For any business to survive today, it needs to understand
how to market to women. The fact is women make 80% of all
purchasing decisions. Women are brand loyalists. Your
product or service must address their complex, multiple
lives as home managers, home-workers, entrepreneurs,
caretakers of elderly parents, and professionals. Build a
lasting, meaningful relationship with your female customer.
EVEolutionize your business before it's too late!
Understand the eight truths about marketing to women:
1. Connecting your female consumers to each other connects
them to your brand.
Women need a "backyard fence" to talk to each other. If
your brand is marketed in such a way that it connects women
to each other as a community, a group, sisters, mothers and
daughters and friends, they will embrace your brand into
their everyday lives.
The web communities such as iVillage, women.com, and
oxygen.com are just a few of the examples of women being
linked together. Through EVEolution, and with the help of
Faith Popcorn's consultancy firm, BrainReserve, Snackwell's
launched a program of Mother-Daughter workshops across the
US. It bonded mothers and daughters, reinforced the idea of
eating healthy, while nurturing a positive self-image and
attitude about food to pre-teen girls.
2. If you're marketing to one of her lives, you're missing
all the others.
From home office services, to cameras keeping an eye on her
kids at daycare, if your brand markets to her merged
professional and personal lives, then you will win her
heart. Women need assistance in running all the facets of
their lives. Appeal to her need for convenience. Give her a
solution for her perennial problem of what to fix for dinner
tonight. Supply her with support for dog-walking, childcare,
telecommuting. Deliver her dry cleaning, diapers, and pizza,
run her errands, so she can find more time to just relax at
home with her kids. Acknowledge that she thinks about her
family while she is at work, and provide her with a service
that gives her peace of mind.
3. If she has to ask, it's too late.
Anticipate her needs. Women are the same whether it's
personal or work. If her husband doesn't anticipate what
she needs, she may be disappointed in him. If an employer
doesn't anticipate she needs a nursery near the office,
and fairer compensation, she may consider another
EVEolutionized company that offers more mother-friendly
perks.
How to become more Anticipatory than merely Reactive:
Women must be in on the planning every step of the way.
Talk to consumers in ways that inspire innovative
thinking.
4. Market to her peripheral vision and she will see you
in a whole new light. Women are attentive to the small
details men miss. They will go out and shop for that suit
they saw on Diane Sawyer last night while watching the
news. Starbucks is one company that is EVEolved all
around. The female customer can enjoy her coffee in a
bright, clean place with a well-stocked restroom (a must
if you want to attract women) and she can purchase the
in-house music on CD or a cookie for her toddler in tow.
Work on the subtle details surrounding your brand, the
store music, the way your menu is designed, the uniforms
of your waitresses or sales representatives. She will more
likely notice these things than if you assault her with
aggressive advertising or bothersome phone calls. .
5. Walk, run, go to her, secure her loyalty forever.
The Avon lady was just the first step. She was born in an
age when women stayed at home because they were mainly
housewives. Today, women don't want to make that extra trip
to the grocery or salon because they are simply exhausted.
If you can provide her quality service at home, at the
times when she is at home, your brand will be indispensable.
Why not supply her groceries on a monthly basis? Go to her,
because frankly, she doesn't have the time to go looking
for you.
6. This generation of women consumers will lead you to the
next. Practice the brand-me-down approach. The detergent a
woman uses is most likely the brand her mother always used.
Household names are what they are because women run the
household. In Asian markets where family ties are strong,
the brand-me-down approach will definitely sell. Attaching
a brand to the name Mother will have a strong identification
with quality and trust. Hold mother's day events or family
day events and strengthen your commitment to her.
7. Co-parenting is the best way to raise a brand.
Ask her how she feels, what colors she prefers, how does she
think she can be served best? When was the last time you
asked her for feedback and actually responded by redesigning
your product?
8. Everything matters ? you can't hide behind your logo.
Women look for integrity in a brand. From the way you treat
your employees, your CEO's personal life, to issues like
animal testing, environmentally sound practices, and raw
materials sourcing. You need to walk your talk and back up
your claim. Women don't simply look for value in a brand.
They look for Values.
By: Regine P. Azurin and Yvette Pantilla
http://www.bizsum.com
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