I recently found an article put out on CNNMoney.com in January pointing out all the benefits of marketing to a 50+ demo.   The first baby boomers turned 65 in January of this year.  Imagine that!  The Baby Boomers are officially Senior Citizens.  Yes, many advertisers market to the "young, mobile, switchable younger demographics". However, there are some great points in here about the power that the 50+ demo has and the impact these people can make on a bottom line. Some of these points include:

• The median age of ALL adults 18 or older is 50
• The average American buys 12-13 cars in a lifetime. 7 of them are bought after age 50. And, the average ticket is higher then too.
• Over the next 10 years the 18-49 segment will grow by 10%, the 50+ segment will grow by 20%.
• Some studies have shown that baby boomers are less brand loyal than younger people.

Take this to our world, marketing local businesses with limited budgets. We have a lot of power at our disposal when marketing to the 50+ demo. It's safe to assume that there are also some advantages to marketing in that world:

• If national buyers are buying up the 18-49 inventory, that leaves some surplus inventory on the 50+ programs and stations, allowing for some better rate negoations while still delivering GRP's.
• If these people really aren't as brand loyal as once thought, then we canswitch them to our clients.
• Facebook, Twitter and Social Media, while not foreign to this audience, are not as highly used as with the 18-30 year olds.  This puts less pressure on our client to succeed in this sometimes foreign world (as small business owners)

Interesting reading from a new perspective.  http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/02/news/boomer_birthday/index.htm