Mom. You think you know her. But think again, because today’s moms have changed. Who are they? What influences and motivates them? And how can today’s brands best market to them?
There are approximately 85 million moms in the U.S. today, with spending power exceeding $3.5 trillion. Moms are the ones making decisions about the cars in the garage, the groceries in the refrigerator, and the clothes worn by everyone in the family. More
According to The Economist, “The growing economic power of women is one of the most important trends of our time.”
Key growth drivers, such as delaying marriage and children as well as rising literacy rates, indicate the average U.S. woman’s salary will rise above the average U.S. man’s by the year 2028.
Women currently control $7 trillion in U.S. spending. And during the next decade, they will control two-thirds of the country’s overall consumer wealth. More
Whether travelers are dreaming about getting away, or planning a trip, their experience occurs in micro-moments. These micro-moments happen in various stages, from when they are initially dreaming about a vacation, to the planning process, booking the trip, and finally the anticipation of the trip itself. Travel brands need to plan and create a strategy for engaging with travelers in each of these moments by being helpful and relevant every step of the way.
Brand loyalty is in short supply in the travel industry because consumers are more loyal to their own needs and their desire to get the best deal. Those planning a trip search multiple websites, apps and price aggregators to get the lowest possible price. To be competitive, marketers need to anticipate each micro-moment and stay on top of what’s happening in the travel industry. Following are some of the most significant trends for 2018 consumer travel. More
Today, every fifth adult in the United States is a female over 50. They are the healthiest, wealthiest and most active generation of women in history who control half of the country’s discretionary income and 75% of the country’s wealth. That’s a lot of spending power for one generation of women. It’s a mystery why marketers ignore Boomer women, even during the holidays, but ignore them they do.
During the holiday season, this generation of women likes nothing more than to spoil their families. They buy food to create memorable family meals, and gifts for family members, spending a collective $35 billion on grandchildren alone. It seems clear that marketers would target this group as much as any other. Instead, they spend less than 10% of their holiday marketing budgets targeting Boomers. It’s time for marketers to put Boomer women on their “nice” list this holiday season. More
I recently read an article by Liz O’Donnell about marketing to “mothers in the sandwich,” those women who are caring for their parents while also raising their children and trying to balance careers. Life in the sandwich raises unique challenges for these women, but also provides unique opportunities for those products, services and businesses that support these women. I should know, because I am one of those mothers in the sandwich.
These women are busy, savvy (they need to be; they are managing crises, averting crises, and solving problems every day), and influential. As Liz notes, they’re making health care decisions for three generations, managing money for three generations, consuming services for three generations, and purchasing products for three generations.
So whether it’s car services to transport seniors to medical appointments and children safely to afterschool activities, or errand and meal delivery service, these women have purchasing power that shouldn’t be ignored. Marketers would be wise to listen to them, support them, and help solve their problems. For that, they’ll be rewarded with a lifetime of loyalty.
I believe that most brand and marketing managers understand the economic importance of women, and recognize that they influence 85 percent of all household purchase decisions. I also believe that 2015 will bring a surge of renewed interest in the subject of marketing to women. Going forward in this blog we’ll discuss recent trends, the differences in female market segments, and why women’s influence over purchase decision-making will continue to grow.
In the meantime, Bridget Brennan, author of Why She Buys, has written an article for Forbes.com about 2015 trends in marketing to women. Her insights are so spot-on that I’ve reprinted the entire article below.
2014 was a watershed year in marketing to women. We witnessed female-empowerment advertising campaigns from brands like Pantene (Not Sorry), Under Armour (I Will What I Want) and Always (Like a Girl); we saw a sweeping effort to update women’s images in stock photography with the Lean In Getty Images Collection; and we witnessed a GoldieBlox Super Bowl commercial. Not bad, 2014, not bad.
It’s exciting stuff. And yet the conversation, hard work, and opportunity have just begun. I predict 2015 will be the year that marketers move beyond signaling to women, “We know you’re important, empowered and strong,” to a broader, holistic approach to women consumers that impacts every aspect of the business with the following types of initiatives:
From conducting sales training initiatives focused on “E.Q.”-style communication techniques, to enhancing the ambiance of retail environments and refining the editorial voice of websites, there’s room to optimize the experience for women consumers no matter what your business. After all, women don’t just compare your company to your competitors: they compare it to their favorite best-in-class retailers and ecommerce sites. And depending on what you sell, they may even compare your website and videos to their favorite magazines and television shows. That’s why forward-looking companies will invest in women’s insights research and look outside their own industries to benchmark themselves against best-in-class, female favorites like Anthropologie, IKEA and Amazon.com.
Take product samples. They’re gold. Women know this. Their medicine cabinets and bathroom drawers are stuffed with this precious loot, which is usually obtained free of charge when they check out at beauty counters or attend parties with excellent goodie bags. Enter Birchbox, the successful ecommerce company built on the understanding that women would be willing to pay to receive product samples. The business features a subscription model in which women pay to be surprised and delighted by a box of beauty product samples every month. Men are in on the action too, through Birchbox Man, which was introduced after the initial success of the subscription service for women.
Then there’s Stitch Fix: an online women’s fashion retailer that offers personal styling services at a mass-market price point. The service fulfills a common fantasy of having a “stylist,” a phenomenon driven by celebrity fashion coverage and the emergence of stylists who have become celebrities in their own right. (See: Rachel Zoe). This is just the beginning of a new wave of retail businesses built around powerful female insights. Watch this space: there’s more to come in 2015.
