Internet Marketing to Boomers

I spoke yesterday at the National Association of Homebuilder’s 50+ Housing Symposium in Philadelphia, PA. I was honored to speak with Janis Ehlers of The Ehlers Group and Josh Shron of Stampless Marketing. We spoke on how to balance high tech and high touch marketing to active adult homebuyers. After the presentation, I had the opportunity to walk the exhibit floor and filmed a quick video with some tips that might help you market to boomers more effectively.

Tip #1 – Recognize and capitalize on the fact that boomers are online in a BIG way. In 1999, only 28% of adults ages 50 – 75 were active Internet users. By 2008, 62% are online and it is safe to say that boomers are the fastest growing online audience and most often ignored.

Tip #2 – The number one Internet activity for boomers is email and search is number two. Boomers regularly use search engines to research products and services that intend to buy. With search so widely used among boomers, it is imperative that boomers find your homes in the search engines when they research active adult communities.

Tip #3 – Three tactics to boost your search engine positioning include: 1) Paid Search, 2) Search Engine Optimization and 3) Social Media. You should evaluate each one and compare its merits against your marketing and sales goals and timetable. It may be that only one of three is right for your project or perhaps a combination of all three.

Tip#4 – Let the Web put the “life” into “lifestyle”. Janis Ehlers of The Ehlers Group said this yesterday during our presentation and it crystallized what the Web does best! On your Web site use a combination of professional video and amateur “YouTube” quality videos to bring the community to life. A great example of using video online can be found on The Villages Web site. Almost every page has a video testimonial pertaining to the topic on that page.

If you would like to get more tips, Meredith’s portion of the presentation is available as a podcast. Click on the link to listen 50Symposium_HighTechMarkBoomers_042909 [20:42]

Enjoy!

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