Marketing & Sales to Baby Boomer & Older Consumers

Part 7
by James J. Gilmartin
BIO AND CONTACT INFO

It's only in the last decade that most of the literature has been written on how the brain functions and how we process communications. In this continuing series, we'll share recent findings of brain research having relevance to marketing and sales to baby boomer and older consumers. Author David B. Wolfe, a noted expert on Developmental Relationship Marketing contributed much to the findings discussed.

7. Information entering the brain's cortex (outer layers) is first processed mostly in the right brain.
The right brain processes information as sensory images rather than as words and numbers. The left-brain works in numbers and words.

MARKETING IMPLICATION: To arouse the strongest attention, product messages should be rich in sensory stimuli. Even though the right brain can't process words, words can create sensory images, as every storyteller knows. The older a market, the more important it is to present a product in story form.

Read Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

First published on BankersOnline.com 4/15/02