Jim Gilmartin

Articles by Jim All articles by Jim

• Touch Boomers' Hearts And They'll Give You Their Minds in Engage:Boomers on 10/02/2017
  

  Information processing varies considerably across the life span. If you don't key your message to the information processing styles that generally characterize customers within a life stage, you'll likely fall short of achieving your objectives. The message must resonate with the cognitive styles of the objective targets of the message.

• Don't Put Ten Pounds Of Copy Into A Five-Pound Page  in Engage:Boomers on 09/11/2017
  

  Consider an ad picturing a man (perhaps in his late fifties or early sixties standing in the water on a beach with his pants rolled up above his ankles. He appears to be watching a sunset. The caption under the image read "Live the life you've imagined" (a quote by Henry David Theroux) followed by your company logo and a sentence telling the reader how your product can help them achieve their dream. The ad allows the reader to interpret the message based on his individual needs and desires. It's a good example of conditional vs. absolute product positioning, and the concept of less is more (not putting ten pounds of copy into a five-pound page).

• 10 Arrows For Your Quiver in Engage:Boomers on 08/24/2017
  

  The differences in customer motivations and decision processes between customers in the first and second half of life sometimes frustrate many marketers who have yet to figure out how to market to Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964). Until the last decade, this was not a matter of serious concern because the young dominated the marketplace. The young are easier to sell to and analyze. Now, with approximately 109 million adults over the age of 50, marketers are being compelled to figure out the values and behavior of Baby Boomers.

• Know Your Customer in Engage:Boomers on 08/07/2017
  

  We have learned that today's customers control markets. They do so by zapping commercials and freely choosing what they will buy and from whom they will buy it. Also, most astute marketers understand that younger markets receive, perceive and dissect their messages differently. What many are not aware of is the differences crop up because of age-related changes in brain functions. As marketers' increase their insights into the aging mind and understand the age-related differences between customers in the first and second halves of life, their ability to connect will improve.

• Customer Myopia: Is The Boomer Customer King? in Engage:Boomers on 07/21/2017
  

  There is a Baby Boomer customer crisis in America, and many companies don't know it. The spoils will go to those companies who perceive the crises and out-connect and out-service their competitors.

• To Win Someone To Your Cause, You Must First Reach Their Heart in Engage:Boomers on 06/26/2017
  

  Steve Jobs once said, "The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller ..." Abraham Lincoln also said, "In order to win a man to your cause, you must first reach his heart, the great high road to his reason."

• Marketing To Boomer Women: Adding A Complementary Treatment in Engage:Boomers on 06/05/2017
  

  One of my favorite authors and presenters on marketing to women is Marti Barletta. Her publications, presentations and consulting expertise provide the definitive work on marketing to women and Boomer women. If your target is 50 to 70-year-old women, you may want to visit an article I wrote including Marti's thinking on marketing to women in general.

• If They Can't See It Or Read It, They Won't Buy It in Engage:Boomers on 05/01/2017
  

  Much research about the science of emotion has materialized in the last few decades, resulting in a shift in thinking about decision theories. The studies reveal that emotions constitute powerful, pervasive, and predictable drivers of decision making. Across different fields, significant regularities appear in the mechanisms through which emotions influence judgments and choices. This conclusion represents the learnings from the past 35 years of research on emotion and decision making. It is likely you agree; if you do not agree, perhaps you should consider learning more.

• What We've Learned About Marketing To Baby Boomers - Part IV in Engage:Boomers on 04/03/2017
  

  Research has shown that customers' final decisions are not the direct product of the reasoning process; in fact, emotions drive Baby Boomers in their purchase decisions. The reasoning process will confirm their decision, but it doesn't start there.

• What We've Learned About Marketing To Baby Boomers - Part III in Engage:Boomers on 03/06/2017
  

  There are many perspectives on how to effectively market to Baby Boomers. We've shared several in Part I and II of this series. We believe we can roughly divide Baby Boomer behavior perspectives into two approaches. The first emphasizes the objectivity of science and that the customer is considered a rational decision maker. In contrast, the subjective or emotional approach stresses the customer's individual experience and the idea that Baby Boomer behavior is subject to multiple interpretations rather than one explanation only.

