Ahh the mature woman! Something all of us girls grow up to be…well hopefully. As I have embarked on this leg of my personal journey I have noticed more than ever the lack of significance placed on my role, generation and participation in the marketplace.

Is it marketers have counted me out? Do they think I am over the ‘hill’ and no longer am a substanable source of revenue for their bottomline?

It could just be our fascination and even obsession with “being young” but whatever it is…marketers that ignore this market segment are pretty stupid in my books.

November 2009 a white paper titled “The Rise of the Real Mom” was published by Advertising Age written by Marissa Miley and Ann Mack. It’s a refreshing look at just who today’s mom really is and what she really wants. A clear indicator of how out of touch companies are with women in general not to mention mature women!

In one of my favorite blogs covering marketing to women (Wonder Branding published by Michele Miller) she bares witness of how mature women are being undeserved in the marketplace and of all areas…in fashion!

In her article Forgotten Online: Older Women it was stated…

“When asked why the fashion industry continues to focus on ages 18-34, David Grant of ShopFlick (and formerly of Fox TV) responded:

It felt right because it’s what I’ve been doing all my career.”

Mr. Grant is 53.

Not to take the fashion crowd too much to task for virtually ignoring women 35 and older (especially ages 55-64, the fastest growing segment), but too often it seems that the industry can’t see the forest for the trees. The Internet, combined with societal shifts and a changing economy, will be a major force in the “great shake-out” of companies that do what they’ve always done, vs. businesses flexible enough to invent (and re-invent) themselves in ways that cater to the majority market [...]

I love what she said about the ‘great shake-out” of companies! Too bad many of these companies are not listening and not willing to transform. I for one have seen this coming for awhile now and believe we will see some major trouble in the retail sector very soon.

Mature women have been major contributors to the prosperity of business in our country. Yet, I have been seeing a sort of ‘hater’ attitude towards the mature generations going on out there on blogs and media sources and certainly by the fact companies are not focusing much of their marketing on the mature client thee days.

This really disturbs me because despite our generation’s downfalls…we have made and continue to make significant contributions to our world. We certainly made significant contributions in the pockets of the marketplace! Why now are marketers and companies undeserving us? Especially women.

I recently read a post titled ‘Welcome to the frustration decade’ on one of my favorite blogs by one of my favorite forward thinking leaders in 21st century business, Seth Godin. In this particular post he lists two of the most important trends he sees for this next decade one of which is is titled ‘Frustration’.

He states…baby boomers are getting old. Dreams are fading, and so is health. Boomers love to whine and we love to imagine that we’ll live forever and accomplish everything. This is the decade that reality kicks in. And, to top it off, savings are thin and resource availability isn’t what it used to be. A lot of people ate their emergency rations during the last decade. Look for this frustration to be acted out in public, and often[...]

While I agree and even marvel at many of Seth’s observations, I have to say this comment somewhat rubbed me wrong because it joins ranks with those persuasions that have sort of thrown us baby boomers out with the bath water.

The point I am trying to make here is that women have radically changed!  She is smarter than ever, more financially stable than ever, more savvy than ever, more connected than ever and certainly a market segment to be respected and served. Businesses that don’t welcome and embrace the mature woman consumer do not deserve our business. She is not your grandma of old. Surely there are plenty of new businesses out there looking for a profitable niche to serve? Well…come and get it!

NEW YORK, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ — 21% of U.S. adults are now using the
Internet, an increase of one-third from the 2nd quarter of 1997.   85% of
adults online use the Web and 75% use e-mail according to the American
Internet User Survey, from cyberdialogue/findsvp.
“The number of adults online continued to grow dramatically in the second
half of the year, confirming a growing dependency on the Internet,”  according
to Thomas E. Miller, vice president of Cyber Dialogue and developer of the
American Internet User Survey.  “However, the prospects for future growth
become more complicated when you consider non-user interest in using the
Internet and user churn,” Miller stated.
The survey found that 15.9 million U.S. adults tried the Internet in the
past 12 months and for whatever reason are no longer users.  “We first noticed
this trend in the 2nd Quarter of 1997 and realized that by not taking into
account user attrition, some surveys were providing inflated Internet user
numbers,”  Miller said.
The survey also found that 23.8 million adults expressed interest in
signing up for Internet access within the next 12 months, an increase of more
than 2 million users who expressed the same interest in the 2nd quarter of
1997.
“Internet usage will continue to grow for the next five years, but the
market will become much more segmented as the medium becomes more mainstream
and user preferences become more divergent,” Miller stated.

Additional data points of interest include:

58% of current adult Internet users are male; 42% are female

51% of Web users use the Web on a daily basis

87% of Internet users agree with the statement:  “The Internet provides
more efficient access to info I need every day.”

77% of adults who use the Internet predominately for work agree that:
“Online services have made me more productive at my job.”

The American Internet User Survey user survey is a comprehensive overview
of Internet users and potential users.