I have a quick thought today. I have mentioned before that we stand to lose the audiences we already have (the Silent and Boomer generations) if we ignore them for jumping on the “we have to get the younger generations” wagon. I have also brought up the point that we have a generation gap with Gen X being the forgotten generation (and their children, who are young Millennials, may not be introduced to the arts since parent and older sibling influence matters).

If you focus on one generation while ignoring another, shrinking audiences and gaps will happen, which will continue the gaping holes we are seeing in our audiences. So what are we to do with limited time and resources?

A long time ago I proposed that you find the commonalities among the generations. In the simplest terms – find the people (of any age) that will really enjoy what you have to offer and then promote in ways that will reach all generations. You can also become more savvy about generational marketing.

There are still outlets that you can promote to all generations. Believe it or not, the older generation is getting into being online, at least to get information. Be sure to have a way to purchase online, by phone, and by mail still, but the message can still be delivered online for all generations.

If you have ideas for generational promotion, please do share. Since I said this would be a quick post, I will end here, but we all could spend some time focusing on how to reach people of all ages that would enjoy our art, and not just one generation or another.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder, Audience Development Specialists