Different roads for different folks

That's me, getting ready for my ride through the Malibu Canyon to visit Bestline Plumbing in Gardenia (Los Angeles). Not everyone likes sportbikes, and not everyone needing plumbing services is middle-aged or older. You need to define your niche and demographics in setting your marketing goals.

Leonard Meglolia at Bestline Plumbing in Los Angeles says he finds virtually none of his business from the Internet, and virtually all of his clients are middle aged or older. (The older client demographic has remained consistent from the start of his business, he says.)

Accordingly, for him, the website doesn't serve much marketing purpose, and if his salespeople are going to provide images of what needs to be done, they will print and give the photos right to the homeowner.

Is this the only way to go? I think not. Just as some people drive Buicks, and others prefer sportbikes, still others believe motor vehicles are gas guzzling environmental headaches, and prefer the bus or bicycle. The right marketing approach depends on many circumstances, including your target market. (Bestline may not find younger clients profitable, but surely homeowners in their 20s and 30s also have plugged drains, failing pipes, and wish renovations including new bathrooms and kitchens.)

As well, it is interesting that Leonard Meglolia engages in communications in online forums like contractortalk.com and uses his website to connect and provide resources for other contractors.

You might also note how Meglolia is willing to try new things, and in the process, discovers ways to make his core marketing methodology -- flyers -- even more effective. He tried a canvassing strategy, and developed a new kind of flyer offering free services to support the canvassing initiative. He is shocked by the huge response to this new flyer. The natural question to ask is: Why not just use the new flyer (modified to correct some flaws he developed) and forget the canvassing process? In other words, the enhancement to his core business method has occurred when he tried something different.

Freedom 55, maybe

This image is from a posting at the SMPS Long Island Chapter promoting Online Onslaught: Social Media and Blogging for the A/E/C Industry on Sept. 17. Ed Hannan of PSMJ Resources Inc. is a panelist. I was invited too, but regretfully couldn't participate. Liz O'Rourke Kupcha at this chapter is one of the pioneers of Facebook.com within SMPS.

A Canadian insurance company advertises its Freedom 55 plan. The idea is, if you sign up with this program, you could retire at age 55 and sail off in the sunset of your dreams.
I'm 55 now, and am not sailing off anywhere. But Ed Hannan at PSMJ Resources Inc., in a blog entry today, reminded me of my age with this impressively valid posting:

..... Let's assume you are a 55-year-old male CEO of a 200-person architecture firm. Now, if you want to market your clients the way your firm marketed itself when you were named CEO at 45, I've got a big bucket of cold water waiting to hit you in the face with a reality check. You can't do it.

He's right. And since you are reading this blog, you know I'm not . . . living in the past. Demographic indicators suggest that many baby boomers (my generation) will need to continue to work well past age 55, or 65 for that matter. And younger people, just arriving in the workplace, will find incredible opportunities as some of my generation actually, truly, want, "Freedom 55."

(Retirement, to me, is a dumb concept. I'll work until I'm 85 if I can -- it is the best way to ensure health in the senior years. As for financial independence, I suppose I have it now, but this will be confirmed within the next decade.)

So, what should we say about the 55 year olds who are trapped sometime in the past, say a decade or two behind? I encounter them quite frequently when they respond to our postings seeking salary-guaranteed associate publishers/sales representatives. We still earn most of our money from the print media, and they think they have the experience and background for the job. (These older candidates often lack good references and recent successful sales experience. I weed them out.) This is not age discrimination, if someone 55 or 65 is really good -- and Bob Kruhm in North Carolina is certainly older than me -- they are welcome to work in this organization. But they had better 'get it' and connect with the values, principals, and marketing methodologies of a much younger generation. (So I am really happy that Bob, on his own initiative, started a blog for the North Carolina construction industry.)

My primary business consultant, Bill Caswell, is also (I think) older than me. Those of us whose chronological age combines with a youthful enjoyment of life and willingness to adapt and introduce new technologies and business models have the best of both worlds -- we have some wisdom and experience, but we are comfortable with blogging, Facebook, and e-letters. Not surprisingly, we also get along quite well with younger people.

And these new-stage marketing models, indeed, work. Today, Chase in St. Catharines sent in close to $13,000 in insertion orders for a project we can, at source, trace to this blog. And I think we found someone who will do very well as a U.S.-based publisher, who is certainly much younger than I am.

The point of this posting is simple: If you discriminate or deny opportunity based on age, you are dumb (and violating human rights and anti-discrimination laws). But if you are 'old' and insist on "acting your age" you will find, indeed, time has passed you by. We are having fun. And I'm happy that I can define Freedom 55 as not meaning retirement.

A look into your (and other) neighbourhoods

Image from the Generation5.ca site; while the site has a Canadian domain registration, it has data on every U.S. neighborhood with a ZIP+4 code.

Generation5.ca offers some fascinating demographic insights for both Canadian and U.S. neighbourhoods. Enter your Canadian postal code or U.S. ZIP plus 4 code and you'll find a snapshot of your community.

The relevance of this information to marketers is obvious -- especially if you have a retail-focused business and a would like to receive a good idea of the demographic mix of your ideal clients.