My generation: A review of marketing strategies on different age groups

Abstract

As the famous pop group, the Who, sang “My generation”, referring to the wants and needs of their fans and popular culture in the mid-1960s, change was in the air. In the early 21st century an ever more complex world exists, and for today’s hotel marketing teams, online marketing approaches need to focus on specific target groups, and often the best way to do this is by age group. This paper focuses on the influences marketing strategies have on the different generations and how a specific generation can be influenced in order to gain more sales in the hotel sector. This article will illustrate that the Baby Boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964, is a very diverse age group. Baby Boomers can be influenced with both traditional and online marketing strategies. Following on from Baby Boomers, there is a group categorised as Generation X. This generation is in an age group situated in the middle between the Baby Boomers and Generation Y; however, this paper will show that this age group shows a strong preference for online marketing, and consists of mainly digital natives, and social media and online marketing strategies are the best way to present hotel marketing campaigns to this particular age group.

Keywords: consumer choice, generations, hotels, marketing strategies