Mar 11, 2016
The Most Influential Generation By Tim Hodson

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of discussion in our industry about how we can bridge the gardening gap from Baby Boomers to Millennials.

Well, according to a newly-released study from Yahoo!, Gen X (35 to 54 years old), the demographic group between Boomers and Millennials is already “America’s Most Influential Generation,” so it probably would be extremely wise to not ignore the purchasing power of Gen X today to take care of the Millennials tomorrow.

The Yahoo! study says there are 81 million Gen X adults who control 29 percent of the estimated net worth dollars and 31 percent of the total income dollars in the United States.

Other findings about this generation from the Yahoo! study include:

  • Nearly 80 percent of Gen Xers have a smartphone, and by 2018, 88 percent will have one.
  • Gen X loves to multi-task especially during prime time (7-11 p.m.) That’s when 84 percent says they are using 2+ devices (phones, laptops and TVs are the most popular) and they switch between these devices on average 9.2 times an hour.
  • They like their brands, as approximately 33 percent say they consume content posted by brands on social media. A real eye-opener is that 30 percent say they are more likely to click on an ad specifically targeted to their generation.

Boomers, Gen X and Millennials are all important to the future growth of our industry. There is no single solution to reach all three groups equally — they all have very specific needs and react quite differently to what our industry has to offer.

How do you promote your products to consumers? Do you use different tactics to approach the different demographics?

Drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com and let me know.

If you’d like to learn more about the Yahoo! study, click here.


Tim Hodson




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