I’ve encountered the subject of the differences among generations in a few things I’ve read recently. One was a book called Marketing to People Not Like You (you can read my Executive Book Summary), but let start with a newsletter I received with a focus on clash points at work, highlighting the differences between “Geeks and Geezers” from a colleague of mine at Executive Power, a business coaching and consulting firm.
Geeks and geezers references baby boomers and generation X and Y “co-mingling” in the workplace right now (due to the economy, boomers are working longer and of course X&Y are looking to move up the ladder while new grads are fighting for entry-level positions). Technology, particularly social media, are causing the great divide, as I call it. Generation X, Y and beyond are mastering it while boomers are more comfortable with old-school ways of communication.
In the book, the author’s offering on how to gain sales, profits, and customer loyalty is to market to people not like you via narrowcasting: Learning about a very targeted market and communicating to them “frequently, richly, and relevantly.” She breaks down generational differences with a snapshot of matures, boomers, and gen X/Y/Z. Think gen Y’s iconic entertainer: Black-Eyed Peas, boomer’s HH income: just under 60K, mature’s defining idea: duty, gen X’s style: entrepreneur—and bringing us full circle—gen Z’s absolute obsession with technology.
In our own marketing, we’ve built onto the recent launch of our social media program with the addition of Facebook and Twitter in what we call “phase 2 SM,” which included beefing up our LinkedIn presence.
Phase 3? We’re not there yet, but if it’s an efficient and effective means to building relationships and consistently send the message that CL&D Digital’s digital packaging printing expertise we’ll be looking into it.
