India’s seniors are going digital—and brands must catch up. With rising numbers and spending power, it’s time to rethink marketing strategies for the country’s fast-growing silver economy.
Rohit Bishnu Khatua, (Source: prhandout)
India’s increasing digitalisation is more diverse than meets the eye– every two in five people over the age of sixty are accessing and using the Internet. In the popular imagination, seniors are often viewed as resistant to change and technologically challenged, but the reality is fast changing. At an estimated 150 million people (and rising), seniors have adopted digitality in their unique way. Their digital footprint is increasing, and their online behaviours are evolving. But who’s designing that journey for them?
Considering the advertising and marketing sector’s perennial focus on the youth as dominant cultural tastemakers, Gen Z is set as the current default target group. This sidelines the massively undertapped silver economy– the growing number of seniors who have purchasing power, digital connectivity, and crucially, attention to spare.
Marketing outreach needs to sharpen its focus on this oft-ignored segment and reconfigure its approach to appeal to a widening base of savvy seniors. The market for senior-specific offerings, ranging from recreation to care, is expected to grow exponentially as India’s senior population is projected to more than double to 357 million in the next 2 decades.
A good strategy to begin designing marketing strategies for seniors involves just six general principles. Let’s examine the SILVER approach to reach seniors in the evolving digital landscape:
Simplicity is key: Like with any target segment, speaking their language is crucial to building resonance and relevance. Brand campaigns and messaging for seniors should be simple, clear, and easy to engage with. This doesn’t always have to mean intensive ad campaigns; it could be something as simple as personalised WhatsApp reminders or catchy video testimonials from familiar, influential voices.
Investing in community-building and families: Seniors feel a strong sense of community with their peer group, both offline and online. Employing strategies that focus on community-building over advertisements will yield greater gains and encourage greater engagement by seniors. Curating specialised senior-friendly online spaces, such as chat groups and private Facebook groups, can create a loyal, sticky base of customers and brand advocates. This can involve Q&A with experts, live sessions, and online recreational activities.
Additionally, many seniors who are active digital users are often helped and influenced by younger family members. Taking a community- and family-centric approach will help brands resonate with seniors better.
Local tie-ups for greater credibility: While seniors are becoming increasingly digitally curious, the proliferation of cybercrime and fraud has resulted in high caution. Social media apps are valuable product discovery channels, but seniors lag in completing the purchase journey online. A gentle nudge in this regard, through tie-ups with physical/local outlets, can help seniors’ trust in online platforms and brands. For example, online outreach with coupons or deals that can be availed at select offline outlets or collaborations with local stores, pharmacies or malls.
Values they are looking for: Seniors are more sure of what they want and value compared to other consumer segments. Peer endorsement and brand trust are incredibly important for seniors. Brands must leverage word of mouth, personalised engagement, and peer influencers to ensure that they not only reach senior customers but also create long-lasting relationships with them. Incorporating feedback loops and regular surveys through marketing makes seniors feel seen and understood, creating loyal customers in the long term.
Enhance, don’t add: Heavy-handed marketing is not appropriate for senior segments. All senior offerings, from medicines, tech, FMCGs, to hospitality, are ultimately designed to enhance their quality of life with radical disruptions. Marketing efforts should reflect that, succinctly conveying to seniors how specific offerings add quiet value to their lives and routines.
Reaching seniors where they are: Most important of all, every marketing strategy geared towards seniors should aim to meet them at their comfort levels and preferred platforms. This means designing senior-friendly UI/UX for websites and better marketing utilisation of platforms such as WhatsApp and YouTube, which seniors use more frequently and comfortably. Tapping into community online channels, such as Resident Welfare Association (RWA) groups, can offer an effective ‘phygital’ approach. This can be further bolstered by hyperlocal experiential marketing, such as organising offline neighbourhood events and immersive activities.
These serve as one entry point into the vast possibilities of marketing to seniors across industries. India’s rapidly ageing population is creating new, vibrant customer segments that are financially empowered, digitally literate, and increasingly independent. Their rising needs and evolving aspirations create immense potential for market growth in care, healthtech, tourism, and recreation.
This is a pivotal moment in time for marketing professionals to build new customer bases through innovative brand-building and senior-specific outreach. This is the first step towards giving seniors their due, winning consumer trust, and unleashing the full force of India’s blooming silver economy.
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