One thing is certain everybody gets older by the second, minute, hour, day, week, month, and year. As we live, we travel through various life stages from infant to senior adulthood. How well we live or take care of ourselves in the preceding stage will help us to fair better in the next.
Addressing or serving people according to their life stage is not a new concept. Marketers use this technique routinely to get consumers to purchase products or to use services depending on age, sex, race, lifestyles, and personal preferences. When marketing financial services, senior citizens for example, are less likely to take big risks when investing in the stock market. A young married couple, however, may want to gamble on riskier investments to build a future nest egg for a new house or to establish a college fund for their children. Therefore advertising to these two distinct markets would be quite different. But one thing is certain---marketers should not pass up the opportunity to use one of the most valuable tools at their fingertips---demographics.
Marketing to a specific demographic group is key to understanding the needs of individuals as they progress through various life stages. Demographics are particularly important to advertising executives when marketing brand name items like Centrum vitamins or Nike sportswear. Yet, life stage marketing goes far beyond demographics to explore how consumers change their buying or spending habits as they grow older, raise children, have greater or less leisure time, or perhaps change their marital status. For example, teenagers generally buy merchandise in order to "belong" or to be accepted among their peers; while the 60-something generation may use a product or service because it's more effective or because of its economic value.
Another interesting trend is how retailers ask a consumer for their phone number or zip code before merchandise is rung up at a cash register. Not only can marketing experts determine your demographics, but they can also determine what's valuable to you as a consumer simply by the products you purchase from books to household items.
Extension personnel are natural marketers. Educational programs are generally designed to meet the needs of a specific demographic group. But are demographics enough? Do you really know what's important to your clients as a result of their life stages? It might be well worth the effort to take a closer look at the people you serve and what matters to them the most. Not only should programs be educational, they should also be effective enough to carry your clients from one stage of life to the next.
Extension's 2005 Annual Family Conference will further explore this "life stage" concept. Stay tuned for more information.
References Acxiom Corporation. (2005). Use segmentation to turn site selection into a strategic marketing weapon. Retrieved January 7, 2005.
Payne, Martin. (Autumn 2003). Talking about my generation. Pool, Issue 24.
SRI Consulting Business Intelligence. (April 1999). Risk tolerance and life-state marketing in financial services. Vol. IV, No. 3.