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Dot Boom: Marketing to Baby Boomers Through Meaningful Online Engagement

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David Weigelet and Jonathan Boehman truly understand the Boomer market and how to reach them online. What makes this book unique is its focus on engagement -- something that is too often overlooked in other marketing books. Engagement is key to this audience. Boomers not only have substantial buying power but frequently tell others about their experiences. They are avid word-of-mouth advertisers. Marketers that build relationships with Boomer customers will find their customers' influence powerful. The authors explain plainly how to create this connection online and provide numerous examples of other companies that have done so successfully. If you are interested in targeting this market, this is one book that you should not miss.

Every marketing agency strives to achieve a point of differentiation - something tangible to hang its hat on to stand out from the competition.

Among the most popular tools utilized by marketing agencies to create a value proposition and showcase relevant agency expertise, is through the authoring of book. But with hundreds of new marketing titles published annually, authoring the elusive bestseller is no easy feat.

I willingly and cheerfully agreed to review Dot Boom: Marketing to Baby Boomers through Meaningful Online Engagement for two reasons: 1.) As a baby boomer I wanted to find out what tools, techniques and Web 2.0 technologies are being leveraged to reach me and my generation and, 2.) as head of Boomer Authority(tm) it is my responsibility to keep current on all things boomer related.

I'm sure glad I took the time to read Dot Boom. As a former public relations practitioner, I am keenly aware yesterday's marketing techniques just do not work anymore and that Social Media and Web 2.0 offer unprecedented opportunities to make advertising, marketing and public relations professionals succeed on behalf of their clients more powerfully than ever before.

There will be two kinds of mature marketing professionals in the future: those who read Dot Boom and adopt its principals and practices, and the unemployed looking for work in a different field.

I can confidently report the authors of Dot Boom, David Weigelt and Jonathan Boehman, have been successful in creating a valuable strategic asset for Immersion Active, the marketing agency for which they both are partners.

Let's talk about the book.

Dot Boom will take you on a journey to better understand the boomer demographic, our online motivations, our behavior, and what our preferences are with regard to the web destinations we visit and why.

As you journey through the pages you'll find it punctuated with useful signposts along the way. Dot Boom is neatly packaged into three main sections with a total of nine chapters. Each chapter cleverly begins with a quote - a lyric - from a hit song by a popular artist to set-up the chapter.

Like billboard signs along the road, graphs and charts are included in support of their research.

Need a break? Tired of reading? You may dig deeper into a particular topic online with numerous links provided within each chapter, which I found to be very convenient. What I believe to be a valuable feature of the book is that each chapter ends with "The TakeAway." So succentict are the takeaways, I found myself reading them first.

A key component in the book comes in Chapter 8: A Model for Meaningful Online Engagement. In detail, authors Weigelt and Boehman present "The Meaningful Online Engagement Model" (MOEM).

MOEM is a proprietary strategic planning tool that merges creative, media, and technical development into an integrated approach that, upon effective execution, will deliver results in campaigns targeting boomers. In my judgment, this is the tool that serves as Immersion Active's point of differentiation.

It is one thing to dazzle readers by name dropping the coolest cutting-edge social media tools and Web 2.0 technologies like RSS, widgets, user-generated content, etc. But they made certain not to neglect the fact that technological wizardry is no substitute for a well-thought out marketing communications program. Besides, emphasizing fundamentals like defining one's audience, MOEM also drills home the message to publish content that is useful, unobtrusive, honest, engaging, and interactive.

At the end of chapter, readers are invited to build their own engagement strategy - a MOEM scorecard that you can use to help gather your thoughts, answer questions, and record valuable data.

The scorecard helps you develop three critical strategies:
> Brand Engagement - an outline of the message you want to communicate about your brand.
> Audience Engagement - refining the details of who you should want to communicate to and how it should be told.
> Content-space Engagement - developing the end result in an actionable, specific engagement marketing communications plan.

As publisher of Baby Boomer [Knowledge Center](tm) it became abundantly clear early on that baby boomers are utilizing Social Media to communicate with family and friends, collaborate in teams, and cooperate with anyone they choose anywhere, anytime. In the emerging arena of user-generated content and citizen journalism, baby boomers are empowered and emboldened, and they want to discuss brands and companies, write their own product reviews, and find their own deals.

That's why MOEM is such a compelling tool. You can begin your own MOEM scorecard right now. Just visit the Immersion Active web site.

