I recently received an e-mail from one of my Marketing Minute readers. I think the honest fear he expressed is one that most of us had entertained more than once. With his permission, I'd like to share it with you and get your thoughts.


Here's a paraphrased version of what he asked.

AM I GETTING TOO OLD?
As a 43-year-old marketing director, how do I stay in touch with a target market of 18-30 year olds? As we get older, how we practice marketing and stay current?
Here are some things that triggered this email:
1) I started a local Marketing Group about 4 months ago. Attendance at our meetings has really grown. However, as I look around the room, I might be the oldest one in the room. I'm starting to feel like a dinosaur.
2) I had suggested that we get an outsider's perspective on some ideas we're kicking around at work, so we invited 4 members from this marketing group to our place of business to act as a focus group. Our executive staff pitched some ideas to them and asked for reactions.
After the meeting the several of the staff in our company were commenting on the good questions that were being asked and the insightful comments that had been made from the marketing panel. Now I'm starting to feel insecure. And then they started commenting on how young they all looked.
3) Then my boss makes the comment that he realizes our staff is getting older and what we think is cool might not necessarily be so in the real world.
Am I freaking out unnecessarily?