Cracking the AgeTech Market: GTM Strategies for Innovation and Adoption

Paul Schmidt (00:10)
I'm joined by Tonia Spiers SmartBug's leading expert in AgeTech. Today we're talking all things about building marketing and sales programs in this industry. The AgeTech industry, in bringing a new product to market, requires you to understand a really nuanced approach to how do you get in front of the end user, the influencers, which are often times the adult child, and then caregivers and others. And so today we're really gonna be talking about how do you

build and reach this type of target audience. And Tonia is going to take us through some of these different aspects of in the age tech market. Tonia, thanks for joining today.

Tonia Speir (00:45)
Thanks, Paul. It's good to be here. Good to see you always.

Paul Schmidt (00:48)
Yeah, so today, let's before we just jump into all this, give us a high level of what is age tech? What is this? What is this market? Give me a little bit more about this.

Tonia Speir (00:57)
course, so age tech is basically aging and technology. So it refers to any products or services that have been designed to support older adults. It's really about how we use technology to leverage healthier lives.

more independence, more connected lives, reducing loneliness. There's a lot of different things. It spans from apps that you use to robotics to monitoring systems. It's a lot of different things. So it can include everything from like health monitoring to telemedicine all the way down to products that maybe caregivers are using. But essentially what we're trying to do, Paul, is bridge that gap between the aging and modern technology so that they can live healthier.

happier, more fulfilling lives.

Paul Schmidt (01:44)
It seems like a pretty wide market of different products and services. Can you, I know it's kind of a broad question, but given your experience in age tech, can you, what are some of the most surprising misconceptions about older adult relationships with technology that you've encountered?

Tonia Speir (02:00)
I think it's probably been, in my experience from first as a marketer and for a long time, I chased this audience when they were at the age of pursuing luxury real estate, golf, resorts. And so it's an audience that I've been following for a really long time. And one thing, and now that they've kind of tipped into this aging stratosphere, it's interesting to still be chasing them, right? And understanding their behaviors.

So I think that what I've encountered with them in technology is that, you know, they were introduced to technology when they were working professionals as a part of their career. They're the first generation that didn't actually grow up with it, but has embraced it, you know, somewhat throughout their life. And so with that, you know, they're not scared, scared of it, but they're not as trusting of it.

And so that relationship with technology in their social life or in their personal life is a little bit different. You know, they're looking, they're not sure how it can, you know, that trust factor of how can it improve my life or why do I need it or is my information safe? They're also a little vulnerable when it comes to it, whether it's been, they've been hacked before or they hear about, you know, older people getting scammed, you know, but really kind of adopting that new technology, I think is where

that balance comes in of making sure that it feels very simple, that it feels very trustworthy, easy to use, but I think more so than anything, it's positioning the value of the technology. So they're looking for technology to maybe manage, whether it's health conditions or to stay socially engaged, they need to recognize the value of this technology and why it's...

why it's something that they should pursue and build their trust in or at least explore.

Paul Schmidt (03:48)
That makes sense. So before we get into marketing and sales approach, I just want to understand just a little bit more about what are some of the common challenges faced by seniors and their caregivers that this market really addresses. Because seniors, they're using a number of different types of technologies. So get a little bit more in depth into terms of this market. Help me understand that a bit better.

Tonia Speir (04:10)
Yes, I think accessibility is one. So traditional products and services weren't necessarily designed with older adults in mind or people that maybe have physical or cognitive needs that they have. So, you know, small buttons or a complex user interface, those things can be frustrating for senior adults or aging adults. And also back to that point, you know, in the earlier question about not growing up with technology.

It can feel very intimidating and you know, caregivers are the ones that are gonna help us kind of bridge that gap. Back to reiterating like, and you're gonna hear that a lot, come up in a lot of answers is the trust and the privacy concerns. You know, they're highly targeted audience for scams because they are vulnerable. And in some regards, they can be a little bit naive when it comes to technology.

but really making sure that you address the security and privacy when it comes to remote healthcare. It's a little different, I think, on the caregiver side. They're the ones who are going to be more positioned for like HIPAA privacy and data violation when it comes to that. Where privacy and concerns, I think, with the actual end user is gonna be more monetary, right? Like, should I give you more?

Paul Schmidt (05:17)
Hmm.

