Generational Marketing
Don't let a generation gap foil your marketing. Learn to sell across the ages.

By Mary C. Weaver

Some of today’s major marketing and research firms now believe that generational influences may have an even greater effect on purchasing decisions than traditional marketing factors such as product quality, price, promotion and availability.

“Understanding generational values and motivations has become essential because each generation is driven by unique ideas about the lifestyle to which it aspires,” write J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman in their book Rocking the Ages: The Yankelovich Report on Generational Marketing (HarperBusiness, 1997). “And it’s these aspirations that determine the ways consumers spend and save their money.”

So what turns on boomer buyers? What kind of sizzle sells to Gen Xers?

We’ve got those answers and more. Read on to learn what makes each generation unique—and how you can sell more effectively to customers of all ages.