Small Business Boomers

Marketing to Boomers Because You Know What They Want

by jim on January 26th, 2007

This applies to all boomers in a small business regardless if it is a going concern, franchise or start-up.

Lately I see a number of business sites with articles on the market potential catering to the aging boomer market.  Adult diaper manufacturing could be really big.  Seriously, the boomer market has always been the pig in the python and our needs are changing.  A business that addresses any of the changing needs of our generation is certainly off on the right foot.

Who knows the needs of the baby boomers better than we do?  Nobody.  We live our needs everyday with our families and friends.  The niches are all over the place.  We know where they are.  We just have to recognize them and then act to get a business up and going.

Remember “White Jeans” for the early ‘60’s?  It was the product that took blue jeans off the farm and out of the auto shop and onto the hips of every teenager in the US.  An investment in Levi Strauss was a great idea, but so was making embroidered bell bottoms and then courtier jeans.

If you had observed what people were wearing in the mid and late ’60 you could have cashed in.  It could have been a low investment, low risk startup with lots of upside potential for personal and business growth.

What are things that you see around you today?  What are people wearing and using?  What services do they wish they had?  What products in Kansas City can you bring to Boston?  What things can you make cheaply and test market in your home town.

That last question is a key one.  If you see something you’d like to try, do what big boys like Turner Broadcasting does.  Run a prototype operation as quickly and as cheaply as possible.  Have a small budget.  If it flops, you haven’t lost much.  If it goes, move forward cautiously.

Continue to be very, very cheap.  Continue to work within your small budget.  You personally pay cash for everything, because that type of activity will stick in your mind.  Keep very good records. Keep the cash outflow to an absolute minimum.  Do everything yourself.  Don’t hire anyone.  When the money runs out of your small budget, be ruthless.

Remember the discipline of the market above all else.  What people will pay for a product or service determines its value.  No matter what you think about what you are doing, the market is right.  Say it three times to yourself.

Cut your losses and move on to the next thing.  Remember only 1 in 10 new businesses survive 5 years.  There is a good chance you will have to run through a number of ideas before you hit on something that has a chance to be even a little profitable.

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POSTED IN: Being A Boomer, Customers, Marketing