Marketing to Women Is So 2007
ADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — Are you hard at work perfecting that marketing to women pitch for your next online campaign?
Are you preparing your 2009 budget for the “must attend” conferences and webinars you’ve been gathering info on for months now, in order to meet your marketing to women online goals? How about newsletters, blogs, and white papers that showcase the marketing to women market – are they high on your list to subscribe to?
What about your interactive marketing focus for the New Year, which will be on us before we know it – is that centered around the fair sex, and getting more feedback from women online, in order to serve them better?
If you’re keeping your fingers to the keyboard creating great content to appeal to your women customers, and your are eyeballs stuck to your computer monitor devouring all the advice from marketing to women columnists all over the net – let me give you some advice: STOP! Step back! Drop those hands! Blink your eyes and read on…
The truth is: the whole marketing to women focus is over. That’s right, it’s over. We don’t want you to market to us. We never wanted you to market to us. We endured you, but we never accepted you. In 2009, we aren’t even going to do that.
Did I hit a nerve? I hope so. Because at the heart of this movement are groups of women who know they call the shots. These are women who are tired of being marketed to – of being singled out, as if we’re sheep adorned with pink ribbons in our hair. We’re tired of being referred to as a demographic. Oh sure, a few smart marketers looked at the women’s market and created a nice pie chart – separating us into groups; boomers, Gen Xers, tweens, teens, Senior…in an effort to get personal, and that’s not a bad thing. The problem is – none of those labels stuck. As hard as marketers tried to stick them on us, we peeled them off and crumpled them into paper wads for target practice.
Women don’t want to be labeled. We want to be recognized. That’s right – recognized for our differing personalities; differing likes and dislikes; and even differing opinions that don’t always fly with our core group of family and friends. Stop lumping us into some demographic last year’s Harvard grad students created for their masters’ thesis. The old marketing to women way tried to lure us into buying products and services as groups; it was just easier to consider us a crowd, and to use the crowd mentality. If she’s a boomer, she likes “this.” If she’s a Gen Y, we have to do “this.”
That’s over. The labels aren’t working. It’s not the demographic, anymore. It’s… the individual – and her peers. Let me share some new insight with you, and get you on track for 2009.
For the last five to seven years the idea of women as the primary shoppers, both online and off, has been swelling to a tidal wave. I was at the forefront – telling marketers to stop marketing to Dick and start marketing to Jane. “Jane,” I told you, “has the money and the power to buy whatever she wants, today. She doesn’t ask Dick’s permission to buy a new laptop, or a lawn mower, or a set of tires for the car. She takes care of those things herself. And, she may be the defining vote in whether or not Dick gets to buy any of those products.”
That hasn’t changed. Jane is still very much in charge (yes, that’s a bit of a pun – Jane is quite fond of using her charge card, online and off). As others have told you, Jane is into electronics, and shopping online for cars, and joining social networking sites to get the best feedback on where to buy the household things she’s responsible for (think kitchen, bath, and garage.) Jane has a system, today. A system called “what does So-and-so think?” – where “So-and-so” isn’t her next door neighbor or her sister, anymore. So-and-so is likely someone she met online. If you’re not engaged in that conversation, if you aren’t part of her community of resources, you’re invisible to her.
In 2009, the focus is on reaching your female customer on her level, on her playground, at her request. It’s on word of mouth – at its most basic level; woman to woman via Twitter, Facebook, individual or group blogs, and video email. These are the tools women are comfortable using today. These are the tools you should be mastering – in order to reach your female customers. Women of all ages, from all walks of life, are participating in these social media tools. And their voices are traveling the web at the speed of light – forget the speed of sound!
Your female customer is out there sharing video reviews of your product with her friends, male and female. She’s Twittering her latest fab purchase. She’s sharing a touching email note, viral marketing like crazy. Check out the chatter on the Society for Word of Mouth, where friends invite friends to comment on conversations – and where they recognize the power of customer reviews . Ebay and Amazon may have started that ball rolling, but women have taken the concept to the next level by dominating social media and the blogosphere.
Your female customer is no longer divided by generation or technical skill. Don’t depend on last year’s labels to reach out to her. She’s embraced the power of community in a bigger way than ever imagined. She’s following savvy teens on Twitter, and taking cues from her text-messaging business contacts – discovering new ways and new places to shop. Without being marketed to. Head’s up – here are some places you’ll find many of your female customers. www.janeoutofthebox.com, www.savvyauntie.com and www.askpatty.com.
So put those marketing campaigns away. You can’t get to know your female customer by marketing to her “demographic.” You need to get pixel2pixel with her. And then, find a way to get face2face – with information that’s worthy of her time.
p.s. face2face does not necessarily mean…what it used to. Stay tuned.
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Reader Comments.