Tonia Speir (05:18)
credit card information or should I give you this information, but really educating them about cybersecurity and how that's becoming more common and allowing them to protect themselves online and just that your business or organization has those measures in place. And I think another challenge that this audience faces is loneliness and isolation, particularly where we're looking at an audience that at one time

would have, generationally speaking, right, people had more children. So when they were aging in their life, they maybe had like three caregivers to every one senior. And now, as we're seeing this kind of reverse happen with the baby boomer market and the large number of them, you know, less children, or to be caregivers, we're going to ultimately over the next five to 10 years, see that flip flop, where there's going to be maybe

one caregiver for every three seniors. And that's a really, that's a big difference. And so with those caregivers that are trying to juggle multiple responsibilities, and there's a lot of stress, like being able to offer that peace of mind of monitoring their loved one, helping them to manage their lives, that really kind of helps track daily routines and kind of know a little bit more about where their loved one is.

without being there every second of the day. So think it's a lot about promoting independence. It's a lot about reducing that isolation and just again, like in the space of how can technology make your life more functional and more accessible to you to live in a fulfilling way.

Paul Schmidt (06:50)
Yeah, that's really interesting. I think that, you know, I would like to get a little bit more into sort of questions I think that some of our marketing audience would be interested in hearing more about just in terms of segmentation. So when we're thinking about segmentation in go-to-market for Agetech, you know, there is the end user, there's the adult child, there's the caregiver, there's other influencers in place. So when you're thinking about this type of market, what

who are like the actual decision makers in these types of purchase? Can you just kind of walk me through that and like how should that impact like overall marketers approach to how they're targeting within these campaigns?

Tonia Speir (07:32)
Yeah, think first, you know, disclaimer there, it's always going to depend on the product or service and it's going to depend on at what stage of aging is your product or service geared towards. Later stage things like from mobility, robotics, tools, things like that, they may be at a later stage. And so your primary decision maker there may be more so the healthcare provider or the adult child.

Paul did I freeze there for a second? Do we need to start that one over?

Paul Schmidt (07:58)
I'll just mark it. Yeah, can start it over again and I can edit that out if you want to go.

Tonia Speir (08:02)
Okay, I saw myself freeze, so I don't know if like it was just on my side or if it happens on your side too, but.

Paul Schmidt (08:08)
All good, you can feel free to try again.

Tonia Speir (08:10)
Okay, I'll pass it. Do you want to start the question again?

Paul Schmidt (08:12)
Sure, yep, I'll start again.

So take me through a little bit more about, we think about what marketers may be asking from a go-to-market perspective. You there's a lot of different segments and personas that we're thinking about and how we have to target them. There's the senior, the adult children or other type of influencer, there's the caregiver. And so in reality, you know, there could be different campaigns and different types of ads or different types of programs that you're running to get in front of.

The people are ultimately going to make the decision or influence the decision. Tell me a little bit about the actual decision maker on this and how should that impact a marketer's approach to getting in front of them?

Tonia Speir (08:50)
Yeah, so you've hit on all three of them, right? The senior themselves, the adult child, and also the healthcare provider. I think, know, quick disclaimer that it could be based on the product or service and at what phase of aging it's geared towards. Later stage aging, it might be, you know, where the adult child or the healthcare provider is the person making the decision on that person's behalf for their well being. But, you know, earlier stage, mid-stage, I think that senior is still gonna be the ultimate person.

that you have to win over because they're the ones who are gonna be using it and adoption is key to them. What's different here is how you speak to each one of these audiences. So the adult child is gonna really, and a lot of times they're going to be your champion. They're gonna be the ones that are gonna ask probably the most questions. And in terms of sales strategy, you're gonna have to emphasize that it gives that, know, what's in it for me. And that should be the core of.

any marketer's strategy, right? What's in it for me? What's in it for that buyer? And when you've got multiple parties like this, that what's in it for me is different for each one. So as the adult child, what's in it for them? It's peace of mind. It's ease of use for their loved one. What are the practical benefits? I think for the senior, it's going to be, how simple is it? What's the value in it? Like, what is it doing for me? And I think there's

know, different aspects of how you convey that in your messaging. For the healthcare provider, that's another influencer type role in this, another champion that you wanna win over. And so for them, I think it's gonna be, you know, they're there to earn credibility and to be a resource for whether it's a patient or if it's, you know, someone in like assisted living that they're helping or caring for.

it's more of that, empathy that they're offering that like, here's something that I can bring to you and here's something that I know is gonna help to make your life easier. So being able to tailor your messaging to each one of these audiences that involves multiple stakeholders, it's gonna have to address the concerns of each one of these audiences. Like for instance, like a...

a fall detection device might be marketed to the adult child as a way, know, that they can, you know, kind of keep an eye on mom when you're not there, if you had to run to the store, if you had to, you know, go to a work meeting or something like that. And for the senior themselves, that messaging has to be built around the value it brings to their life, the simplicity of use, that trust factor for, you know, that you're protecting their data, that

you know, and also maybe a simple sales strategy that allows them to ease into the product as a way of earning trust. So if you're able to offer a trial period or a demo, but you know, something that helps to make them comfortable during that buying process. So understanding the role that each one of these participants can play in the buying process and tailoring your messaging to each.

