Marketing

Can Baby Boomers Be Marketed Successfully?

By
March 11, 2020

The Baby Boomer generation is too large of a marketing sector to be ignored. The largest generation thus far these 78 million people can and should be marketed. Unfortunately, only 10% of all marketing dollars are spent on this sector. Much of the efforts for many businesses go towards Generation Y (those who were born between 1979-1994); however, the people with the most disposable income are those who were born between 1946 -1964 and therefore, marketing departments are finally beginning to realize a shift in effort needs to be made immediately. Businesses should be putting more emphasis into marketing to those who have the most to spend and the time to spend.

Baby boomers represent 42% of all US households and control 50% of all spending. 1 Businesses should be working towards tailoring their marketing efforts to receive as much of the dollars as they can. By ignoring Baby Boomers, their market share will shrink instead of grow, as the baby boomer population is large in comparison to Generations X and Y and Seniors. Coupled with the fact that by the year 2010 one-third of the U.S. population will be over 50, therefore businesses not strategic in their plans to target the 50+ market are slowing suffocating their income potential. 2

The key to success in marketing the Baby Boomer generation is know what they want. Research shows that real estate sales and services; financial services; anti-aging and personal enrichment products; retirement recreation; and home health care are important to Baby Boomers. All of these services and products can and should be marketed to the Baby Boomers generation with emphasis on choices and selections in each category.

However, to make the process better, you can list out the benefits of the products and test it for yourself before going ahead with the project and putting it up for sales. Free sales tracking software allows you to manage leads and increase sales for no cost and this helps in increasing the fan base for the products.

To be successful, marketers must pay close attention to the five Cs, which are community, connections, continuity, contribution, and creativity. 3 People in the Baby Boomer generation may have lost certain identities. (For example, with their children grown, they are no longer active in PTA.) They are looking to connect with others who share their values and beliefs, and businesses can use this fact in their marketing efforts by creating affinities such as travel groups and passport savings clubs. It is important to use their language when speaking to them, using words that resonate with them such as “balance life and work” and “never too late.”3 Baby Boomers want to continue to grow and learn; they do not want to be labeled as old. They also want to feel like they can make a difference in the world. An example: A bank in Florida recently advertised that for every new account opened, they would donate $100 to the charity of the customer’s choice, a great way for Baby Boomers to help the community while filling a personal banking need. Baby Boomers want to be able to create their own packages to meet their needs instead of being marketed to as a homogenous group. Instead of offering a single vacation destination with an all inclusive package, a business would be better off offering a list options from which the customer can choose. By serving the needs of the Baby Boomers and focusing marketing efforts on Baby Boomers, businesses will achieve higher profits because Baby Boomers represent the most lucrative marketing sector thus far. Ignoring this fact will prove to be extremely detrimental to the overall financial success of a business.

Home

Selling a House: Removing Unpleasant Odors

By
March 11, 2020

Unpleasant odors in the house can have a negative effect on prospective buyers.

The larger issue at hand is how to determine what distinguishes a pleasant odor from an unpleasant one. As a general rule, rather than attempt to ferret out differences between pleasant and unpleasant odors, your best bet is to maintain an odor neutral environment. An odor neutral environment is one where you can’t detect any odors at all. Mold that grows in humid temperature can also cause this problem which is why before you sell your house make sure that you go for a mold inspection. That will improve the chance of you selling your house really quickly.

One of the main problems with this, however, is that it is often difficult for people to tell when they have an odor in their own homes. This is because people become accustomed to certain odors and to them, those odors begin to smell perfectly normal. Over time, they can even become unnoticeable, and therefore odor neutral, to them because they are so normal.

If you’re a smoker and you’re trying to sell your house, you may have a problem, at least selling it to a nonsmoker, unless you take proactive measures to eradicate any and all odors from your home. This includes changing the air filter in the air-conditioning system, keeping the air circulating as much as possible, and allowing fresh air from the outdoors to flow through when the weather permits. Because carpeting and furniture can absorb odors, you’ll also want to call a cleaning service that specializes in cleaning carpets and upholstery.

Air fresheners and deodorizers may also be helpful, especially if sprayed shortly before a buyer comes to see your home. Be careful not to overdo it though. It’s kind of like the guy you know down the hall at the office who always wears too much cologne. He thinks he smells great, but everyone else is keeping their distance.

Another major type of odor to be aware of is caused by pets. Pet odors include a dirty or musty smell from the dog himself, because he hasn’t had a bath since the day he was born, as well as from urinating and defecating in any place other than where he is supposed to. It is the latter of these two that can really create problems. If a pet has routinely taken care of business on the family room carpet, for example, the carpet and the pad underneath it may need to be replaced. Once urine soaks into absorbent material like carpeting, it’s difficult at best to remove the odor, especially if it’s been in there for a while. These unpleasant odors can potentially diminish the value of a home unless they are removed.

Other problem odors include musty or moldy smells from leaky basements, foul odors from backed up or leaky plumbing, and smoke from a wood-burning fireplace. Water leaks in a basement can generally be repaired without too much trouble, depending of course on the severity of the leak. Plumbing odors are often caused by a wax ring around the base of a toilet that is not sealing as it should be, or perhaps from a sink trap that is not operating properly. Common causes for fireplace odors include not having the flue open far enough while the fire is burning, and the accumulation of ashes in the firebox. These are minor problems and are usually fairly easy to resolve by either making the repairs yourself or by calling the appropriate professional.

Insurance

The Benefits of Renters' Insurance

By
March 11, 2020

Do you rent your current home? Are you in college right now? Maybe you’re just concerned about your personal possessions? Even if you feel like you don’t own enough personal possessions to consider renters insurance, you may be surprised at how quickly your CDs, televisions, DVD players or kitchen appliances can add up. Renters insurance may be what you need, and most policies can be customized to fit any budget. Moreover, this insurance is really vital for students that travel abroad to study. Do you travel without insurance? Then you can click here to get your travel insurance so that as you go out you do not have to worry about your renter’s insurance and other things. 

At this point, you may be asking yourself, do I need renters insurance? Well, you may be putting yourself through unnecessary financial risk without it. In most cases, renters insurance will replace your personal possessions in the event that they are stolen or damaged by natural disasters such as fire, hail or windstorms. It will also come in handy if you ever have to find a temporary place to live because your current apartment was damaged due to something beyond your control such as fires storms etc.

Renters insurance will also cover you in the event that someone is ever injured on your property or if someone were to slip or fall on your property and had to go to the hospital for treatment. In most cases, you can even be compensated for any Attorney costs that are incurred while you are defending yourself.

In most cases, your rental insurance will also cover you in the event that you were to cause damage to someone else’s property. For instance, if you were to leave your bath water running, and the water was to run downstairs, causing damage to your neighbor’s carpet, you would more than likely be responsible for all of the damages unless you happened to have renters insurance.

Renters insurance may also cover expenses for other incidents such as your property being stolen from your car or your suitcase being stolen while on vacation.

In most cases, renters insurance is very inexpensive, ranging around $10 to $25 a month or $100 to $300 a year for over $30,000 in coverage. The rate will depend on a few things such as, whether or not you have smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, etc. Other factors that may come into play are things like, the location of your home, and the construction of the building you’re currently living in Other things to take into consideration are the deductible amount that you are going to carry because this is one of the major things taken into consideration when determining your rate. Another important decision to consider is whether or not you are going to receive the actual cash value of your damaged or stolen belongings or, the replacement amount.

Renters insurance offers a lot of value for the money and allows you to cover your most treasured items in your home or apartment without breaking the bank.