Capturing the attention of clients from different generations can be difficult, particularly in the world of real estate. It’s no easy task to research, understand and implement different strategies for each age group.
Here is a quick and concise breakdown of each generation:
- Baby Boomers – Born from 1946 to 1964
- Gen X – Born between 1965 and 1980
- Millennials – Born between 1981 and 1996
- Gen Z – Born from 1997 to the present day in 2021
According to reports, Millennials currently form 35 percent of the world’s workforce, and this number will increase to a whopping 75 percent by the end of 2025.
- Percentage of millennials in the workforce in 2021 35%
- Percentage of millennials in the workforce in 2025 75%
National Association of Realtors reported that millennial homebuyers contribute 37 percent in the home buyer sector. It is safe to say that Millennials are the largest group of home buyers, making them an important target demographic for you.
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Millennial homebuyers
Let’s look into each of the generations a little further and discover how you can use various marketing mediums to attract new clients.
Targeting Each Generation
The world is turning into a digital platform to showcase all types of products and services. A wide range of marketing and consumer engagement channels can help capture your target demographic and others.
Targeting Baby Boomer-Generation Homebuyers
Baby boomers are primarily in a stable financial condition, though not all are looking for additional homes. This generation is most likely to respond to conventional marketing methods such as direct mail through the door and print media advertisement, i.e., TV ads and newspapers.
But don’t misunderstand, baby boomers are not totally foreign to the digital age. This generation spends a big chunk of their time on Facebook. Optimizing your Facebook business page is essential for interacting with this generation.
Out of all available marketing tools, email marketing will be your best ally. Just keep the email plain and easy to read and stay away from overly technical or modern jargon. Using big, bold fonts, with professional and approachable copy will help convey your message loud and clear.
Targeting Generation X Homebuyers
This generation lived in an era when media channels took over the traditional media marketing stage. People from Gen X are open-minded towards modern marketing campaigns. Therefore, you can use more advanced strategies such as engaging visual content and story-based home selling tactics in your emails and advertisements.
Utilize images, charts, videos, and other graphical content to grab the attention of Gen X home buyers. Don’t ask them to do something too tech-savvy or join a platform unnecessarily – as not all of them understand modern tech like Millennials and Gen Z.
A great way to Incentivize for this generation is to offer discounts and coupons in your emails. They love to find a good deal!
But email isn’t the only channel to find this generation. You can also get the Gen X home buyers on social media platforms – mainly Facebook. Other marketing platforms include radio ads, TV ads, direct mails, and newspapers.
Targeting Millennial Homebuyers
This is the largest group of buyers. If they are not your whole focus, they should at least be a large part. You’re going to want to harness every marketing and consumer engagement strategy and tool in your arsenal to grab the Millennials in your locale.
From conventional marketing methods such as radio, TV, direct, and newspaper to digital marketing tools like social media and emails, you can use them all. If you are a real estate agent on a budget or just starting into the business, emails and social media are your best ally.
Both are mostly free of cost, as you do not require money to send out emails and create a Facebook Business page. This way, you can send out text and visual-based content to entice potential clients. However, you may want to consider if you are targeting young Millennials or older ones.
You can rely on a more quirky, visually impressive and quick strategy, such as a short message, to target young Millennials. On the other hand, you may want to use a more formal and visually detailed email to the older members of this generation.
Targeting Gen Z Homebuyers
Gen Z is mostly teenagers right now, so they are not a great niche for you to target. If you ever have to (in an odd case), you can apply the same formula as you would with Millennials. But – if you have dreams of going viral, and think you’ve got the chops to produce great video content – hop on TikTok! You could start growing your fan base (or maybe they’ll tell their parents about you).
Conclusion
Email marketing can help your real estate business target the right audience cost-effectively. You need to know which generation your target audience belongs to and deploy the above-mentioned strategies accordingly.
