The Business of Aging

55+ Demographic Post Highest Rate of Entrepreneurial Activity

Laura Lorber's article Older Entrepreneurs Target Peers in the Wall Street Journal's online edition discusses how Americans in the 55-to-64 age group have posted the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity - beating out youngsters just finishing college and even 30-somethings embarking on second careers.  This according to research by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Very interesting. I had no idea.

The article profiles Art Koff who founded RetiredBrains.com in 2003 after "retiring" from a 40 year career in recruitment-advertising communications. Mr. Koff figured that many of his age-group peers needed a diversion or some extra income, too. 

"I got up at the crack of dawn," Art says. "I can't imagine what would happen if I didn't have someplace to go and something to do."
 
The article discusses how many of these "older" entrepreneurs target their age group as customers - "inspired to create a product or service because they feel no one else understands or is interested in the older demographic".  

Linda Brown, age 65, is also profiled in the article. After losing her job in the insurance industry she started a business to help people with Medicare claims.  And then there is Jennifer Campbell, 56, who founded a memoir-writing service. Her typical clients are age 60 to 65. 

According to Art Koff, there are drawbacks to running a business in retirement - such as raising capital. According to Art,  "Banks don't like to lend to people in their middle 70s. They don't think they're going to be around that long. A lot of people will make assumptions until you spend some time with them." There's also the risk of losing one's retirement savings if the business does not work.  

Read Laura Lorber's article here. It's really great. Kudos to Laura for writing such a wonderful article on a really interesting topic - and to the Wall Street Journal for publishing it..

Marketing to Boomers? Remember the Employer Channel.

In the February 16th, 2010 Economist, there is an article on page 64 titled The Silver Tsunami  written by Schumpeter - one of the most important articles I've read with regard to the aging population's impact on: (1) employers and (2) any company that markets products or services relating to the aging population - or "boomers."

In our industry, most of the mass marketing media (including event organizers) tend to focus on selling stuff to "boomers." We are inundated with information daily - from how large of a market opportunity this is to how challenging it is to connect with this "unique" generation. It's actually become borderline absurd to the point where statistics about boomers' use of social networking tools becomes headline news.

While companies worry about how to "connect" with and sell more of their stuff to boomers (and why not, boomers control most of the nations disposable income), the implications of aging boomers on society and the workplace are virtually ignored.

And that is why this article in the Economist is so important.

Admittedly, as a for profit business, we have our own agenda. Our two products, SeniorCareMarketer.com and HRmarketer.com help companies that sell products/services that relate to the aging population market and to human resource departments, respectively.

Even so, the article gives much needed attention to the "silver tsunami's" impact on the workplace. 

Nearly 33% (1 in 3) of U.S. employees will be over the age of 50 by 2012 (and the U.S. is considered a young nation by global standards).

This means that companies will have to learn how to "manage" older workers better. And as the Economist points out, most companies are "remarkably ill-prepared at doing this. " At this time, companies give more attention to recruiting and retaining younger workers.

And there is a lot more to this challenge than just teaching all the different generations in the workplace to get along and play fairly with one another.  

Some companies get it. According to the article…….

BMW staffed a production line with workers of an age likely to be typical at the firm in 2017. At first productivity was lower but, after investing in new chairs, comfier shoes, magnifying lenses, new chairs and adjustable tables, productivity was raised. Seriously.    

Some companies are rethinking the traditional model of "career" (which, as the author points out, will break the traditional link between age and pay) which means retirement may be a phased process rather than a sudden event.

Abbott allows "veteran" staff to work four days per week and take extended holidays. And Asda allows older workers to work during busy times and take off several months in the winter. BTW - the irony in this, as the article's author points out, is age-discrimination laws are making it hard for companies to experiment with policies like these.

While an aging workforce presents some unique challenges to employers, it affords plenty of opportunities to companies that market products and services that can help employers with these challenges. And there are plenty. I'll be speaking on this topic at the March Chicago American Society on Aging / Boomers Summit. SeniorCareMarketer.com is also a sponsor.

