Conference Buddies

How to Sell to Niche Markets Online

How to Market to Baby Boomers:

Panelist: Ali Moiz , COO, Peanut Labs Media, Virtual Currency Specialist

• Virtual currency is a new market, valued at $2 billion
• Baby Boomers are born between 1946 to 1964
• They have the highest income bracket
• Spends more than other age groups, especially in travel
• Fastest growing group of social networks users
• $1.2 billion in custom-sample market in 2008
• Fastest growing section of online gamers
• Only 5% to 15% are monetizing for gamers
• Example: Zombieland movie, finding a good trailer for that movie can generate $2 million more. Tested on baby boomers to find which trailer out of three they liked the best, used that one for the campaign
• Biggest segment of baby boomers make over $50,000 to $125,000 per year
• Commonly played online games for baby boomers: free to play (Yahoo! Games), casual games (Facebook, MySpace), Massively Multiplayer Games (MMO’s), downloadable games, virtual worlds, it’s a $1.5 billion market
• Baby boomer spend on average 7 hours a week playing online games
• Plays eight or more online games at the same time
• Works full time
• 23% are paying for online games
• 24% are buying goods online
• 14% pay for premium content online
• 18% watch ad-supported free streaming (i.e.Hulu)
• CPM’s generated online dollars

How to Market to Teens Online:

Panelist: Daniel Brusilovsky, 16-year-old CEO, Teens & Techs Networks, writes for Tech Crunch, Marketing Manager for Quick (iPhone apps)
Daniel@danielbru.com
www.danielbru.com
Twitter.com/danielbru

• Teens & Techs conference inspires teens to start their own business
• Second Life, a teen community
• Social media advertising: target teens.
• Why teens like Facebook: it’s simple to use, easy to understand, communication with friends (Facebook chat) helps each other with homework.
• Why teens don’t like Twitter: their media content, the open platform creates mistrust
• Why teens don’t like MySpace: too cluttered, but good for bands to upload their audio, too many Ads, it’s old news
• Print advertising is strong in schools because of the school newspaper
• Print Ads work for teens: people will read it, make it interesting
• eCommerce: teens like to buy clothes online, like to use Zappos and Amazon. Use eCommerce to your advantage. Integrate all your social media marketing to eCommerce
• If something doesn’t work, try something new. Teens are used to changes and are open-minded.

Questions from audience:

1) Why isn’t your school’s newsletter online? Daniel: It is, but it sucks
2) What is the return rate from teens buying online? Daniel: Zappos is a great example: easy returns, good customer service
3) What is the next big thing after Facebook? Daniel: It’s too soon to tell, but keep a look out for mobile, especially in social networking.
4) Where else are the baby boomers? Ali: They are also big on eCommerce, they search for news a lot, and they like informational sites
5) How can you sell to teens online when they don’t have credit cards? Daniel: get a link to your parents’ credit card, get PayPal. Ali: try Bill My Parents website
6) What is your favorite fan page on Facebook? Daniel: None, Ali: Just trying to avoid my mom on Facebook
7) Do kids influence their parents’ eCommerce activities? Ali: eCommerce will expand through friends’ recommendation. Daniel: Apple has a great example, influences kids to beg their parents for their products.
8) What’s the market for smartphone apps? Ali: Digital Chocolate, a company that is betting their market on smartphones, gaming is becoming huge on phones. Daniel: a flip phone is uncommon, most devices have internet access now
9) What’s a good online search for baby boomers’ buying trends without paying too much? Ali: check blogs, check Think Equity, a research firm. Compete.com and Quantcast.com
10) If I want to sell SAT study guides, who should I market to? Daniel: to the teens, the teens will want it, event thought the parents are buying it.
11) Are there more stats on baby boomers? Ollie: yes, more women are playing games online than men. (65% to 35%)
12) Is e-mail marketing effective on teens? Daniel: no, teens are not using email anymore.