Baby Boomer Word of Mouth Overlooked

Six out of ten Baby Boomers are asked for recommendations about products and services almost twice a week (90 times a year).  And who do they make recommendations to?  Why, to other Baby Boomers, of course.

Oh, and 84% of their recommendations are made face-to-face, with 45% made online.

Weber Shandwick commissioned the study, which also suggests that marketers could do a better job leveraging these boomer-to-friend (B2F) relationships and recommendations:

“When it comes to word-of-mouth recommendations, boomers have both unrivaled influence and rich networks of peer advisors. Our new study found that companies can forge new relationships with prospective customers by capitalizing on the power of B2F communications,” said Weber Shandwick’s Chief Reputation Strategist Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross. “Companies can discover new avenues for reaching boomers by approaching boomers’ networks of mutual advisors and creating marketing, advertising and other communications that portray boomers in realistic social settings to which they can relate.”

Remember that Boomers are a growing class of small business owners. So presenting Boomer-to-Boomer small biz recommendations is something to consider.