For many pharmaceutical companies, especially for manufacturers of OTC preparations, senior citizens or "best agers" are an increasingly interesting target group. A wide variety of terms are now being used to describe this lucrative group, such as "silver agers", "golden agers" and "over 50s". According to statistics, this group includes people aged 50 and over. However, it is undisputed that people become senior citizens at the latest when they reach retirement age.
The cliché of medical supply store customers enjoying the senior citizen's plate on coffee trips may still be true here and there, but is generally long gone. This is proven by relevant studies: seniors today feel younger than ever before.
OTC products that contribute to health in old age and offer the opportunity to participate in life in a healthier and more active way in times of an increasingly ageing society are therefore becoming increasingly important. The following figures show that senior citizens or best agers are becoming increasingly relevant as a target group for OTC products:
- The already considerable proportion of senior citizens in the overall population is increasing as a result of demographic change. Currently, almost 40 percent of the population is over 50 years old, by 2035 it will be 50 percent.
- Seniors as a whole are not only affluent, but also keen consumers, as a study from 2020 on the consumer behavior of the 50+ generation.
- In total, almost ten percent of 60- to 69-year-olds and almost 13 percent of over 70-year-olds are "very interested" in OTC products, which another study on the need for over-the-counter medicines from 2020 confirms this.
In short: on average, senior citizens are not only affluent consumers, they are also very happy to spend their money. For many complaints, such as pain in muscles or joints, stomach and intestinal problems or nervousness and sleep problems, they often prefer self-medication with over-the-counter medicines to a visit to the doctor. And their share of the total population continues to grow. This potential needs to be exploited.
However, when positioning OTC products for this market, what should you pay attention to?
1. Segment the senior age group.
In order to address the target group appropriately, you should segment the senior age group into homogeneous parts. In contrast to 14 to 49-year-olds, this age group is quite heterogeneous: The older people get, the more different the experiences they have had over the course of their lives. And these differences also differentiate the respective needs.
At this point, I would like to mention just three approaches:
- The distinction between the so-called best agers, i.e. the 50 to 65 age group, and the actual seniors, i.e. the over 65s, is particularly relevant. While the former are still working, the latter have already retired for the most part.
- Another approach to segmenting this market is the increasing number of complaints in this age group. If these can be treated with active ingredients that are processed in OTC drugs, they can serve as criteria for identifying a specific target group.
- And finally, it is worth looking at OTC products that have already been launched or established to find products that meet the needs of best agers or seniors but have not yet been marketed as such.
2. Describe the buyer persona of your segment.
You should specify the definition of your target group with the description of corresponding buyer personas. For example, you can use existing customer information or consumer insights to determine the needs, wishes and values of typical customers. The key here is to compile a coherent overall picture from relevant data points that represents the character of a buyer persona.
You can derive the consumption behavior of your target group from these buyer personas: You learn what actually makes your target group "tick". This in turn allows you to individualize your marketing messages. Ultimately, the positioning should
- communicate the benefits of your brand,
- convey the lifestyle of the target group and
- inspire or strengthen trust in your brand.
This requires you to focus your strategy on the individual profiles of your target group. This is the only way to create targeted content that is used, consumed and internalized by the target group.
3. Sharpen your brand's focus on the physiological changes that occur with age.
No matter how you position your OTC products: Integrate targeted age-related topics into solution approaches and let them become part of your brand essence. After all, the over-50 age group is by definition already dealing with the external and internal signs and consequences of the ageing process: Presbyopia, altered color perception or hearing loss are generally just as unavoidable and need to be reconsidered from the product side as, for example, declining performance as a result of dwindling muscle mass and reduced dexterity.
Therefore, it is often unavoidable to work out the characteristics of your OTC product that slow down or delay biological aging and thus offer solutions in various directions.
4. Avoid association with negative signs of aging.
When developing the target group approach and the brand or marketing strategy, it is important to ensure that your OTC product is not associated with negative connotations such as "senior-friendly", "old" or similar.
Consumers over the age of 50 also differ from 14 to 49-year-olds in that they do not want to be confronted with the typical attributes of their age group - at least not with those that are clearly negatively associated. It can also have a positive effect on marketing campaigns if you positively charge your brand with attributes such as maturity, experience or sociability.
Which brand and product attributes you should ultimately target, however, always depends on the individual case. A careful selection based on a thorough analysis is crucial.
5. Use insights from medical professionals.
When positioning your product for the "senior target group", you should take insights from medical professionals, especially doctors and pharmacists, into account even more. They have close contact with your target group and therefore have an enormous amount of knowledge about their sensitivities and needs, for example regarding the product, communication or use. This information can also become transparent from the personal contact of the sales force on a daily basis. It is particularly important to communicate the benefits of your brand, convey the lifestyle of the target group and inspire brand confidence (e.g. through a high level of quality awareness, including pricing in the premium segment).
Just as important is the content on the product and news in general, i.e. ideas and observations from the customer journey, up-to-date knowledge, the immense importance of the personal relationship and knowledge of the needs and interests of doctors and pharmacies. This allows you to adapt dynamically and precisely to the age-appropriate target group. Last but not least, you can also offer new products, topics and content to healthcare professionals.
6. Develop an OTC product for distribution in pharmacies and to doctors
If you want to establish your OTC product in the market for senior citizens, you should adapt or optimize distribution in pharmacies and to doctors. This is because customers in their mid-50s
have a greater need for attention and orientation, among other things. This need increases with age: according to Allensbacher Markt- und Werbeträger-Analyse, almost 80 percent of German seniors aged 60 and over who were surveyed turn to family, friends or acquaintances when they want reliable information on medicines and other pharmaceutical products.
Older people tend to be conservative in their purchasing behavior: they buy tried-and-tested products from "their" pharmacy with the faces they are familiar with. Pharmacy-patient communication is therefore a key factor in a positive purchasing decision. Optimizing an OTC product for sales in pharmacies, for example, means above all making it as easy as possible for the pharmacist to recommend the product in the competitive environment.
7. Consider the consumption experience of senior citizens.
When developing your individual strategy, you should take into account that senior citizens have many years of consumption experience, usually over several decades. Seniors are therefore generally more critical and less influenced by advertising, making them more stable and loyal overall.
There are two main ways you can respond to this:
- You should identify your target group in a very differentiated way in order to address them in detail. A campaign based on the watering can principle will fail.
- Your OTC product should above all convey quality and generate a high level of customer satisfaction. This in turn is known to increase loyalty and therefore the competitiveness of a company.