Paul Schmidt (11:44)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. you know, as this market starts to heat up and there's more competitors in this space, organizations really need to be thinking about how do they make their message cut through the sort of sameness that they're hearing in the marketplace. Can you think of any examples or can you think about, do you have any advice in terms of differentiating your organization in an increasingly crowded market when

with some of the tech that you're talking about.

Tonia Speir (12:17)
You're right, it is crowded. And I think that anytime you can build that emotional connection is going to be key. Building that emotional connection of what are the positive outcomes that this technology, this device or this product is bringing to you. One of the things that I go back to and one of the poster children, think, in this is when Apple rolled out their hearing aid aided device for AirPods.

And when I think about that, the positive outcome was not positioning the person as aging or positioning the person as having a problem or, hey, you need to have better hearing so that if your fire alarm goes off, you're safe. They positioned it around the holidays and children opening presents under a Christmas tree and being able to hear that joy and amplifying that sound and that emotion and making that emotional connection to the product, to the positive outcome.

of how it's making your life better. And I think those are the ones that really win for me in the marketing space. Some other things that you have to look out for is, when you're positioning that peace of mind element, is it easy to set up? Is it easy to integrate with other devices that you have? What type of maintenance is required? Differentiating yourselves from making sure that it's not just tech.

that's coming into your life, but it's something simple. It's something easy to use. It's something easy to maintain. And again, giving that clear value for that caregiver, that family, that end user, and stressing the positive outcomes. Those are the things that I think that win. you also can't forget that it also has to be empathy driven.

And the messaging has to be respectful of that audience and tone. They don't want to perceive themselves as aging. They don't want to be walked down to, even though, you technology may be difficult for them or maybe harder for them. That's not a part of, you know, you don't want to be patronizing in the way that you get that message across. So I think it just needs to come from a place of honest help and care of making their lives or improving their lives and the daily.

the day to day. And I would also add to that too, like for healthcare providers, how does it improve the outcome of them being able to do their job? Or how does it make them more efficient? Or how does it help with compliance? Anytime you can educate and educate, people always like to see themselves in ads and people always like to see themselves in demos.

So making sure that, you know, if a senior is buying for themselves and they're opening up this app and they're getting a demo, that it's not someone, you know, 10, 20 years that are junior teaching them how to use this app, but really kind of positioning people that look like them, talk like them, understand where they're coming from, that are kind of walking them through. And those are little touches that I think you can pepper into your marketing strategy and that messaging strategy to make it more impactful.

Paul Schmidt (15:18)
Yeah, I think that you made a good point. I think that empathy component really just really resonates. It goes a long way in that type of messaging. So when you're thinking about for a marketing team that's trying to get in front of this audience, know, nobody has unlimited budgets. So we have to think about how like how we're going to allocate budget across, you know, towards the end user, the influencer, the caregiver or anything like that.

How do you think about capital allocation and like the most successful channels or most effective channels in reaching older adults and their families? And, you know, what's your advice in thinking about how you allocate limited resources and being able to get in front of this type of audience?

Tonia Speir (15:59)
You have to know that you have to be able to combine channels, but more so knowing your buyer and back to the point we chatted about earlier with knowing what phase of aging your product services, that's going to kind of dictate who toggles to the top of that priority chain. Is it the senior themselves or is it the adult child? Who's going to have the most impact in making that ultimate decision or making the purchase? And then where are they?

on what channels are they utilizing because it's very different. You might find my dad, who's perfect audience for this, is, you know, he sometimes is scrolling TikTok or he's, you know, on Facebook where he connects with old friends. I'm not on Facebook. I'm very rarely on TikTok. My generation was more Instagram, right? And so that's where you're gonna find me. But I think to some degree, you have to be cognizant of combining these channels and social media.

and leveraging SEO, but don't devalue the importance of reviews because that's another great place to kind of, that doesn't have an age, know, discrimination on it. It's going to be a review is a review and being able to foster those, encourage those and be found, you know, particularly from an SEO perspective, that's gonna boost your awareness and also that trust factor within the brand.

