Friday, October 5, 2007

It’s Still The Same “Old” Story

Most of us have a tendency to make certain assumptions about different groups of people.
For instance, what are your assumptions when it comes to the elderly?

I recently had an insight into the thought processes of our senior population.
An 80-year old woman is quitting her job, because they are moving the location.
She picked her last day so as not to coincide with the retirement of another 80-year old woman in the same organization.
The other woman is, in her words–“a b*tch and I don’t want to be associated with her.”

After hearing that, I realized that the emotions that drive all of us do not diminish with age.
In some cases they fester for years and become even stronger.

I belong to an organization that has several senior members in their 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s.
Their blood runs just as hot on certain topics as does the emotions of the younger members.

As marketers, we need to remember that the elderly are just as emotion driven as the rest of us.
They have the same vanities, wants, needs, and fears as all of us.
Don’t discount emotion (think of the seven deadly sins) when you target your marketing to that group.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Ah…Sweet Vindication!

Do you remember my rant about dealing with wannabe writers? I mentioned a client who had majored in journalism and how they have a tendency to nitpick your copy.

It seems that he wasn’t a partner in the venture as he claimed. He was an employee and didn’t have authorization to hire me.

When I sent a follow-up invoice noting that the bill was past due, I got a call from the real owner.

The former “partner” was no longer with the company, but had left some of my work in his desk when he departed. They needed more work done (including rewriting work that he’d done) and asked if I was available.

We reached an agreement on the outstanding bill and I now have a new (legitimate, this time) client.

I shouldn’t have picked on all journalism majors. I’ve worked with some who are great writers but admit that they aren’t copywriters. Others have more work than they can handle.

I guess the lesson here is to beware of someone who spends too most of his time telling you how great he is.