Consultant Dina Cipollaro coaches marketing specialists how to reach out to customers of all ages, and the Lake Tahoe-based consultant says the generations don't talk the same language.
Business owners and marketing specialists, however say it's difficult to find marketing messages that speak to each of the generations.
Generational groups, says Cipollaro, are shaped by the formative childhood years from 8 to 13, when world events can color outlook, and again by the coming-of- age years, 17 to 23, when the economy shapes values.
She cites four distinct generations:
* Traditionalists, now grandparents, were raised to value sacrifice and respect for authority. Imbued with a strong work ethic, they value trust and dedication and feel rewards should first be earned.
* Boomers, now middle-aged, retain a sense of optimism and self-gratification. Having passed their youth, they seize upon nostalgia. Known as the workaholic generation, 81 percent now say they feel stressed.
* Gen X likes to keep things fun and informal. Noted for technical literacy, they also take a global view. They want the independence to create balance between work and play.
* Millennials live in a society growing ever more diverse and digitized: 37 percent are members of a minority group, 25 percent live in a single-family home, 66 percent have a television and 75 percent have a cell phone.
And each generation needs a marketing message tailored to their particular interests, says Cipollaro.
Examples:
Traditionalist" "You've earned it."
Boomers: "Forever young."
Gen X: "Live. Play. Work whenever."
Millennials: "It's all about you."
But some who heard a recent presentation by Cipollaro sponsored by the American Marketing Association in Reno find it a challenge to apply the lesson to real-world business situations.
"When writing an ad, I strive for one that covers the whole family," says David Staley, president of Outdoor Plus Giclee, a digital photo lab.
But family members can have different interests.
Traditionalists bring in family photos for restoration, he says.
And those grandparents can afford to buy the better equipment that they use to take lots of digital photos of their grandkids participating in events like school plays or sports.
However, those grandkids are customers, too.
They're also more likely to actually use all the bells and whistles that come with the higher-priced cameras. But they tend to want high-resolution giclee printing as an end product.
So far, says Staley, the best tag line he's hit upon in an attempt to reach all four generations: "The home of great and future great photographers."
Crafting the right pitch is vital, too, when nonprofits solicit donors.
Doris Phelps, director of marketing and development at Food Bank of Northern Nevada, recently talked about messaging with her staff.
They decided to sprinkle different messages to appeal to different generations throughout their newsletters and the web site, fbnn.org.
They pegged the statement: "We can provide four meals for a dollar" as a depression-era message, one that speaks to the older traditionalists.
And the statement: "Hunger has a cure" as an appeal to Baby Boomers, one-time activists who want to make the world a better place.
What about Gen X and Millenials? "We're not there yet," says Phelps.
Visual imagery also must be tailored to generational interests.
That's what Laura Grotz, owner of Edge West Media LLC decided. She publishes RenoOut Magazine.
"Our readers in the gay community span those four marketing groups; they're aged 18 to 80," she says.
"But our advertisers are Boomers and Gen X-ers."
She looks at the past four issues and concludes that the covers were aimed at Millennials. Because the folks from Salon 7, who provide hair, makeup and models, are themselves 20-somethings.
However, says Grotz, "I heard from the grapevine that Boomers were not comfortable with those covers," which to them seemed overly flamboyant and liberal.
"Now I must gear my covers to be more inter-generational. In cover design, I must either stagger, rotate or be neutral."
Some solutions, she thinks, could be a collage of faces from people in the community. Or cups of water in all colors of the rainbow, the planned cover of an upcoming Gay Pride issue.
When companies market with digital media, the plot thickens.
Kathy Baldock, a sales rep for Future Computer Technologies Inc, a technical and office supply company, determined her primary customer base is the Baby Boomers.
"I tweaked my video presentation to target that market," she says, "and talk about time, money, and good for environment things Boomers care about."
But Baldock is also an independent sales rep for YM Direct Networking, an Internet company that sells streaming video capability. And the Internet is Gen X country.
Baldock also plans to host blogs to support her social activist work. So she's thinking about what messaging will drive people to the blog site.
Blogging steps into Milllennial territory. To get the lingo right, she listens as her daughter talks to friends on the phone and observes, "The energy is just different with the Millennials."
Generational marketing is familiar turf to Michael Rainey, dean of continuing education at Truckee Meadows Community College.
"Our primary customer," says Rainey, "is the 45 to 50-year-old woman." That's a Baby Boomer. The college offers them personal interest classes on wellness and beauty.
Meanwhile, he adds, Gen X-ers feel a conflict between career and family. So the college responds with classes suitable for the whole family, such as a Saturday hiking trip.
And the cover of an undergraduate class catalog appears to be spot on with the Millennials message: "It's all about you."
The college has also taken its outreach to where the younger generations congregate: online. A Millennial built the flypaper Web site that is: Myspace.com/tmcc_cosmetology.
At last look, says Rainey, the site had garnered 30 friends, 10 percent of whom asked for further information.
Sensistivity to generational messages is particularly important on-line.
"The broad based message doesn't work very well," says Robert Payne, marketing manager at Twelve Horses, a multimodal communications company. "It all comes down to the right message at the right time. We call it segmentation."
Different generations act differently online, he adds.
Millennials care about being members on social networking sites. For them it's about building community and keeping in touch, says Payne.
There's also an element of ego, he adds. The Millennials are saying, "Look at me and what I'm doing."
Companies wanting to market to Millennials should go where the audience is, he adds. That place is MySpace and Facebook.
But the Boomers gather at Gather.com, adds Payne, responding to a different layout and design.
Meanwhile, don't discount direct mail, says Cipolla. Traditionalists will read every word.