Paul Schmidt (17:19)
Yeah, that makes sense from the review side of things for sure. What about distribution strategies? So different ways that you can get in front of your audience, you can go direct to consumer, you can partner with senior living communities. What factors should these startups be thinking about when making this choice from a distribution perspective?

Tonia Speir (17:38)
Again, who the target customer is and where that influential voice is going to come from. Also think about like, what are the factors with your product or service that you're offering? Does it require a lot of setup? Does it require a lot of support or training? Where these organizations that are, for lack of a better word, channel partners can kind of come in and help support for ease of use or for getting the message out. One of the products that I was

recently exposed to does VR for senior living. And that's something that seniors can use both at home themselves to increase cognitive behavior, or it could be something that a senior living team buys and utilizes on site, but at least they can be a champion for helping to show how easy it is, how you use it, what it does for you, what those benefits are. So I think that it's going to be making sure that you understand, number one, where does the product service fit in?

Who are we targeting? And then what type of partnerships make sense? In some ways, it could be the healthcare provider. It could be a nurse. It could be a doctor. It could be someone that the organizations that drop in and will visit seniors so that they have extra touch points of.

know, social exposure throughout the week. It could be partners like that. So I really think where are they going to use it? How difficult is it to use? And how can you get them on board to maybe shorten some of your sales cycles?

Paul Schmidt (19:01)
So I think we've talked about all the four P's of marketing except pricing. tell me about the pricing side of things. How do you approach pricing conversations when you're often selling to one group? Maybe it's that you're selling to the adult child, but the product is actually used by the senior. What is the best practice for that?

Tonia Speir (19:20)
I think is it emotional or is it practical? understanding that value is going to be key here, not so much the cost, but you have to be sensitive to it because again, they're coming into something, number one, not wanting to acknowledge that they're aging and number two, buying into something technology that they don't necessarily maybe trust. So I think that building the value around

the outcome of what it's going to provide is going to be key. For that adult child, it might be a little more of an emotional play, you know, making sure that mom or dad are healthy and that you have that peace of mind. Whereas for the senior themselves, it might be a little more practical. So helping them to prioritize their independence, being able to do things on their own, which makes them feel better about themselves. And, you know, I think so if you can lead with here's the value, it's simple.

We've made it for you. We don't have small buttons. We don't have small type. It's designed with you in mind and that there aren't long-term maintenance things or gotchas. think transparency in that cost is also important as well to help them in their minds frame, create the framework for what that value is and why they need it.

Paul Schmidt (20:34)
Yeah, so you bring up a little bit around usability. And so another area that I've been curious about is just trying to maintain stickiness of the product. So how do you think about, what's an effective strategy to getting seniors to actually try and stick with a new technology product? This is something that I'm not used to using. What are some approaches that you'd take from that perspective?

Tonia Speir (20:57)
can't underscore the word adoption enough. you know, again, like making sure that they are trained properly, that they understand how they're using it, why they're using it, what it can do for them, and being able to check in on your customers. Like it's not a set and forget. Like this is an audience that's going to require nurturing post-sale. Nurturing them post-sale, you know, your quick win is going to be, do they see instant value in this?

Like that's gonna be a win right there. That comes from making sure they were trained properly and that they know how to use it and that they're getting that value right out of the gate. But secondly, making sure that they continue to use it, that adoption factor and continuing to get the most out of the product or service. That's what's going to be that catalyst for your reviews and that word of mouth spreading and a lot of influencers from your caregivers to your...

know, senior living communities and nurses and doctors, you know, being able to say, this is a good thing, you should do this. And that's going to come from, if it's simple to use, if it's adopted right out of the gate, and if you follow through with your customer success to make sure that they're continuing to see value in the product or service.

Paul Schmidt (22:07)
Got it, yeah. That makes a lot of sense from a usability perspective. Let's talk a little bit about sales communication, sales enablement, tips for, so when you're thinking about your sales teams and training your sales team to communicate effectively with both seniors and their adult children, what are some tips that you have? Because when I think about CRM structure and segmenting the people that are in your database, you need to really have a clear idea of who you're communicating with.

What kinds of other best practices, when you think about from a sales enablement perspective, you have to just most effectively communicate with both types of audiences?