Note to companies marketing stuff to boomers - don't ignore the employer channel. If your product/service can be repackaged to help companies accommodate and manage older workers,  you may find a new revenue stream. 

And finally, a note to today's human resource vendors. Doesn't matter what you sell - recruitment & staffing, compensation & benefits, rewards & recognition, training & development, HR technology or talent management [fill in the blank], etc - you also have a huge opportunity with tailoring your solutions to the needs of employers with respect to an aging population.    

Related Posts:

Will Boomers Retire or Keep Working: Two Opposing Views. 

Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer

Marketers Placing too Much Emphasis on "Boomers".

 

 

Using Elder Care Programs to Retain Employees

In the latest Talent Management magazine (a popular trade magazine for human resource professionals) there is an article titled Back to The Future.

Within this article there is a sidebar article on How to Retain Generations X and Y. Something many employers are concerned about considering these generations consistently boast the highest turnover rates in corporate America (staying on average 20 months per job).

What does this have to do with senior care?

A lot.

The writer, Sarah Sladek (CEO of Limelight Generations and author of a lot of books) lists some of the ways companies can retain these employees.

And high on the list is  "Elder Care programs" considering most Gen Xers and Yers will find themselves caring for aging loved ones if they are not already.

At HRmarketer.com, a sister product to SeniorCareMarketer.com, we work with a lot of companies who market elder care programs to employers and their products/services are in high demand these days. 

Companies that market senior care products/services need to really take a look at the employer channel as a possible market - but is a far different marketing and sales process than B2C (selling to Boomers). I will be speaking about this topic at the March What's Next in Boomer's Summit. If you are attending this event I would be delighted to speak with you about this market and help you determine if it is the right channel for your product/service.

Some Thoughts on Boomers, their "Retirement" and the Companies That Market to Them.

I came across two interesting articles I wanted to share - and why the information is important to companies selling products and services relating to the aging population.

"The Census Bureau forecasts that the 65-and-over population will rise from 38.7 million in 2008 to 88.5 million by 2050 and that the 85-and-over slice will swell from 5.4 million to 19 million. The actual size of this "age wave," though, could reach tsunami proportions, if a December study from the healthcare policy journal Milbank Quarterly turns out to be prescient. It predicts an average American life span of 86 years for a man and 93 years for a woman by 2050—more than a decade longer than now—and a grand total of up to 108 million seniors."- Excerpt from January 25, 2010 U.S. News and World Report article.

The first, Why Baby Boomers Should Rethink Retirement, from U.S. News and World Report discusses how seniors today are living more independently, dying less from lengthy and debilitating bouts of cancer, and are happier than they were in the past (according to a 2008 University of Chicago study). The article goes into pretty good detail about the impacts of an aging - and active - population on the individual and society as well as the challenges it brings to public policy.

The second article, Economy Forces Changes in Thinking about Retirement, discusses the economy's impact on senior housing including smaller homes, increased emphasis on bike paths and walking trails (and decreased emphasis on greens and fairways), a shift away from traditional "warm weather" retirement destinations, and the types of design features the 55+ population wants in their homes.

Some lessons from these articles:

When it comes to marketing to an older demographic group, strategies that may have worked in the past will not work with aging boomers.  This is new territory for a lot of companies because historically people over the age of 50 have not been highly targeted by marketers because their spending power was minimal.  But as a group aging boomers will have double the spending power of today's 60-70 years olds, will not consider themselves "old", are affluent, and will live independent and active lifestyles well into their 70s and 80s and beyond if they are healthy.

All of these changes will have a dramatic impact on how company's market their products and services - all companies, as well as how employers recruit and retain older workers.

Sizing Up The Market For Assisted Living: New Report from Harvard Medical School.

Thanks to Kathy Mills from Factix Research, LLC whose blog post alerted me to this excellent new report.

