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A new study out from Nielsen calls baby boomers the “most valuable generation” because they will control 70 percent of the disposable income in the U.S. in the next five years.
There are currently 80 million boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – in the U.S. today and the number of Americans 50+ is projected to grow by 34 percent by 2030. That means that within 20 years, half of Americans will be over the age of 50.
Boomers are also driving the growth of social networking – their usage has doubled to 42 percent in the past year. Currently, Nielsen reports that 53 percent of boomers are on Facebook and they use business-related social sites like LinkedIn at a much higher rate than the average American consumer.
Not surprisingly, the reason behind this (according to Nielsen) is that boomers use technology as a way to stay perpetually young. But you would be wrong to lump all boomers into one broad category.
For example, leading edge boomers (born 1946-55) are pre-retirement or have already retired. Trailing edge boomers (born 1956-64) are still working and earning. If you are an estate planning attorney, you would likely market your services differently to these two segments of the boomer population.
Boomers continue to be the “me” generation, and have become jaded to mass marketing – one of the reasons their use of social media is so high and growing. They now seek more personalization and customization, which places an increased demand on attorneys to personalize their law firm marketing communications with tools like e-newsletters, blogs and social media messaging.
For boomers, you have to always be answering the question, “What’s in it for me?”
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