When it comes to getting leads, you use many marketing techniques to approach different audiences. One of those techniques is likely generational marketing. While it can be a very beneficial tool to help you get leads, it can also be a bit tricky, because stereotyping can be difficult to avoid. In this week’s Need-A-Lead blog, we discuss four important tips designed to help you avoid the use of stereotypes in generational marketing.
Need-A-Lead offers high-quality lead generation campaigns to help you get high-quality leads that grow your business, allow you to achieve your sales goals, and frankly, produce the level of income you desire. With our years of experience in marketing to seniors, we understand the practices that work best to make prospecting easy! Read this week’s Need-A-Lead blog post to learn more about generational marketing and how to avoid stereotypes when using it, and contact us today to get leads for your company!
What Is Stereotyping?
Let’s begin by discussing what exactly stereotypes are. A stereotype is a mistaken belief or idea about a person or group of people based on how they look from the outside. These ideas may be partly true, or they may be completely false.
Stereotyping can not only be offensive to people, but it can also turn them away from your company altogether, which is why you always want to make an effort to avoid it.
What Is Generational Marketing?
Generational marketing is a type of marketing technique that allows you to market to a specific generation based on their preferences, attitudes, and upbringings, which distinguishes them from other groups.
While this type of marketing can be effective, they often include stereotypes. This is because we tend to assume that a single generation has all the same attitudes, preferences, upbringings, etc., when in reality, they do not. Some of the assumptions we may make in relation to certain groups of people can be offensive or off-putting, and can therefore damage your brand’s reputation.
For instance, if you create a marketing campaign that states that baby boomers aren’t tech savvy just because they were born before modern-day technology was around, you may be jeopardizing your engagement and your reach in relation to this group of people.
How Can You Avoid Stereotyping in This Type of Marketing?
Now that you’re aware of the negative effects caused by stereotyping in generational marketing, you’re probably wondering how to combat it. Our team at Need-A-Lead has a few important suggestions for you.
1: Do Your Research
One of the most common reasons that we perpetuate stereotypes in the context of generations is a lack of knowledge. If we’ve been told something about a particular generation and haven’t cared to look into it further, it’s likely that we will continue to hold those ideas and beliefs until we’re given information that proves otherwise.
When it comes to lead generation for seniors, you’re going to want to do your research. Take the time to learn more about what kinds of values this generation holds close. Understand what about your product or service they could truly benefit from based on common issues or wants throughout that group. The important thing is to keep an open mind and to conduct a wide range of research, instead of just honing in on a small portion of that group.
Stereotypes are not based on facts, they are based on conjecture. So, if you complete thorough research about the generation you’re marketing to, you’re much less likely to include information that is untrue or that may be offensive to some viewers.
2: Avoid One-Size-Fits-All Approaches
Even with quality research, it’s still possible to make offensive stereotypes, but avoiding blanket statements can help. A blanket statement tends to group every member of a generation into one. For instance, saying something like “Baby boomers weren’t around when online ordering came about, so none of them know how to do it.” That’s a completely false statement, seeing as many baby boomers know plenty about technology — just look at Bill Gates.
3: Implement Diversity Training
As humans, we often get so caught up in our own lives that we forget to take the time to learn more about other people, and this can lead to stereotyping. That’s why, at Need-A-Lead, we recommend conducting diversity training.
This can help your employees get a better understanding of the true desires, beliefs, feelings, status, etc. about the group that you are aiming to market to.
4: Get Creative — Role Play
An important part of getting rid of stereotypes is identifying ones that currently exist. We suggest trying out a role play scenario, where one person asks another to treat them as a member of a particular generation. Ask them to project how they think someone in that group would talk and interact. By verbalizing and acting it out, they will likely quickly see that some of the assumptions they are making are completely false.
Choose Need-A-Lead for Your Lead Generation Campaigns
Marketing can be tough, but our team at Need-A-Lead is here to support you. We offer direct mail lead generation and prospecting lists for the senior market. Whether you need leads for annuities, Medicare supplement, final expense, or anything in between, we can assist you.
Reach out to our team of professionals today to discuss our services or to set up an appointment with us! We look forward to helping your business grow.