The report's abstract is: (Get full report here)

"Assisted living has emerged as an important housing and long-term care option for older Americans. To date, development of this sector has occurred largely without government financing or regulation. In this study we used primary data that we collected on county-level assisted living supply to gain a fuller understanding of this sector nationally. Reflecting their reliance on private resources, assisted living facilities are located disproportionately in areas with higher educational attainment, income, and housing wealth. As this sector evolves, policymakers will have to contend with issues related to access to services, public financing, quality of care, and regulatory oversight."

Kathy sums is up perfectly:

"If you're in the assisted living industry, you may want to check out this new study: Sizing Up the Market for Assisted Living. It contains data on the national level, which is difficult to find elsewhere. The researchers provides some helpful statistics and interesting maps, including a map detailing the correlation between assisted living penetration and an area's sociodemographic traits. The data was based on the market as of 2007. "

Educational Content. What Every Senior Care Vendor Needs. But Few Have It.

A lot of senior care providers are creating free profiles in our new senior care directory - and we invite you to do the same.  But unlike our sister directory for human resource vendors, few senior care providers have used this powerful directory to syndicate content (see how HR vendors do this) from their web site.

The reason is that most senior care vendors do not have useful content on their web site. Most sites are what we call brochureware.

These sites  provide basic information on the services the respective provider offers and some contact information but they don't engage visitors to their site (e.g., potential customers), don't give them a reason to return and certainly don't give them a reason to share their contact information such as signing up for a newsletter or a blog feed (what blog - most senior care vendors don't even have one).

There is no excuse for senior care providers not to be providing useful content for their site visitors.

In a related "people" industry, Human Resources, we find that HR buyers LOVE and need information! HR vendors who produce compelling non-promotional content to address the needs of HR professionals reap the rewards through increased sales leads, higher web site traffic and improved search engine rankings.

As great as the demand is for HR content, it is much greater for senior care. Consumers need information. This would explain the enormous popularity of sites like Caring.com. Assuming that people know the differences and all the nuances of assisted living, nursing homes and in-home care is a mistake. Most don't. In fact, assuming  the adult caregiver knows anything about their care needs is a mistake.  Most don't because unlike say preparing for a newborn, elder care needs often blindside us and we are initially clueless about what to do. I know I was.

Senior care providers who understand this and can create useful educational information for their buyers will reap the awards described earlier. 

Yet, too many senior care providers have web sites that look like this.

Here is a great example how senior care provider Home Instead uses content to educate caregivers.   And here is how one franchise in Fort Worth, Texas leveraged useful content in their marketing during the recent holidays.

Producing great content for your web site results in increased traffic, improved search engine rankings and more sales leads. And this content can be leveraged in ongoing marketing and PR activities. 

Content marketing includes white papers, webcasts, podcasts, articles, tip sheets, videos, etc. You want whole-brain content marketing messages that quickly engage and entice and motivate intellectually as well as emotionally - i.e., I want to know more.

What's the context of your marketing content? Are you targeting the right audience with the right content? Remember, your long-term marketing efforts are not one size fits all. Cold marketing may start out that way, but how you use other activities like social media to spark conversation with content definitely needs to be tailored to the audience.

Are you optimizing for your buyers' experience? Is it easy to download your content? Can they easily submit feedback? Can they easily have a conversation with you if they want to know more? Ensure that your landing pages include clear call-to-actions for what you want them to do and why the content is valuable to their organizations.

Regardless of what size you are or what stage of the business you're in, the lead generation tower is best built with content and conversation in context.

Caregiving in the U.S. 2009: New Report

Paula Span from the New York Times wrote a very good blog post today describing "Caregiving in the USA 2009", a new report from the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP.  She writes:

"Every few years, the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP team up to survey the nation’s family caregivers and produce a massive, highly detailed study funded by Metlife. The first of these reports appeared in 1997, the next in 2004. The latest, released this week, provides an interesting picture of what’s changed in five years and what hasn’t."

Some interesting facts:

• Elder care remains primarily women’s work
  
• Most caregivers continue to juggle unpaid caregiving and paid work.
• In 2004, the proportion of elders over age 75 was 55 percent; now it’s 63 percent.
  
• Caregivers’ average age rose from 48 to 50.
  
