To Dial In Customers And Team Members, Get Past Outmoded Segments

Is the concept of demographics an outdated business model, or does it still hold sway in shaping business strategies?

This question is particularly pertinent in homebuilding, where it intersects with critical marketing strategies and business culture. The implications of this question extend across various facets of the homebuilding industry, including land investment, floor-plan design, product development, community engagement, marketing, and communication strategies. These considerations are increasingly important in today's economic landscape, characterized by a cost-of-living crisis and a prolonged period of high interest rates that affect "relative affordability" for households across the board, not just the younger, first-time homebuyers.

Moreover, this question underscores the importance of attracting and nurturing the next generation of talent for roles ranging from front-line positions to management and leadership, ensuring the future success of the homebuilding sector.

Given these challenges, should businesses adopt an "age-agnostic" approach, focusing on customers and stakeholders without regard to age? Is it time to embrace a "post-generational" model for customer and employee engagement that could lead the homebuilding industry into the future?

For leaders in today's homebuilding and development sector, navigating this challenge is unavoidable. A timely discussion in the Harvard Business Review highlights the urgency for homebuilders, developers, and investors to find their optimal "strike point" in pricing—balancing the rate of sales with competitive market positioning for future growth. Mauro F. Guillén, a vice dean at the Wharton School and author of "The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society," addresses this very challenge, emphasizing the shift in demographic power from younger to older consumers, suggesting a reevaluation of target markets beyond traditional age-based segmentation.

Demographics suggest that Americans over the age of 60 will soon become a larger consumer group in terms of income than 20-to-34-year-olds, yet companies still position their brands as if the bulk of the market is people under the age of 40. The answer, however, is not to shift marketing strategies from one generation to another. Research has suggested that boundaries between generations are fuzzy, if not arbitrary. Plus there’s a bewildering degree of variability across individuals within the same generation. Instead, marketers should aim to emphasize common values across different age groups and build 'post-generational' brands."

Guillén's insights reveal a critical perspective: the concept of generational cohorts is largely a social construct with blurry boundaries and significant variability within any given age group. He argues for a focus on common values across ages to build "post-generational" brands. This approach not only applies to customer engagement but is equally relevant in attracting and retaining talent, advocating for a shift from age-based to value-based engagement strategies.

Extensive research supports the notion that generational lines are arbitrary, and the variability within age groups is significant. The digital age, with its wealth of real-time data, offers new ways to understand and predict individual behaviors more accurately than traditional demographic models.

Guillén writes:

Most importantly, generations exist only in our imagination. The extensive research undertaken by marketers and social scientists, as reviewed by researchers at Wayne State, DePaul, George Washington, and Leipzig universities, shows that the boundaries between generations are fuzzy, if not arbitrary. Additional research shows that it’s always been hard to ignore the bewildering degree of variability across individuals within the same generation — for example, think about the differences between a Millennial who lives in Brooklyn and one who lives in Des Moines.

Finally, generational thinking is absurd at a time when the revolution in real-time data from smartphones and digital platforms offers more accurate ways of predicting and shaping individual consumer behavior."

In essence, the move towards "ageless" and "post-generational" branding is not just a marketing strategy but a holistic approach to both customer engagement and team development. It suggests a future where businesses thrive by emphasizing shared values and experiences over age-based segmentation, fostering a more inclusive and dynamic environment for customers and employees alike.

Those outdated constructs have not only lost value, but they've actually begun to block pathways to improvement – both in an end-user customer focus and customer care framework and in the context of trying to attract, retain, and grow team member associates in our organizations.

This paradigm shift presents a compelling case for executive leaders in the homebuilding industry and beyond: To transcend outdated demographic models and build brands and cultures that resonate across generations, paving the way for more inclusive, adaptable, and forward-thinking organizations.

A first step is to become an 'ageless' brand, one that emphasizes common values across different age groups. But the destination must be to be build 'post-generational' brands, that is, to create a narrative that allow for generations influencing each other’s preferences and purchases through their interaction."