be interesting to see how apps like Zeebox, which integrates television shows and social media, will fare.

Technology and smartphones will become more and more a part of her life. Brands need to get ahead of the curve with mobile.

Brands will continue to try to reach moms through “pinked” and specially designed products. And they will fail miserably. Painting a product pink and adding glitter to something hardly raises its ability to effectively meet the buyer’s needs. To win her over, focus on features, benefits, providing value, and superlative customer service.

More and more advertising will feature moms. Until we want to scream. Advertising and marketing to moms is so blatant right now, it’s almost laughable. Brands will continue to think putting a mom in the picture will attract moms to listen their pitch. The emphasis should not be on “hey, mom,” messaging, but rather on recognizing whether or not moms really need the product in their lives.

We’ll see more growth in the Latina mom market. Brands need to get ready for her – she’s highly social, has huge spending power, and isn’t afraid to use her voice.

The Networked Mom will continue to adapt and use technology and social media to share ideas and connect with others. She loves the ability to share her passions and use her voice, and she will continue to be a primary focus of the media and marketers in 2013.

Photo courtesy of Episencial

Marketing to Women: Money Talks

The Financial Industry and Marketing to Women

Women control $8 trillion in assets in the U.S., and by 2020 are expected to control $22 trillion, according to TD Ameritrade. Consider these statistics:

89% of financial account openings are controlled by women

Women sign 80% of all checks, business and personal

Women take care of 75% of all family finances

66% of women maintain separate investment accounts from their spouses

27% of all millionaires are women

But while women like and need financial advice, they’re not so keen on the financial industry – having expressed that they find this industry the least responsive to their needs out of 32 industry sectors. So how can financial marketers get a piece of this lucrative market?

When marketing to women, the industry needs to understand that they view money and wealth in a different way than men. While men are much more competitive about money management, a woman’s end goal isn’t typically to accumulate money, but to improve her life and those of her family. Financial professionals who want to attract and retain female clients need to speak to women in the language that most appeals to them. For example:

Women like to connect and learn in communities, whether it’s in a casual home environment, or on social media channels

Women want to establish relationships with their advisors, and seek referrals from other women

While men address their finances in a more transactional way, women want to talk through their financial decisions

What have been your experiences with the financial industry? And marketers, are you communicating effectively to this important audience?

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