Stages Not Ages

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing those who serve midlife adults is the language used to describe and engage them. Terms like 'senior,' 'elderly,' even 'older adult' carry negative connotations that usually suggest diminished or declining capacities. A term like 'retirement' is becoming irrelevant in today’s world of extended and active work  lives.

Marketing leaders believe that active older adults are best reached by appealing to their core values, interests and lifestyle choices rather than by targeting their chronological age. Many midlife adults who are active, engaged, adventurous types respond best to experiences that promise them the same.

Organizations like public libraries that effectively market themselves to midlife adults acknowledge this life stage as a time of exploring options, making new connections, learning new things, re-tooling skills for the encore job or career, and sharing talents and wisdom. By targeting midlife adults with language that speaks to a life stage and not an age, organizations will also attract people of all ages who share similar interests and lifestyles.

When it comes to a midlife demographic marketing strategy consider:

• Instead of illness, think WELLNESS.
• Instead of anti-aging, think ACTIVE or POSITIVE AGING.
• Instead of decline, think POTENTIAL.
• Instead of 'cared for,' think RESPONSIBLE and INDEPENDENT.
• Instead of promoting ageist concepts, promote
  AGELESS CONCEPTS. 

Reframing how we think about aging can be a self-fulfilling prophecy in itself. Research has found that thinking positively about getting older can extend one's life by 7.5 years -- that's more than the longevity gained from low blood pressure or low cholesterol or by maintaining a healthy weight, abstaining from smoking, or exercising regularly!

Recent Marketing Efforts from California Libraries

The Hayward Public Library created Book to Action, a program designed to engage adults in reading and discussing a book and then participating in a related group community service project.

Through a partnership with Skyline College, the Daly City Public Library offered two 9-week Wi$eUp programs which focused on financial literacy issues facing Boomers.

Boomers, who work in Palo Alto but live elsewhere and therefore do not often use the Palo Alto City Library, were offered 5 lunch-time Feed Your Head programs that featured experts on brain fitness and healthy aging from Stanford University Medical Center.

The Santa Monica Public Library designed and delivered a program series called The Living Room Project which showcased 28 different educational and cultural programs for older adults that resulted in a total combined attendance of 1592 people.

Marketing Your Own Efforts

Once you’ve started positioning your own library as a hub for midlife adults and productive aging, it will be important to tell your community about those efforts. Traditional media approaches can help you get the word out, but don’t forget the power of the Internet. The key to Internet success is ubiquity: making your project known across a multitude of web and social media sites. Start with your own library’s web site as the hub and other social networking tools can help create spokes that highlight your TLA50 project.