I have a great idea for where these companies can put their marketing dollars. How about into the employees who represent the products (online and off). Marketers forget that it’s also the EXPERIENCE of the purchase that influences the purchase.
Do you have any statistics to support your statement that women (specifically over the age of 25) are using Facebook, twitter and video reviews as a “word-of-mouth” channel?
My company sells to the 30 to 55 female demo and our numerous focus groups contradict your claims. The female over 30 who is working and married with children does not have the time or energy to twitter, socialize on Facebook or watch/create video reviews. She is also very cautious and does not trust anyone she casually meets online to give her advice. She trusts her “off line” friends and family.
I would conclude that your statements apply mostly to the under 30 female demo (or over 30 without a full time job and kids). That is not to say that over 30s will not adopt these tools. As the 20 something’s mature, the adoption of these tools will become more prevalent. But, we are not there yet.
That’s just feminist rant, making an issue where there isn’t one - everyone is targetted using deographics, not just women as the author would have you believe. And it’s done for a good reason, because that’s how you target markets more accurtely. What’s next? young people upset for being lumped into an age category? british people feeling insulted cause they are called labeled “from Britain”… nonsense!
It’s so cute that you’re finally getting around to recognizing that you’re individuals, just like all the other woman are now recognizing!
As a female type person I can personally tell you that all I ever wanted from a brand communication is the old .. what’s in it for me. Simple. Now to do that you need to pay attention to who I am and how I can use your p/s. Incorporating elements from my ‘world’ e.g., language, images, scenarios to help me get why I should place your brand into my consideration set would be appreciated. And it would be smart of you.
Hanging out in places I visit online will increase your visibility .. will it close the sale? Don’t be naive. But it is one more opportunity you have to talk to me. In the world of social it’s the talk-over-time between people that builds trusted relationships. Don’t have time to Twitter or blog or participate in the conversation. That’s okay .. I’ll just chat it up with your competitor.
MBeller - check out Blogher. Those women are of all ages, with a great many over 30 - and looking to each other for advice. While a great many women over 40 are still exploring social media, most are being pushed into it by their friends and relatives in the under 30 range. But, they’re there. Sorry you’re not finding them. I am.
To Joe Schmoe…woe be it to you. The agencies I follow are using demographics as a secondary resource, not the main resource, any longer. This is no more “nonsense” than the idea of believing that all Moms are great Moms, or all stay-at-home Moms watch TV all day, or that you can sell to women using pink. I’m reporting what I read…from truated resources like Michele Miller of Wonderbranding. (btw, she’s over 30 and has a large following…)
I have had my share of painfully arduous guttural cramps in my post-pubescent life and definitely shared an opinion or two that I can clearly say, “that was my monthly talking.” I can only assume the same happened today when this article was written and released to the public. It hurts, you want to scream, but take a few pills and realize that it’s just the gut talking not your head.
Yvonne,
Thank you once again for the link love!
Where the rubber really meets the road with women car buyers is what happens when they go to an automotive repair center, new or used car dealership or for that matter any automotive retailer.
All the millions of marketing and advertising dollars spent to attract women to buy are absolutely wasted when they have a less than respectful and positive buying experience from that brand or store location.
Ask Patty trained and certified automotive retailers are held to a high level of customer satisfaction for women consumers.
Jody DeVere
CEO/President
AskPatty.com, Inc.
www.askpatty.com
Yvonne raises an interesting point. Women are indeed embracing more Web 2.0 media. However I believe that this is just another form of media like magazines, newspapers or websites. The key task for the astute marketer is determining the optimal media mix that produces the best results. The question really is – how much should I allocate to Web 2.0 media?
The great thing about online is that it grants the opportunity to market to consumers on an individual basis. However this may be quite difficult in an offline world. Many marketers use segmentation, whether it be for men or women, to help with more targeted marketing (unless they are employing a mass market strategy). Therefore grouped labels will persist for men and women alike. The names may change but the labels will persist. Essentially what I drew from Yvonne’s post is that there is a new medium out there and marketers need to wake up and find how best they can use it to meet their marketing needs.
While I don’t believe that “marketing to women” as a strategy is dead, I have made a conscious decision to step back from that term and focus on the “female customer.” I still think there are many ways to market that specifically target women, but there are also deeper needs and desires that require a targeted approach beyond gender. I’m just saying the term “marketing to women” is too broad - and it’s the easy way out for marketers who think they’ll reach women and then are confused when their campaigns fail. Time to think deeper, and get to know the individual female customer.
Um… wow… that was a pretty useless rant. Marketing to demographics is what marketing is all about. You, me… the kid down the street are all part of that. If I’m selling a product that doesn’t cater to one of those markets then I cut them out of my marketing sphere. Sure there are always exceptions. But like it or not… everyone likes to think their supplier is aimed at making THEM the priority. Easiest way to do that is to market a product to a particular market. Yes, women are a market just as left handed people are.
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