• A higher proportion are caring for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
• The proportion whose older relatives had aides, housekeepers or other paid workers dropped to 41 percent from 46 percent; the use of paid help also declined among all caregivers. 
• Unpaid caregiving supplied by other family and friends has risen.

Download the full report here (PDF).

IPhone Apps to "Medical Homes". A Lot of Senior Care and Boomer News This Week!

We just sent out our weekly Business of Aging newsletter. The news stories covered in this issue are listed below and you can view the newsletter/details here. You can subscribe to this newsletter here.

I'm sharing the stories of this week's newsletter below because there are so many great stories - each one is a blog post itself :-) 

• HAPPYneuron releases iPhone Brain Game
• National Economy Threatened By Baby Boomer Retirement Boom 
• Medical home' concept may lead to better health care
• Intel Announces Increased Momentum for Personalized Care Management at Home
• Stages of Senior Care: Awareness is Key for an Industry Poised for Major Growth
• New Technology Drives Therapies For Older Patients, Those With Alzheimer's
• Study: Elders happier with long-term in-home care from families 
• CareMinds.com Announces CareSite, an Innovative Feature for Families and Friends to Manage the Care Needs of an Elder Loved One
• Why Long-Term Care is So Hard to Provide
• Baby Boomers boost tour bus business
• Not Taking 'Not Hiring' for an Answer
• Baby Boomers at Work: Met Life Study Finds Boomers Extended Working  Despite warnings, US companies remain unprepared for Baby Boomers' exodus

Technology and the Aging Population

Included in a recent issue of our Business of Aging newsletter was an article from Katie Kline titled Psychologists Suggest Ways To Include The Aging Population In The Technology Revolution.

Katie writes that for the aging population technological progress can in fact be more limiting, and the key to including the aging population in information technology is to adopt design principles that are age sensitive.

According to the researchers, there are several age-related changes that affect technology use in older adults, including difficulties with vision, audition, motor control and cognition.

Specifically, older adults experience reduced visual acuity, color perception and susceptibility to glare. They also encounter a greater difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds and perceive a greater interference from background noises. As for motor skills, ailments such as arthritis can limit a person's use of technology as well. Aging is also associated with a general slowing of cognitive processes, decreased memory capacity and attentional control, and difficulties with goal maintenance. It also takes older adults twice as long to learn new information compared to younger adults.

There is hope that some technological advances may ultimately be able to boost technological abilities in the aging population.

The source of the article is Katie Kline from the Association for Psychological Science. If interested read it here.

Caring.com Raises $10 million In 2nd Round. Total $16 million Raised Since 07.

In September 2007, Caring.com raised $6 million led by DCM and Split Rock Partners.

This week Caring.com announced a 2nd round funding of $10 million led by a new investor, Shasta Ventures, with participation from previous backers DCM and Split Rock Partners.

The company has raised $16 million in total.

Caring.com says it will use the money for new hires, as well as an expansion of the core Caring.com site, and Gilbert Guide, the eldercare services directory it acquired in October.

Caring.com runs display ads and sponsorships; co-founder and CEO Andy Cohen said about half of the site’s advertisers are pharmaceutical brands. As for the recent scrutiny by the FDA around pharma ads, Cohen said Caring.com was insulated because the Agency was focused on search ads and user-generated content—not display ads or curated editorial.

I know Andy Cohen and respect the work he is doing at Caring.com. Raising $16 million in three years is a LOT of money in any economy. But to raise $16 million in this economy is quite an accomplishment - almost unheard of. What this tells me is the investors -- who have had access to all the financials and web analytic data of Caring.com -- like what they see. Tod Francis, managing partner at Shasta Ventures, said the company’s traffic growth and ad performance were what attracted the investment (Caring.com says web site traffic has grown to over a million monthly uniques).

Laurie Orlov, a former Forrester analyst, wrote a post on her Aging In Place Technology Watch blog about Caring.com and their business model. It's quite good.   

She says……(I paraphrase - read the whole post here):

"
"

Like WebMD, Caring.com faces a lot of competition. Time will tell if they achieve the same level of success.