Usa business

Remember the old slogan that “children should be seen and not heard?”

Clearly, that no longer applies to teens and tweens, prepubescents 8 to 14 years old. These days, teens and tweens are seen and heard, loudly and clearly.

What should business people do about these two groups? Just wait until they grow up? No, not at all. You need to take action now.

Though not always old enough to buy our products, we need continuous marketing communications to teens and tweens, starting now.

Properly done, that can develop a positive relationship between tweens and teens and your business, positioning you for future long term success.

As author Anne Southerland writes, get to them at age 8 or 9 “at the cusp of tweendom.”

For years, the tobacco and liquor industries have tried to reach kids with messages saying, “when you’re old enough to drink or smoke, please use our brand.”

The fast food chains market to kids, too. They aim their TV commercials at children, since kids often decide which fast food store to visit, after mom decides that “she deserves a break today.” Dad lamely completes the deal as chauffeur and treasurer.

The marketing payoff for fast food companies comes from promotion to tweens and teens when they reach the 18 to 24 age group, the heaviest fast food user group.

A majority of 18 to 24 year olds eat most meals in fast food places.

Extensive market research shows that those 11 and older don’t consider themselves children anymore.

As an example, 70% of boys and girls at age 13 select their own clothes. 60% of tween boys make their own fast food dining choices.

Most boys at age 10 already know what kind of car they’d like to buy.

In their own minds, those over 11 are now adults.

The 25 million tweens in the USA spend $51 billion each year, and another $170 billion is spent on them annually, mostly by parents and relatives.

The teen market has $175 billion in annual sales. One high school senior in three carries a major credit card. And 63% of teens are very well wired, mostly by having their own cell phones and/or laptops.

Very interesting, you say-—but what’s really at stake here for me, as a business person? Plenty! There are four major issues to consider:

1. The authority of parents is waning—because some parents are too wimpy to “train up their children in the way they should go,” the Bible way.

Coneheaded, permissive Doctor Spock mushiness prevails in many homes (“the children are our friends and we dare not offend them”).

2. In the absence of consistent, wise parental leadership, tweens and teens are strongly influenced by peer groups and marketers, research shows.

3. Marketers have been blessed for many years by Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964). But Boomers are starting to retire and, within 10 to 20 years, their purchasing power will wane.

4. Serious marketing futurists think that today’s tweens can eventually replace boomers financially, since tweens are extremely quality and brand conscious and are very glib spenders.

That being the case, why shouldn’t long term marketers start cultivating tweens now?

While we deplore the decline in effective parenting, my business believes that we should start relationship building with tweens and teens right now to help create our long term business success for these reasons:

1. Tweens and teens are excellent practioners of “viral marketing,” today’s term for word of mouth advertising. This is a cost-efficient way to communicate.

2. Tweens and teens are unaware of the benefits of self-employment, since parents often don’t know these things and most schools are still creating employees suitable to staff the Industrial Revolution, which no longer exists.

Tweens and teens need to learn about selling, business planning, and how to develop themselves personally and professional to be successful self-employed persons.

3. Since 10 year old boys know what kind of car they want, they should learn from marketers now how to take care of a car--specifically, which products and services they'll need.

Now what is my busines doing to start communicating with tweens and teens?

We’re taking the Tony Bennett approach. Explaining Tony’s career resurgence, his son and manager, Danny, said, “We didn’t make it cool to be Tony Bennett. We put him in places where it was cool to be.”

These include Tony in concert with BB King, the late Ray Charles, David Letterman’s Show and appearances on the Simpsons—to name a few.

So, we’re starting to put my business and myself in tween and teen places where it’s cool to be.

John just got a “space” in the wildly popular with tweens and teens www.myspace.com website.

In just one week, he’s been contacted by a local computer service and repair firm and a lady selling mortgage refinancing.

John has added Internet Messenger, because IM is very popular with younger generations, as is text messaging, especially tweens and teens.

Major portals recently launched their versions of www.myspace.com. John has created “spaces” there as well.

And one consulting professional is teaching clients how to mine existing portal directories to find business partner prospects, “talking" with prospects using IM.

That’s just our initial start toward teens and tweens.