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Marketing Segmentation on the Internet

When we consider how to set up campaigns and other resources to market to different segments, we often categorize those segments using simple labels. I've often seen the generations grouped in this fashion:

1901-1924 - "The Greatest Generation"
1925-1945 - "The Silent Generation"
1954-1965 - "The Baby Boomers"
1954-1965 - "Generation Jones"
1964-1980 - "Generation X"
1981-1994 - "Generation Y"
1995-2008 - "Generation Z" (Millennials)

And while there's overlaps, in general such segments have sufficient uniqueness that we can build marketing personas to help us plan.

Marketing To Different Generations

In marketing plans we must design campaigns that reflect the tastes and world-views of each if we are to engage them in web marketing messages. Let's run through the labels I've most often seen for generations:

The Greatest Generation - shaped by the depression, World War II, The "New Deal" - learned of the world from books, newsprint, and radio. Other than soldiers, fewer were world travelers and their world view was shaped by their own community very strongly. This group is largely off-line.

The Silent Generation - shaped by suburbanization, Elvis Presley, the start of the Cold War as well as the wide distribution of television. The Silent Generation is the first that we can reasonably expect to target online.

The Baby Boomers - shaped by the Cold War, assassinations of beloved public figures such as the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr., they were also influenced by the Beatles, Apollo, Counterculture, and the Civil Rights Movement.

In the marketing messages to BBers, simple marketing messages that avoid techno-speak are critical. They are very likely to use the web to research products and then far more likely to buy the products off-line than younger groups.

Seniornet says that BBers spend around $7 Billion online, and that combined with the older groups, they account for over 80% of all consumer spending.

Local/national news is by far the most popular online content for respondents 55 years and older – with over one-half (55.9%) of this segment saying they regularly seek it out online. Shopping/product information (44.0%) is the second most popular type of content sought and is closely followed by health information (42.5%). Other types of content sought include: international news (38.9%), travel information (38.2%), and food information/recipes (34.1%). [burstmedia]

With around 70% of this population online, the BBers have more disposable income than any other group, yet internet marketing messages and websites often ignore their needs.

Generation X - shaped by personal computers, electronics boom, oil shortages, changes in nuclear family, AIDS, and the influx of Japanese products, this group developed a much more diversified view of their world and how it affected them each day.

Then we look at internet marketing to GenX, you'll find that these people are a tough market. They are very skeptical and very tech-savvy, using social media to scrutinize your marketing messages and look for "chinks" in the armor of your story. They crave authentic, visual marketing and share knowledge they find widely.

From Burst Media: Local/national news (54.2%) is the most popular online content for respondents 35-54 years. Other types of online content sought by respondents 35-54 years include: shopping/product information (44.8%), information for work (42.7%), health information (37.1%), entertainment information (37.0%), and travel information (33.7%).[burstmedia]

Generation Y - shaped by the world wide web, 9/11, these folks are highly tech savvy and ignore most advertising messages. They celebrate diversity and have a very environmentally minded approach to decisions. They were the first to embrace wide-scope social media and utilize the web to help each other. Style is extremely important.

Among respondents 18-34 years, entertainment information (44.7%) is the most regularly sought online content, followed by: local/national news (40.1%), online games (38.1%), shopping/product information (36.1%) information for work (35.0%), and online communities such as social networks, forums and blogs (31.4%).[burstmedia]

This article is in process and may evolve.