Have you heard the news? Stars from the original Jurassic Park – including Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Sam Neill – are making a returnto the franchise for Jurassic World 3.
If you’re anything like me, I’ll give you a minute to proceed with the somewhat giddy cheering.
In addition to being amazed that the three are returning after 28 years following the first film in 1993, it got me thinking about the communications industry and how quickly technology is evolving and approaching adapting – can theoldcollide with the newin a meaningful and effective way?
The New York Times just reported that “Older People Are Ignored and Distorted in Ageist Marketing”.
Yes, younger audiences are an investment for future customers. And they are engaged in new and exciting communications channels, technology and shiny objects.
But here’s the thing – as businesses, we need to survive today to get to tomorrow.
In the case of “older people” as the New York Times reported (those over the age of 50), they represent a third of the U.S. population and hold trillions of dollars in spending power. Yet, they are underrepresented in communications and advertising materials.
As strategic communicators, we have to ask – why, and what are we missing when we forego what previously worked for the new, shiny object? And more importantly, how do we embrace the new, preserve the old, and evolve in a meaningful way for our clients?
Here are 3 important things to remember when considering the shiny new toy in lieu of a strategy or campaign that has been working:
Do you really know who your key audiences are, or are you guessing? And if you think you know, do you have the data to back it up? As communicators, it’s easy to guess or generalize our audiences just to get our messaging out. But if we’re not clear about who we need to be targeting, we’re fighting a losing battle. Let the data tell the story about your audience and who you should be targeting, and where you need to find them.
Innovation is great, especially if you can find a way to engage multiple audiences. The same New York Times article reports that, according to Pew Research Center, nearly 70 percent of people between 55 and 73 own a smartphone. That’s a lot of “older people” playing on their phones. And as they get more savvy on their smartphones, that means shiny new objects to reach them, too!
We can no longer rely on the old “spray and pray” approach by creating one piece of content for all of our audiences. The good news is a lot of the latest technology allows us to segment our audiences so we know more about them and how they consume content. The simple rule to remember: Specific Audiences Demand Specific Content. Give each of your audiences the content they want to consume – after all, it’s what you want, too!
Sometimes the shiny, new toy is EXACTLY what we need. Sometimes not. But we need to know the basics, do the research, understand our audiences and be strategic with our recommendations so we’re providing the best advice for our clients and elevating our profession.
As a great communicator recently told me, you need to “Fish In A Stocked Pond”(thanks Gini!). This is true for our clients – our job is to find the stocked ponds that produce the best results, and create the right bait to pull in those fish.
If that’s with a shiny, new object…great! But let’s not forget about tried and true methodologies and see how we can evolve them to make them better.
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