Dot Boom is recommended reading for any brand manager wanting to make a serious foray into the boomer space. Marketing agencies seeking to occupy a spot in 50+ boomer space take heed. With the publication of this book, Immersion Active has set the gold standard in 50+ marketing. Take advantage of its diligent research.

One criticism I have'mild as it might be 'is Dot Boom at times reads like the marketing text book I was required to read in college. And, occasionally, it's a tad bit too intellectual. Having said that, it remains in my view a passionate and persuasive book.

Dot Boom is destined to be quoted frequently. These two savvy marketing executives encourage you to share their hard work under the guidelines of a Creative Commons license. In fact, here at Boomer Authority(tm), we'd like to serialize the book. And with good reason: it has all the right tools for understanding the psychology behind boomer consumer choices, as well as the depth of challenges faced by today's advertisers trying to reach the 50+ demographic.

This well thought out book will be a benchmark moment for all marketing agencies and brand managers who ask the fundamental question: how can we connect with boomer consumers today? With the publication of Dot Boom, Weigelt and Boehman are likely to keep Immersion Active at the top of the leader board for some time to come.

Just finished reading BOOM dot: Marketing to baby boomers through Meaningful Online Engagement, by David Weigelt & Jonathan Boehman and it won't be my last time doing so. This is a marketing book that is accessible and insightful. I could RELATE to the concepts and understand them as a nurse, and it will inform my online strategy from now on.
These two guys get it--and it's beyond Maslows's Hierarchy of Needs. This is not about manipulating--if you're looking for insights on how to manipulate consumers this is NOT the book for you; there are plenty of others to choose from. But, if you want to understand how to achieve a higher level of engagement with potential customers that's authentic and relevant, then this is the book for you.

For example on page 34:
What's crucial to understanding behavior, and thus the effectiveness of marketing, is to grasp how our biological similarities interact with our psychological differences.
Trust me, you are going to want to understand what this means.

This book provides language for ideas that make a difference, concepts like Developmental Relationship Marketing and Meaningful Online Engagement will change how marketing is done from now on--and it's a welcomed change.

Patrick Roden PhD
aginginplace.com

If you are looking for a book to help you navigate the maze of today's online marketing to the 50+ year old market, then Dot Boom is a "must have" for your bookshelf.

David Weigelt and Jonathan Boehman, partners of Immersion Active, are the first of their kind to focus solely on this market and their extensive knowledge of the subject is evident throughout this book..

David Wolfe's excellent introduction sets the stage for a book that serves as a marketer's roadmap to understanding and connecting with today's important Baby Boomer market.

They begin by discussing the size and potential of this market. They bust myths that previously had been assumed - that boomers don't use the internet in the same way that other age groups do, that they don't visit the same kinds of websites, and that they aren't quickly jumping on the information highway. Their research proves differently. They also provide valuable facts and figures about exactly how much different age groups are spending online and how much they expect to spend. For anyone planning an online campaign, this is golden information.

The book then addresses why it is important to do things differently than marketers have in the past as well as why traditional methods of advertising aren't working particularly well any longer. They introduce their concept of Meaningful Online Engagement as a way to measure the effectiveness and value of marketing efforts.

The heart of the book deals with the things that need to be understood before planning any effective marketing campaign. Weigelt and Boehman get inside the head of the typical boomer and explain how and why purchasing decisions may be made by this group. Dealing with everything from emotional reasons to how information is processed, this section illustrates to the reader why some campaigns have worked well over time and why. They also highlight the fact that as boomers age, many times emotional decisions take over decisions made from a purely information basis.

From a psychological perspective using Maslow's Hierarchy and David Wolfe's research, Dot Boom walks the reader through Wolfe's Seasons of Life that clearly illustrates the perspective that people may have as they move through the various stages of their life and how that affects their buying decisions.

To realize that we no longer live in a world where decisions are made solely on the basis of need or want and how the other variables can affect a decision is crucial for any marketer, in a business of any size, to understand. The fact that, in many cases, it's becoming an experience based marketing world, is a point not to be ignored by anyone wishing to continue to expand and grow their business.

The book models in several important ways, how to survive the oncoming online explosion. No matter if you are sole marketer for a small business, or planning a major campaign, Dot Boom contains valuable, relevant information for a company of almost any size. To understand your market and the consumers you are targeting is essential in the success of any marketing effort in this day and age and this book explains in plain English how to do that. It's done in an interesting and easy to read format that is a delight to pick up.

