market-research, target-marketI am trying to validate a business idea. The idea is a service for baby boomers with adult sons and daughters that they are supporting. We have found a way to help them not waste their retirements helping to support their children. Before I build an app to facilitate this process, I would like to both talk to as well as offer this service on a small-scale.
After a failed craigslist list campaign to drum-up interest and inquiries, I interviewed a few baby boomers that I personally know and they flat out told me that craigslist isn’t their “place”. In other words, I need to seek them out in their own natural habitats.
While this is not at all a substitute for my own research and hard work, I would like to ask if anyone on this forum could point me in the right direction when it comes to making contact and pitching baby boomers with children. Where do they hang out? What is a bottleneck approach to contacting them in mass if possible?
Your problem might be that the demographic segment ‘baby boomer’ is too wide. You may want to narrow down by another variable such as baby boomer by income bracket or geographic area or baby boomer by education level. That would also help you identify more specific ways to reach out.
For instance, if you have segmented baby boomers by income bracket then you sub divide by say you only want to reach to the income earners in the 100k+ segment living in California first. Then look at the behavior of those baby boomers and see how you can reach out.
For example, if you look at the recreational activities of baby boomers in 100k+ living in California Orange County and find that they like golf or boating. Hit the forums where people with those interests hang out and just put up a post saying you would like to talk to them. Visit the clubs, marinas etc and see how you can reach out.
This way, when you have subdivided your segment of your interest you can also have more specific marketing when you do ads and can get a better response rate. You would also be getting feedback from people who may actually buy.
The problem with going broad is that baby boomers may include people who don’t use a smart phone, are not computer literate (hence not on craigslist) so you spend a lot of time and money reaching out to people who may not be able to afford, able to use therefore not interested in your solution. If you had started marketing, you would have spent a lot of money on ads that reached to them, and your app may have features that doesn’t appeal to the people who may actually buy it.
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