Marketing to Women Online

How to Sell Men On Marketing to Women

 I love talking to smart guys about marketing to women.  Guys like Tom Jordan, and recently, Tony Fannin at BE Branded.  

Tony shared his insight on how to get buy-in from men on your marketing to women efforts.  It was such a fascinating discussion, I wrote a blog post about it.

Get some great tips and advice on how to sell men on your marketing to women efforts. 

When we all work together, we all succeed.

Womenomics Book Review

Talk to almost any woman, and many men, and you'll hear the same complaint - Life is becoming unmanageable.  I don't have time to devote to the things I care most about.  Work is often the major culprit. 60-80 hour weeks are far too common.  (I hear some of you saying, "80 hours - you wusses. I put in at least 100.")

I used to wear the number of hours I worked as a badge of honor.   I don't anymore.  I think the breaking point for me came when my father was dying.  I'd check in on him whenever I could, but I didn't spend much time because I always had to get back to my computer to finish up one project or another.   He was so proud of me and so understanding of my schedule.  But finally, one day, as I was rushing off as usual, he grabbed my hand, looked me in the eye and croaked, "Don't run off."   (He had Parkinsons and had very little voice left).

Something in me just broke.   From that moment on, I said "I'm getting out.  I don't know how, but I'm going to find a way."

I'm happy to say that I now run my own marketing to women consultancy.  Do I still put in the long hours/work every weekend/face stress down on a daily basis?  You bet.  But I'm doing it on my terms and on my schedule.

Everyone has a story.  And in Womenomics, you'll find you are not alone in your struggles.   But the message of the book is not one of despair, but rather one of hope.

Reading Virtual Minds Book Review

I'm a long-time fan of NextStage's Joseph Carrabis.  I was lucky enough to spend some time with Joseph in New York and it was one of the more interesting hours I've spent.  We're talking big brain here folks.   But without the ego - a rare combination.

What I enjoy most about the work Joseph Carrabis does is that he focuses not just on the what, but on the why.  Many in the website conversion arena can tell you what website, landing page, banner ad, etc. performed the best.  But they can't always tell you why.

That's what Reading Virtual Minds - Volume I:  Science and History is all about - not only what people do online, but why they do it.  I love Joseph's approach because he uses a combination of many different scientific approaches:  Neurology, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Semiotics, Linguistics  and many more. 

Book Review

Imagine if you could create a website that was more persuasive then even your very top sales person?   Imagine that website could adjust the messaging and customer experience based on feedback from each individual customer.  And best of all imagine it could make those adjustments not just from the customer’s conscious feedback, but from their unconscious feedback as well?

How cool would that be?  How much money could you make from such a website?

Women Want More Book Review

 
  
Welcome to book review week.  For those who do not know, I have a confession:  I am a book-a-holic.  Seriously. If you visited my home or office you would notice one thing - piles of books everywhere.  I usually have 10 or 12 in my "to read" stack, and consume 4 or 5 books simultaneously.  

It's gotten so bad my accountant commented on my "Amazon habit," with a strong suggestion to get it under control or risk the financial consequences.

But there's just so much good stuff out there!  This week I'll be reviewing some of the best reads I've found recently, focusing on marketing and marketing to women.

First up - Women Want More

Women Want More authors Michael J. Silverstein and Kate Sayre of the Boston Consulting Group conducted a study of 12,000 women in forty countries.  Here's what the book is about:

Through quantitative data, profiles of individual women and stories of winning companies, Women Want More provides business leaders with the understanding and practices they need to capture their share of the rising "female economy."

Amazon Gives a Gift to Women They Can Actually Open

Amazon does so many things right.  So I was not surprised to pull up their home page today to find a message near and dear to my heart - frustration-free packaging.

Come on, how many times have you threatened to pull out the chain saw to open those "impenetrable plastic clamshells." 

And while I wouldn't necessary want to play tonsil-hockey with Amazon, I appreciate their light-hearted tone and sense of fun in the voice of this announcement. 

