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There is no such thing as a “typical” senior. Generally, once people reach age 65, they are referred to as seniors — although many marketers today also consider the leading edge of the baby boomers who are now in their mid to late 50s to be a part of the senior audience. AARP, the leading senior membership organization, today represents more than 35 million members over the age of 50. That’s a tremendous audience and one that’s not homogenous. (And, of course, not all older Americans are AARP members.)

This vast group of Americans owns 70 percent of all money market accounts and certificates of deposit assets, and they have a per capita income 26 percent higher than the national average. They spend more than $1 trillion on goods and services (SeniorMag.com, 2004):

They account for 60 percent of all health care spending
They purchase 74 percent of all prescription drugs and buy 51 percent of all over-the-counter drugs
They acquire 41 percent of all new cars
They purchase 25 percent of all toys
They account for 8 percent of all luxury travel

Statistics like these are interesting, but they won’t help you make a solid connection with a senior. Certainly, taken as a whole, seniors tend to be more affluent than younger Americans — but in order to really connect, you’ll need to understand the impact of aging on a typical man or woman. And you’ll need to know how those cognitive, physical, emotional and social changes will affect their responsiveness to any particular marketing messages.

Although aging adults have many things in common with each other in terms of cognitive and emotional response, never lose sight of the fact this is a huge and diverse market. Not all seniors are alike — and not all will respond well to a particular marketing tactic. It pays to be familiar with the commonalities, but don’t assume you can market one way to all seniors collectively. You can’t. Seniors don’t become more alike as they age; rather, they become more unique. Your marketing tools must have lots of variety in style to meet the different ways seniors respond. No one avenue will reach the majority of seniors.