Micro-Influencer: Marketing to Boomers

Hello there, my name is Faith and I am the founder of XYUandBEYOND: Feasting on Culture travel blog and website. I am a young (59) boomer on the tail end of the boomer revolution. We have changed society dramatically and as a niche group, we are now changing the face of travel and experiences for people our age. I am the target audience – I am a micro-influencer who specializes in marketing to boomers and gen X.

The majority of my site visitors (over 60%) are age 35 and up, 75% female and dominantly US-based. With this link, you can see my current stats from GA and take a look at an overview depending on the dates you input. 

We are not stuck at home watching TV we are actively engaged in our communities and the rest of the world. We boomers travel because we want to experience other cultures, different foods, see historic sites and all the things we saw on television growing up. We are active, we have money and we want to experience the world through the lens of experience. We are the product of music from the Beatles to the Sex Pistols. We have purple hair, dress accordingly to our own personal style and don’t fit into any traditional “old people” moulds. WE are not our parents and we won’t exist as our parents did – we want more.

Hubs and I have travelled for the past 4 years. Initially planning on taking early retirement we moved to Mexico to a little fishing village called Chelem. We spent a year there and did some pet sitting and house sitting and learned more about this intriguing way to travel. We applied for some house sitting jobs as we knew we could not afford to travel through Europe on our limited budget. This started us on a whole new adventure. 

We started house sitting in Ireland which we are lucky enough to hold passports for and it turns out felt just like home. So over the course of the next 3 years, we explored Ireland, the UK, Spain, Cyprus and other EU areas like Turkey to discover that we loved Ireland and would make our base here and travel around Europe via house sitting.

Since the birth of this website in 2016 when it was started as a way to keep in touch with friends and family in Canada. XYUandBEYOND has grown from around 12 viewers to over 55,000 visitors a month. Being new to the whole business of blogging I didn’t even have Google Analytics installed properly for months.

In my previous life, I specialised in helping new and creative entrepreneurs to build their businesses. I acted as a mentor and adviser to mainly food, hospitality, tourism and creative based operations helping create new and exciting locally based businesses. From there I began to work with not for profit groups helping them to generate new revenue streams. I have worked with artists, creators, makers, restauranteurs, caterers, chefs, writers, hotels, travellers and entrepreneurs dreaming of creating sustainable social enterprises.

My audience, much like myself, are young boomers, early retirees, empty nesters, GenX or those adopting a minimalist lifestyle. We are seeking new adventures and spending money on experiences, great food and the occasional splurge. XYUandBEYOND appeals to the boomer traveller who may not be able to afford luxury all the time but are looking for moments of beauty, new places to explore, new foods to try and be able to look back on their journey with a sense of accomplishment.

Media Post says this about Boomer  and Gen-X Women:

“When we divided respondents by age, we saw that the qualities that differentiate Gen-X and Boomer women from Millennials continue to change as they age.

Two examples: humour and education increase in value (and influence) as women age.

If you are trying to influence Boomers, make sure that the influencers you engage can make them laugh. Life teaches many women to laugh at themselves, and they are more likely to follow bloggers who do so themselves (even on campaigns about serious topics). 

Similarly, their own experiences in life mean that women value experience more — and trust each other more – as they age. As a result, they are looking for and they are more likely to follow bloggers who offer specific tutorials and lessons based on their own experience.

Simply stated, as women age, the value of experience grows, while the value of “marketing” declines.

Baby Boomers and Gen-X’ers make great influencers and great influencees (if that is a word) because they really like listening to and influencing each other — perhaps more than any other demographic segment. If you’re ready to work with them on influencer marketing campaigns, just remember to pick bloggers and influencers who reflect the qualities of trust that Boomers look for in others. “