Women care about details like packaging

Women notice details including how a product is packaged.  They notice kids drinks and if the container is environmentally and kid friendly. They notice the vase the flowers come in.   They notice the packing material used to ship products. This may seem trivial to you, but it's important to her.  So far over 116,000 people have participated in the packaging feedback survey. 

Sell More by Saying "I Trust You" To Your Customers

  
Yes, you read the title correctly.   This isn't about whether your customers trust you, it's about whether you trust your customers.

Trust is a two-way street.  And it starts not with "You can trust me", but rather with "I trust you."  

In Reading Virtual Minds Volume I:  Science and History, author Joseph Carrabis makes this important point while talking about websites.

It may not be obvious why a website should communicate "We Trust You" to a visitor.  "We Trust You", however, is the first message which must be communicated before you can get anybody to trust you. 

Before I can ask you to trust me, I must demonstrate that I trust you.  This is The Handshake.  The first person to extend their hand is showing vulnerability, hence trust. Unless you demonstrate that you trust your customer they'll never trust you. 

In the book, Joseph Carrabis cites a contest where the company websites that did the best job of conveying this message on their home page matched, almost precisely, the top performing companies overall. 

I Want to Be a Phoenix

 
If you spend any time online, you've seen their banner ads everywhere. University of Phoenix has been pushing their online curriculum for a very long time.  But something interesting happened recently.....their ads actually made an emotional connection.

In their "I am a Phoenix" campaign, the University of Phoenix has tapped into one of the strongest motivators known to man - the desire to belong.

And that's not all, they also tapped into the powerful motivator of self identity.   My prediction is that this one-two punch will be very successful. 

Making an emotional connection and setting themselves apart

I'm the Kind Of Person Who......

The recent M2Moms conference found that :

• 60% of moms feel that marketers are ignoring their needs.
• 73% of moms feel that advertisers don't really understand what its like to be a Mom.

Bottom line - advertisers aren't connecting with moms.  Moms don't see themselves in the ads.

I believe this is one of the main reasons why so many marketing to women campaigns fail.  The images/characters in the ads don't reflect the kind of person she believes herself to be (or strives to be) 

I'm the kind of person who....

How does she see herself?  What is her self-perception?  What values does she see in herself?   How does she answer the question....I'm the kind of person who.......

For example.  I see myself as a good dog mom.   When my lab got home from knee surgery this summer, she was in bad shape.  So I pulled a mattress off the bed so I could sleep next to her on the floor.  I'm the kind of person who.... goes above and beyond (and what other people might consider over the top) for the dog I love.  

When I see a commercial featuring a person who goes above and beyond for her dog, I see myself in that person.  The mental association is - women like me who are good to their dogs use this product, thus, I can picture myself using this product. 

Female Humor

In my research on why moms blog, I've come across some of the funniest material I've ever seen.

This makes me happy for so many reasons.  So many of the movies and TV shows and, yes, commercials that are supposed to be "hilarious" can't even get a harrumph out of me.    (With the exception of Nurse Jackie which is just pure brilliance.)

I have also been studying humor writing.   And one of the things that makes material funny is that it strikes us as true.   I suspect that's why I enjoy so many humor blogs written by women.    There's just this sense of "I have SO totally been there."   

Using Boob Jokes to Sell - Dining Room Furniture?

I kid you not.

La Difference is a contemporary furniture store in Richmond, VA.   Their advertising has always been stylish and fun.   But I really have to scratch my head about their latest campaign selling dining room furniture promoting it as "the perfect set."

If La Diff is targeting men, they may get the fellas' attention with this ad, but I suspect the only "perfect set" the guys will be desiring won't include matching chairs.   That's the problem with using sex to sell to men.  It may get their attention, but they often don't remember the product.

If La Diff is targeting women, well, my only conclusion is they aren't targeting women.   Which is too bad since women buy 80 percent of all furniture sold, according to the American Furniture Manufacturers Association (AFMA).

If La Diff is trying to create "buzz", (and I suspect this is probably closest to the truth) well, they've got me talking about the ad.  But  I'm talking about it because I won't be shopping at La Dif anymore, which is sad because I've always loved that store.