Senior Sleuth Guides

Using the Internet to promote a book about why Seniors should use the Internet (and other technologies) is a bit tricky. If they are already online, they probably won’t be the book’s target audience. If they are NOT online, then they’ll never see the online ads or videos.

So the reality is that I’ll probably need to use more traditional forms of advertising to reach the primary audience of this book. However, I can still use the Internet to market to online audiences looking to buy a gift for their parents, grandparents, or older friends.

With that in mind, here are two sample video commercials for the book, “The Senior Sleuth’s Guide to Technology for Seniors.” One of the videos targets a younger consumer looking for a gift for his parent or grandparent. The other video targets the older consumer who might be looking for a gift for a friend or relative. Can you tell which video targets which consumer?

Video #1.

Video #2.

Another 10-year prediction—in 10 years the “Seniors are afraid of technology” theme will disappear from public discussion.  Why? Because in 10 years, the entire U.S. Baby Boomer population will officially be “Seniors.” That’s a huge chunk of people who not only lived and operated in the technology workplace, these people also INVENTED high tech.

Here are a few famous Senior (55+) technologists you may have heard of.

* Bill Gates (a.k.a. that nerdy Microsoft billionaire guy) turns 55 in October 2010.
* Steve Jobs (a.k.a. iSteve, the CEO of Apple) turned 55 in February 2010.
* Richard Branson (a.k.a. the cheesy handsome British industrialist and owner of Virgin Atlantic Airways and promoter of private space exploration) turns 60 in July 2010.
* Francis Collins (a.k.a. head of the human genome project) turns 60 in April 2010.

So what?

More and more Baby Boomers are going to shift into senior-dom with the above technology celebrities. These people will not fear technology because:

1. They’ve been using it for decades.
2. More and more products will be developed specifically for their demographic. (How could industry NOT address this gigantic Senior market?)

And as the Baby Boomers fill the marketplace, they’ll likely buy senior products for their still-living parents and siblings. Sure, the 90+ consumer might still be a little hesitant around technology, but I’ll be they give it a try when their sprite 60-something kid is telling them to try it.

The “old dog, new tricks” argument simply won’t apply anymore, because the next generation of old dogs will have created and embraced the tricks. They invented high tech, and you can bet your ass they are going to embrace it in their golden years.