Comments by Jim All comments by Jim

• Know Your Customer by Jim Gilmartin (Engage:Boomers on 08/07/2017)
  

  Neil, it appears you've missed the point of the article. As we age, our values and motivators are manifested differently. If your interested in securing and retaining customers in the fall and winter of life, the tips will be helpful. Jim

• To Win Someone To Your Cause, You Must First Reach Their Heart by Jim Gilmartin (Engage:Boomers on 06/26/2017)
  

  Thanks, Jim. Point well made. My thoughts aren't designed to replace but to suppliment the "Gold Standards" of productive marketing.

• What We've Learned About Marketing To Baby Boomers - Part III by Jim Gilmartin (Engage:Boomers on 03/06/2017)
  

  Thanks Lori, always an honor to receive a compliment from you. One more article completes the series.Jim

• Influencer Marketing For Boomers: It's About Experience, Not Marketing by Stephen Reily (Engage:Boomers on 02/13/2017)
  

  Stephen's points are on the mark.  As overall consumer demand shrinks and companies look for new segments of growth, the Baby Boomer women consumer represents a significant opportunity now and in the long term. But, marketing to women doesn’t mean think “pink.” It means you have to understand who they are and that a 55-year-old woman is not simply a 30-year-older version of her 25-year-old self. Getting Baby Boomer women to join your brand is not one single step. There is no magic bullet. It's a systematic rethinking of how you present your plan to women consisting of dozens of subtle shifts and fine alterations. Boomer women want you to speak to their heads and to their hearts. And, if you’re successful, women will deliver more profit to you through being loyal and making more referrals. They want you to understand them. To recognize their needs, values and dreams. They don’t want to do business with a person that condescends to them. They don’t want to be inconvenienced, made to wait, argue or defend themselves. Moreover, women are three times more likely as men to recommend brands when they know friends are looking for a particular product or service. Although men’s brains are wired differently, if you meet the needs of women you’ll most likely meet the demands of men. But not the other way around.

• Holding Out For A Hero: Average Joes & Josephines by Lori Bitter (Engage:Boomers on 12/19/2016)
  

  On target, as usual, Lori. Marketers that only focus on age, income, and so forth, are not connecting with a significant portion of these populations. They should pay attention to the first sentence of the last paragraph.

• Tiny Living For The Not-so-small Life by Lori Bitter (Engage:Boomers on 10/17/2016)
  

  Great insights and a harbinger of things to come.

• People Make All Purchase Decisions by Jim Gilmartin (Engage:Boomers on 09/06/2016)
  

  Hi Pete, Thanks for the kudos. The point I was making in “Deliver objective information at a slow-to-moderate pace. Avoid jumping around on the issue. Maintain a steady equilibrium as you speak. Ask many open-ended questions that start the customer talking” was to caution a staccato approach to the conversation.  Jim  

• Mr. Garfield In The Echo Chamber With A Microphone by Bob Garfield (Garfield at Large on 08/08/2016)
  

  Why bother, indeed! Most Americans absorb media that supports and validates their current beliefs.

• Women STILL Hate Wall Street - Just When They Need It Most by Stephen Reily (Engage:Boomers on 06/13/2016)
  

  Stephen is on the mark as usual. However, little understanding of how to connect better with women has spread far beyond Wall  Street as evidenced by many surveys, reports and whitepapers on the subject.

• Have We Overrated The Millennial Consumer? by Albert Luk (Engage:Boomers on 06/09/2016)
  

  Can't attest to the 500% stat or the generalities of Baby Boomer purchase habits, but the essence of the article is sound. We marketers "tend to trend" often. Remember the old cliché about the bank robber Willy Sutton. When asked "why do you rob banks?" he replied, "That’s where the money is." The big money is typically in the pockets of Boomers.

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