Given the fact that there are millions of babyboomers who continue to buy billions of dollars of products and services, it is amazing that so little has been written about their buying habits and consumer needs. I read Dot Boom with three hats: 1) as a babyboomer; 2)as a print and virtual communicator and 3)as a book author on how to start an online business as well as a new ipad app for this market "Family&MeReader."

I learned a great deal about myself and my peers and how to communicate and market to them. Very helpful was the combination of the academic and hands-on information. The book provided a good foundation about these babyboomers and then the nitty gritty of engagement.

I look forward to the next book with some more examples of Web sites/blogs that are successfully catering to this market and case studies. For the next 10 to 20 years, this market is going to rule the roost. The more information available, the better!

David Weigelt and Jonathan Boeman's Dot Boom: Marketing to Baby Boomers through Meaningful Online Engagement can be considered a landmark book in the fields of gerontology and marketing at the same time. Gerontologists and others in the field of aging will see the authors have credibly divided the Boomers into their various cohorts and explored the differences between younger and older Boomers. Rather than jump immediately into online marketing, Dot Boom focuses a great deal on Wolfe's Core Values, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and types of messages that reach Boomers effectively, forming a unique holistic framework for the entire book. In the latter third of Dot Boom, Wieigelt and Boeman attempt to redefine online engagement altogether. Rather than look at clicks and page views, the authors want to look at actions and influences, and the desire for people to want share information - and define this new idea as Meaningful Online Engagement. Dot Boom introduces Brand Engagement, Audience Engagement, and Content-Space Engagement strategies with goal of having a fully integrated Meaningful Online Engagement. Through concepts introduced in Dot Boom, marketers and Boomer-oriented companies will have an edge in developing influential online campaigns.

I read a huge number of online marketing books (it is, after all, what I do for a living), and I find the vast majority very pedestrian, full of "basics" and platitudes. Perhaps too much influence from the success of the "Dummies" series...

Dot Boom was a refreshing change. Real insights here into how to leverage the online world and create engagement with the huge boomer market. The chapter titles are well indicative of the book's thrust: challenging conventional marketing, doing things differently.

In short, there is that all-too-rare commodity here: some truly original thinking. It's well worth a read. As a marketer focused on 45-64 women, I've already started using what I learned.

David Weigelt and Jonathan Boehman give us the opportunity with Dot Boom to learn what they do really know "Marketing To Baby Boomers through Meaningful Online Engagement".

Dot Boom is a must for every person involved in marketing to Baby Boomers. It is a great opportunity to learn and understand about "human behavior" and about "the baby boomer generation".

I like very much how they challenge conventional marketing. Which has become more and more expensive and less and less efficient. They really understand the need to Do Thing Differently when marketing to Baby Boomers. Excellent Book, excellent reading.

Luis Miranda
CEO - www.boomersabroad.com
A Niche portal, an online community and a Social network of Baby Boomers seeking out a new life, a dream home and exciting destinations.

As an copywriter and independent marketing communications consultant, I found Dot Boom valuable for three main reasons.

1. I sometimes find myself wrestling with clients who are fixated on "truisms" about web writing that might be true for "Twittering tweeners," but not for older audiences. (e.g., "People don't read; they only skim." "Use bullet points." "Just the facts - keep it short.")

The research presented in Dot Boom gave me some creative elbow room by authoritatively refuting that thinking: ". . . research has shown that if marketing messages only provide consumers with facts and figures, the message will not connect with consumers (especially older consumers) on the same level as a message that invokes their emotions . . ."

2. By examining the psychology, diversity, and complexity of the boomer consumer, Dot Boom has given me a checklist to make sure that I'm consciously addressing a variety of motivations.

3. The chapters on online engagement forced me to think hard about how to engage customers in a way that would be valuable to them, to prospects, and to my customer. As a result, I came up with a couple of very strong ideas for the project I'm working on right now.

I have two criticisms: One is that the authors use big-dollar marketing to illustrate their points, which means some of the tools (e.g., celebrity spokespeople and period music) aren't practical for many of my customers. Two is that the book is too short - which is as much a compliment as a criticism.

Dot Boom provides an excellent perspective not just to the Boomer market, but to the changing dynamics of marketing in the years to come. With a brief history on why and how marketing has been done, the authors look at how this needs to change as Boomers (the New Customer Majority) age and their values change. In doing so, we as marketers need to adapt to this change in order to be more effective, not just to Boomers but in understanding younger markets as well. This isn't because of technological changes such as social media, but this is component that needs to be considered. The book offers some good examples and tools on how this can be done. It's an excellent follow up to David Wolfe's book "Ageless Marketing."