https://www.searchenginejournal.com/digital-marketing-seniors/420174/#close

The article above provides insight into a growing opportunity to leverage digital marketing more effectively for senior citizens. While seniors may be perceived as less technologically savvy on a relative basis, the article points out how 94% of consumers from 55-64 use the internet at home, and of 65+ 77% use the internet at home. Furthermore, seniors 50 and older make up 51% of consumer spending and are generally more loyal customers, making them a valuable segment to purpose.

I found the article interesting because I would have naively considered senior citizens as less likely to be tech-leaning brand adopters. However, the article explains some interesting use cases which discuss how seniors actually have superior benefits as targets of digital marketing than others. For example, while seniors may be less informed of current trends, their lack of education presents an opportunity for brands to provide content about a valuable product or service which can alleviate challenges in their lives (1 in 3 baby boomers  use you tube to learn about a product or service). A bank for example, can leverage off-line relationships to establish some brand loyalty, and then strengthen that loyalty with targeted marketing to encourage  online banking to alleviate the time required to visit a bank in person.

I always thought of digital marketing as something that was done “in addition to” using the internet for other functional purposes (communicating, research, etc). This  illustrates that digital marketing can actually serve a unique purpose and provide incremental awareness and utility to consumers relative to what they would been able to leverage off-line.