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Direct Mail Strategy For A Market Hard To Grab
Posted By: Igor M.* on 4/27/2006 10:10 AM (CST) 300 Points
We sell a product/service created for seniors living home alone (apart from their adult children).

Now ... 80% of our customers are actually the adult children who care about their elderly parents living home alone.

We want to do Direct Mail, but it's hard to get a list of those adult children to market to. How do we know if they have elderly parents? How do we find out if their parents live alone?

Any ideas? (besides buying lists from companies that sell to the same market)

Posted by: W.M.M.A. Accepted Answer
4/27/2006 10:29 AM (CST)
Igor, greetings.
Yes, obtaining that list would be difficult and I would question the validity.

I believe we can make the assumption that the majority of parents live alone...even if there are two in the household. When one is away, the other may need your service, and vice-versa.

Baby Boomers and X'ers are the largest demo. Many of the boomers are your target market, as well as their children. My suggestion would be to create a drip-marketing program within major cities, using mid to high income demographics.

I know that as far as hitting the target, in Houston, which you know is my home-base, I can create a very close match for what you are attempting...and, implement it at an extremely low cpm.

You have my info, let's talk off-forum, again.

Randall
 
Posted by: Frank Hurtte Accepted Answer
4/27/2006 2:53 PM (CST)
I would set up a trojan site.... with special listings for people who can identify 3 generations... Kind of a they list it and then show to their friends. You target the grandkids (age 16-21) of your target market.

It may be cheaper to buy a list, but this way you can capture quality information for next to nothing.
 
Posted by: Whet* Accepted Answer
5/1/2006 9:59 AM (CST)
We have often put together online marketing programs that include the purchase of small ad placements (or banners) in E newsletters sent out by magazines and organizations.

These placements are typically inexpensive (by comparison to direct mail) and can help to establish a valid opt in list of your own.

Here's how it works, you purchase a placement in a newsletter that targets your audience. In this case it may be even something like a business publication (let's say businessweek) This audience may be close to your demo - having money, and more than likely elderly parent(s) whom they care for on one level or another.

You submit to Businessweek your placement/banner. They send out their E newsletter to their opt in list of (let's say) 40,000 people. Of that you can expect (depending on the effectiveness of your ad) a 2% click through rate. The link brings them to your web site whereby they either are able to register for more info or contact you directly. We have sometimes combined promos and discounts to generate greater interest at the placement level.

The trick is to find the right publications (that have regular Enews). In this case may be any pub dealing with health and well being that the 45+ crowd may be interested in - Prevention, Men's Health, Self, etc. I'd also look at Enews that are sent out by Health Insurance companies. There may be opportunities for co op there.

Once people have registered on your site, they become a part of your list - pre qualified and opt in. If you collect full addresses you can follow up with a direct mail campaign, although statistically speaking you will get a bigger bang for your buck online.

I hope this helps.

Cheryl Waters
 
Posted by: Papadoc (Steve)* Accepted Answer
5/4/2006 9:22 AM (CST)
Josie - Marketing to seniors is what I do so I've been around the block a few times, and we've dealt a fair number of products. Few people recognize as you do that going through the adult children is the direction of choice since products like yours are part of a caregiver's concern more than they are for the senior.

There are no Direct Mail services that target such caregiver children. That said, it is not impossible to get in front of them, just impossible to do it exclusively. What I am saying is that you need to go where you know they are and advertise in those locations. Caregiver sites, magazines, and partnerships with complementary businesses are all avenues that you should consider.
 
Posted by: AndrewS Member Response
5/5/2006 1:20 AM (CST)
I would completely agree with Steve, why go through the pain of trying to target your market through DM, when you have much more cost effective ways of hitting your market through appropriate newspapers, magazines, radio etc.

Direct as much as the respondents as possible to provide some of the details you need, including email, postal addresses etc, so that you can start to build your database for later marketing.

Good Luck
 


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