The answer lies in their increased purchasing power. Eighty percent
of household spending is controlled by women, who will invest about 90%
of their income in their families and communities, according to the
2005 Wow! Quick Facts Book and the U.S. Census Bureau. Even businesses
that are traditionally male-focused have embarked on campaigns to
actively target the female market.
Marketing to women of different ethnicities also has picked up over
the past decade, Wozniak says. Crossing cultural lines requires
research to ensure the marketer is reaching the best possible audience
while also ensuring that the campaign is structured in an appropriate
manner for that audience.
- A smart marketing campaign will ask women what they want from a
product or service
- If you ask a woman what she wants, she will happily tell you
- The No. 1 question to ask a woman is, ‘How can I solve your
problem?’”
Women of all ages and background typically buy a
product for one of
two reasons:
says Karen Gaupp Wozniak, principal
at Ink and Air, a firm that specializes in digital and interactive
marketing and media.
“A woman is not going to buy from you if she does not trust you,”
she says. “You have to provide knowledge that educates her, and you
have to tell her the truth about your product or service.”
Boneno subscribes to what she calls the “me, we and a higher
purpose” strategy, which focuses on marketing relevance and
establishing a relationship between the brand and the women it’s trying
to reach. The last piece—the “higher purpose”—makes women feel like
they are contributing to something larger than themselves by investing
in a particular product or service.
“She wants to feel like she’s aligned with brands that make a
difference,” Boneno says. “If we’re understanding of the unique needs
and nuances of her life, then I’m going to get her respect as a brand.”
Digital media has been a major contributor in establishing brand
identity among women, who rely on relationships to form opinions about
products, Boneno says. Social media has encouraged a “community of
women” and expanded discussions of products and services locally and
globally.
Examples of online interaction abound, from women’s blogs to
Facebook fan groups to individual community discussion boards. Those
examples give companies an opportunity to engage directly with their
target markets by receiving feedback, handling complaints and even
offering free samples.
“It’s extremely important to engage women,” Wozniak says. “You
cannot talk at them. You cannot just throw figures out at them. You
cannot talk to them as if they’re males. You have to really understand
women.”
Digital media also makes it easier to reach women than before, says
John Cato, principal at Object 9. Marketers can track online trends and
seek out the markets they want to engage. One part of attracting people
to a brand is making it user-friendly. Being genuine, starting a
dialogue about consumer reactions and staying on top of complaints are
ways to build loyalty online.
“It’s a real opportunity to create a two-way communication between a
brand or business and their customers,” he says. “It gives customers
more access, and it allows businesses a chance to respond to them in
real time. The ones that succeed are very responsible and respond
quickly.”
That doesn’t mean traditional media—magazines, newspapers, radio and
television—are no longer used to reach women. The strategy is more
likely to be a 360-degree approach, utilizing digital media as a
complement to traditional media in order to expose women to a message
at several points of contact, Wozniak says.
“The methods by which we reach women have increased exponentially,”
she says. “Digital marketing and media is really providing so many
different means of speaking with women.”
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