Tonia Speir (22:46)
Key here is you have to understand your why and you have to be able to articulate that through your brand messaging without alienating either one of those audiences. So you're going to have to make sure that it's speaking to the senior adult, making sure that they understand, hey, this is going to give you more independence or it's going to allow you to maintain more control over your life and messaging to that adult child, which is prioritizing the health and safety of their loved one.

making sure that they have that peace of mind that they're being cared for, and making sure that the sales team understands the differences, the difference of those motivating factors and the differences of the why for each one of those audiences. That it isn't just a, here's all the great products and features that our company can offer you. The products and features might be the same for both audiences, but how you position those is distinctly different for each one of those buyers.

because the motivating factor behind it is different for each one of them. And so you have to tailor that to make sure that it's speaking directly to both of them. Again, like empathy and messaging to both is gonna be key. It's gonna require patience and it's going to, going back to like, you can't sound patronizing like it's got to be.

you know, very like this was made for you and you've got to be able to really find balance in that conversation. I think that if you can weave in, whether it's real life examples or storytelling models, you know, those are always really effective with this type of audience and that third party credibility of people who have used it, what it's done for them, maybe what it prevented or what it allowed. Like I think back to that.

holiday, you know, around the tree opening presents, like what that positive outcome was.

Paul Schmidt (24:33)
Yeah,

that's really helpful. So this last section, I want to just ask a couple questions on measuring success. Reporting is so important when you think about age tech organizations, they could be venture funded, may not be, maybe bootstrap, but they're always looking at how do we measure success at the end of the day? What are some metrics that you find valuable in predicting long-term success with senior users?

Tonia Speir (24:59)
I think that adoption is definitely a measure of success, but then engagement, how often are they using it? What does usage look like? That's gonna indicate are they seeing value in it? So you can have someone adopt it and get into it, if those long-term metrics aren't tracked for usability, and that's also gonna help define how you scale the business too.

You know, are we where are we finding ways that we can make it simpler to use or where are we finding ways that we can enhance the value? Or you know make things a little bit You know more not necessarily with technology We have a tendency to get over complicated and make things more robust which makes things harder to use this is almost a perfect you know example of

How do you do that? How do you scale with that while also maintaining your simplicity? And I think user feedback and satisfaction is a big part of that. Making sure that they're letting you know like where those barriers are or where they're maybe getting frustrated, which you don't want. You want to avoid friction at all costs and make sure that the usability is there. So I think from feedback to adoption to usability, retention,

All those are going to feed into that long-term success. And then as another value metric, I would say, are people talking about it? Are we getting positive influence from people recommending it and by, what are they saying about us? I think that's another good metric to watch too, to make sure that your brand awareness is taking shape the way that you want it to and gaining some traction in that digital space.

Paul Schmidt (26:32)
Yeah, those third party reviews, those Googles go a long way just from influencing the end user, influencers themselves. I guess just my last question in this, you speak to lot of AgeTech organizations and what are, what's some of the biggest lessons that you've learned in scaling this type of company that you kind of learned along the way in all the consulting work that you've done with these types of groups?

Tonia Speir (26:57)
I think that building trust is the number one thing that they probably struggle with. And that's just the key to really, you know, getting right out of the gate. What it's almost like these puzzle pieces that all perfectly fit together. You have to have trust in the beginning and how do you build trust? You've got to make sure that your messaging is right. Messaging becomes a little complicated because you're speaking to two distinctly different audiences, sometimes three. And so how do we

How do we articulate our value proposition through that messaging to make sure that we are building that trust? And then are we who we say we are? Being able to measure the things like adoption and retention to make sure that the long-term value of the product or service is really displayed through usage. And then that triggers up that last puzzle piece, which is...

power of word of mouth, making sure that people are talking about it and giving you high recommendations and talking to their peers or their caregivers or even their doctors to say, hey, I tried this and this is really working well for me. So in this audience, scaling isn't just about the marketing, but it's also about creating that experience that people are excited to share with their friends and family.

Paul Schmidt (28:06)
Tonia, this is a great conversation today and it really helped me understand more sales and marketing approaches and getting in front of this type of audience and audiences. Where can people find you online if they have any questions, any follow-ups for you?

Tonia Speir (28:18)
Sure, you can find me online on LinkedIn. Tonia Flores Speir is my profile. You can also email me at tspear at tspear@smartbugmedia.com or you can always ring me up at 843-455-6617.

Paul Schmidt (28:33)
Tonia, thank you so much for joining today and we'll see you on the next episode.

Tonia Speir (28:36)
Thanks, Paul.