Writing Websites: Knowing your buyer’s cohort can be a sale or no sale

This is an update on a blog we wrote about a year ago discussing part 2 of age cohorts. As a refresher, there are three major age cohorts or groups that must be taken into account when developing branding and corporate identity solution as well as writing websites. They are:

• Baby Boomers born 1946 – 64¹
• Gen Xers born 1965 – 76
• Generation Y/Millenium² born 1977 – 94

¹ Often baby boomers are separated into two groups: Boomer I (born 1946 – 1954) and Boomer II (born 1955 – 1964)

² Millennial – adults who reach the age of 21 just before or just after the turn of the millennium.

Before reading the full list below on Gen X and Gen Y, we will be listing recent findings on these two generations that are not listed below. Let us begin:

Gen X Updates

• 37% of Gen Xers have a fear that they will not be able to meet their financial goals.
• Gen Xers tend to be business thinkers and results-oriented, so they will most likely let you figure out how to do your job rather than tell you what to do.
• They grew up questioning everything. So don’t be surprised when they start listing the pros and cons of a great idea.

Gen Y Updates

• Millennials believe that the majority of businesses are focused on their own agendas instead of helping advance society.
• Being Web-savvy, millennials tend to look at blogs before they make a purchase decision, instead of rely on TV news, magazines, and books.
• At the core of most Gen Y’s is the need to grow themselves and attain goals.
• Millennials also have an easy time voicing their opinions.

The following consist of sound bites and statements about Gen X and Gen Y that we’ve previously mentioned:

Gen X to Gen excel: No Slacking Here

• Take-control, independent-minded, pragmatic mentality which aided by a booming economy has effectively shed all resemblance of a decade old image of slackers.
• In the process of building careers, buying houses, and preparing to people them with god-knows-what generation.
• Conservative and sensible in all matters pecuniary.
• Gen eXcel is exercising maturity and prudence.
• As a generation, they are averse to divorce.
• Homes are considered a symbol of their individuality, rather than their status symbols.
• Predominately they are looking for a particular look and that look can be provided by a multitude of brands.
• They have sharp and discriminating taste that freely adapts and subverts existing fashions and brands while meeting hip fashions and individualizing. In other words, your basic postmodern portrait.
• They saw job security and corporate loyalty fly out the window, they are the workers most likely to leave the company they are with if they receive a better job offer.
• They are unwilling to sacrifice their personal lives on the corporate altar.
• They favor work that offers variety and enhances their own skill set while allowing them to learn.
• They are entrepreneurial and want to direct themselves.
• They yen for teamwork and are accustomed to collaboration and enjoy being part of a team.
• Being told what to do damages their morale, but being allowed to find their own solution and make their own mistakes is very rewarding to them.
• They are equally accustomed to working for male and female bosses and show diminished concern for gender issues in the workplace.
• Businesses must provide accurate depictions in their media – appeal to the eXcels’ individuality and their aspirations.
• Humor, particularly sarcasm, is a favorite of theirs.
• Anything irreverent has good shot at stirring their sympathies and maybe their loyalties. An amusing story with a great punch line and a good laugh is one way to do it. Offbeat, slightly off-color humor is often advised.
• Campaigns that target the eXcels should strongly consider nontraditional approaches.
• They have abandoned the typical hierarchical mentality in favor of equality – in other words, they expect others, even their bosses, to treat them as equals.
• They describe the Internet as a means of escape and mental stimulation, as well as a way of gathering specialized information.
• They are the first generation that said “What’s init for me?”
• Their rules:
• Is it Hip/Cool? Is it Original? Is it Flashy? Is it New? Is it Creative? Is it my Community? Is it Me? Is it Sexy? Can I see myself in the message? Is it Honest? Is it Fun?, Is it Interactive? Is it Cynical? Does It Show I have Style? Is it Humorous? Is it Real?
• Does it show I am one smart, brave, bad-ass success?
• The Xers have managed to usher in the “alternative” to everything.
• Unbelievably smart, they are savvy and pragmatic and exchange information as bargaining chips.
• They refuse to adhere to any road map and can turn on a dime to acquire a new strategy or skill set to win with.

Generation Y: Coming Right at You (at Warp Speed)

• Although still evolving, this generation’s emotional palette and passions are entirely unique.
• They are going faster and doing more than any previous generation.
• Activities that absorb them fully do it through demanding and concisely packed content.
• When trying to reach this generation, advertising needs to be brief and sans fluff.
• Never talk down to this generation as kids. They have developed responsibility and awareness early in life.
• Most not underestimate the sophistication of this generation.
• Demonstrates an unprecedented sensitivity to global issues, such as poverty, war, environmentalism, as well as race, gender, or sexual orientation discrimination issues.
• They hold civic responsibility in high regard and whereas their Boomer parents fought to topple society, today’s youth would rather fix it up.
• The internet may not, despite the hype, necessarily be the foremost venue of the Generation Y’s consumer demands. But because of the internet they can freely and independently of their parents develop their own tastes.
• Generation Y enjoys using the Internet as a social space. However, until now they have shown a dislike for shopping on the Internet.
• This generation craves a more direct interactivity and sensorial experience in marketing.
• For this generation, ten seconds is often too long. Their desire for immediate gratification is frustrated by the delays of slow-loading web pages and weeklong shipping waits.
• Promotional events are gaining popularity in marketing this generation.
• This generation will tell us what they want, goal is to listen.

A basic requirement for providing integrated marketing services is knowing the persona of your targeted buyers. To help develop your buyers’ personas, download the free template, Creating Buyer Personas, to assist you in creating and documenting target buyer personas.

This will help you create your persona by:

• Asking the right questions during your persona interviews and surveys
• Format your persona research in a compelling way
• Present your new, finalized buyer persona to your company

Remember, in order to develop branding and corporate identity solutions as well as start writing websites for the appropriate age cohorts, you will need to understand their different buyer’s personas.