Boomer Women’s Secret Weapon to Mid-Life Happiness (And How it Should Influence Your Marketing Plan)
Today is the conclusion to my series on what marketers should know about mid-life for Boomer women. We've covered Boomer women's increased control and her support networks. Her third secret weapon to avoiding a mid-life crisis? Menopause.
While a woman no longer has reproductive fertility, researchers have found that in menopause a woman enters a time of enhanced psychological and creative fertility. Margaret Mead coined the term postmenopausal zest to refer to the surge of energy and excitement accompanying this release from what could be termed the biological burden of womanhood. She found this elevated spirit manifested in midlife women across cultures.
It may be fueled in part by the change in ratio of testosterone to estrogen. Perhaps it's what writer Isak Dinesen was talking about when she said, "Women, when they are old enough to have done with the business of being women, and can let loose their strength, may be the most powerful creatures in the world."
So all in all, while the Boomer woman certainly is going through the human development stage known as the midlife identity transition along with her male cohorts, she is fortunate to have more time and flexibility to cope with it, a strong social support network to help her emotionally and a biological bonus of post-menopausal zest.
I don't call that a crisis, do you? In their marketing and sales strategies, companies need to embrace and celebrate this zest Boomer women entering mid-life feel for life. Marketing methods that try to attract Boomer women with appeals to extended youth and excessive nostalgia just won't work with this generation. Boomer women are looking ahead and excited about what they see.
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