Enduring Marketing Ideas for Grandparent’s Day

Since Grandparent’s Day honors the elderly and their contributions to society, you as business owner must acknowledge the indelible mark they have left in our lives by holding marketing campaigns that cater to their needs. Aside from capitalizing on this holiday, coming up with a promo on Grandparent’s Day allows you to provide financial relief to senior citizens and increase the impression of your branding to the public.

Below are marketing suggestion that you could try out for your business in commemoration of Grandparent’s Day.

Grandparent’s Day is Mother’s and Father’s Day combined!

Your business can hold promotions or events that cater to both grandmothers and grandfathers. If you missed out on Mother’s and Father’s Day, you can hold your marketing campaigns on this catch-all day instead.

Below are resources about print marketing that can help you conduct your plan much more effectively.

• 15 Heartwarming Mother’s Day Card Ideas
• 4 Fathers Day Printable Gift Ideas for Businesses
• 20 Funny Father’s Day Print Ads for Direct Mail Advertising

Marketing tools to use: Something as simple as a thank you card to be mailed out to grandparents using a mailing list lets you acknowledge them not only as a market segment, but also as human beings who have lived long enough to see their children become fathers and mothers themselves.

Host baby boomer events

The baby boomer generation, considered by TIME as its “Man of the Year” in 1966, is slowly coming to age – the dependency ratio of people 65 years and older will have increased from 22% in 2010 to 35%  in 2030, according to the United States Census Bureau (Source).

While baby boomers may have been dampened by old age, the spirit of the generation will always remain strong. Some of the most identifiable characteristics of baby boomers is their carefree attitude and thirst for adventure. Scarborough Research has published a press release discussing the spending habits of boomers through the years given their approach to life.

Below is a text lifted from the article that would prove helpful in your efforts to market towards grandparents:

Baby Boomers are spending their time out on the town. In the past 12 months Baby Boomers have attended a professional sporting event (36%), attended live theater (22%), visited an art museum (14%), attended a rock concert (12%) and gone to the symphony or opera (9%). And Baby Boomers don’t just have a hunger for entertainment – they are 11% more likely than all American adults to have eaten at a seafood restaurant or steakhouse in the past 30 days.

For bar owners, they can hold a baby boomers night by featuring music during their time. They can either hire a tribute band that covers rock and roll music and just set up a jukebox that feature songs from their era and they can choose which songs to play. Also, since football season is underway, they can hold a viewing party at the bar while offering discounted prices to grandparents who wish to enjoy the game.

For restaurateurs, simply slash off prices at your seafood or steak dishes on your menu. If you offer neither, include either dish on your menu as a limited special in your restaurant to drive more grandparents to try on your new entree for size.

Marketing tools to use: Promote your Grandparent’s Day Special at your shops by handing out flyers at places with high foot traffic and displaying posters in your stores weeks before the actual sale takes place. This would give them enough time to be informed and plan their schedule in consideration of your promo.

Connect grandparents with their grandchildren

According to AARP, more than half of the grandparents who were interviewed for the study believe that they play an important role of imbuing moral and values in the lives of their grandchildren (Source). The increase in assumed responsibility of grandparents towards their grandchildren is testament to their commitment in imparting their acquired wisdom through the years to the young.

However, the study also mentions that one of the biggest obstacles that prevent grandparents from seeing their grandchildren was distance. Car rentals and transport services can take cue from this by offering discounts on rentals or lowered price on fares, respectively, to senior citizens.

Marketing tools to use: Aside from flyers, vinyl banners are ideal large format prints used to display your promos for your target market to see. Since these are weather resistant, set up your banners right outside your shop to immediately draw their attention to your services or set up a photo booth with customized backdrops to keep them engaged.

Do you agree with the suggestions above for Grandparent’s Day? Do you have other ideas for this coming holiday that you’d like to share? Join in the discussion by commenting below!