We used to say that a picture is worth a thousand words. That was before Instagram. Now a picture is worth so much more. The irresistible allure of selfies fuels contests, sweepstakes and promotions of every conceivable kind, and will increasingly drive image-based search as well as function as a research tool for brands. Photos and visuals of all varieties will become even more prominent in the marketing toolbox in 2015, particularly for businesses with a large base of female buyers. Women have long been the photo album makers, scrapbook keepers and memory/milestone custodians for their households in the offline world, and in the past decade this behavior has shifted online.
So whether we’re talking about traditional retailers like Target mobilizing customers to take selfies in-store for sweepstakes prizes, or brands like American Express leveraging customer influencers for a campaign that drove 10 million Instagram impressions in just two weeks, the creativity in the visual web has just begun.
Many values that historically have been associated with women now apply to Millennials of both genders. Generally speaking, Millennials want what women consumers have always wanted from manufacturers and retailers. A partial list includes:
Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, and Apple are just a few examples of brands beloved by women and Millennials (of both genders), because they provide high value products in inspiring environments. As Millennials grow into their prime earning years, brands will find that women provide a valuable roadmap to determining the wants and needs of younger consumers.
The world is changing fast. Yet women’s domination of consumer spending in both ecommerce and traditional retail remains constant. The tools of the trade may be changing, but women’s role as “chief purchasing officer” of the home hasn’t – nor have the fundamentals of female culture. It’s comforting to know that no matter how fast technology advances, no matter how frequently people shop on their mobile phones and laptops, one thing remains the same: women are the purchasers of this world, and understanding why she buys is the most valuable insurance policy there is, for 2015 and beyond.
As Appeared In Huffington Post
Most women would rather not discuss the intricacies of their period with a man. Most men seem fine with that.
Yet, until just five years ago, it was up to a largely male-led team to figure out how to market tampons, maxi-pads and other feminine products at Kimberly-Clark, the company behind Kotex, Huggies and Kleenex.
That translated into ads featuring blue liquids dumped on sanitary napkins, and portraying ecstatic women clad in all-white dancing and frolicking, apparently while menstruating. That’s a scenario approximately no woman has ever related to. A compilation of awkward images from vintage Kotex commercials. The company recently poked fun at its old advertising tactics in a new “U By Kotex” campaign. Story continues after the photos.
The absurdity of the situation came to light about five years ago at Kimberly-Clark, when CEO Tom Falk brought the male executive in charge of Kotex to present a marketing strategy for the more than 90-year-old brand to the company’s board of directors
After the presentation, some board members politely asked Falk: “Don’t you think you can get a female to present the strategy to us?” (read more)
These days, when “Honey, I’m home!” is shouted up the stairs at the end of the day, it may very well NOT be the husband who’s come home from a hard day at work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, nearly 40 percent of wives now earn more money than their husbands. That’s a huge jump from just 11 percent back in 1960, and a staggering shift in our society.
Today’s women are more than just sugar and spice and everything nice. One needs only to peruse the list of Fortune 500 or Fortune 1000 companies to see that women quickly are becoming as powerful and successful in business as men. The 24 female CEOs on the Fortune 500 list represent just a handful of the hardworking women that companies should be addressing in their marketing strategies. Women are also the dominant sex earning bachelor’s degrees, indicating that the trajectory for their earning power will continue to climb even higher over the coming years.
More than ever, women are driving household incomes and the global consumer economy itself. They influence or control 85 percent of consumer spending in the United States. That’s 68 percent of new car purchases, and 80 percent of healthcare spending. 91 percent of new homes, and 92 percent of vacation travel.
For those businesses that have yet to identify a strategy for appealing to the “breadwinner” women, author Bridget Brennan identifies three smart ways in her book “Why She Buys,” to approach this massive opportunity:
1. Invest in sales training, because women who routinely negotiate at work expect great service when they leave the office. Research shows that women have higher expectations of customer service than men do. How has your sales training evolved? Women will walk out the door and walk off the lot because of poor or frustrating service. Many service issues are based on a perceived lack of respect, attention or even dignity. Though it’s clear that women are changing, old stereotypes die hard. Some of the best advice for salespeople in the age of breadwinner women is this: don’t assume anything. Don’t assume she’s not the decision-maker; don’t assume she’s married with kids; and most of all, don’t assume she can’t afford whatever it is you’re selling.
2. Make her hours, your hours. When a woman takes a job outside the home, it impacts every aspect of her life, from what time she wakes up in the morning to what she wears, where and when she shops, and even what she eats.
If you’re a brick-and-mortar business, are you staffing up at lunchtime, when many women squeeze in their errands? Are you offering delivery options outside of traditional business hours, so she doesn’t have to take a day off work? Are you open in the hours before the workday begins? Take the time and effort to study the changing traffic patterns of your female customers to ensure that your hours of operation match hers.
3. Offer Services, Not Just Products. Women appreciate service as much or more than “stuff.” This is the sweet spot for Lexus – their warranty provides free, 24/7 roadside assistance; a bumper-to-bumper warranty; free loaner car with any servicing; free car washes; and free new owner events that help customers install Bluetooth and change automatic settings on seats and radios. Providing helpful service can ensure that women appreciate your business and recommend it to their circle of friends and colleagues.
To learn more about how Girlpower Marketing’s approach can help your brand, please contact us.
The truth is that no matter what you’re selling, what you’re really selling is help. And breadwinner or not, all women will thank you for providing it.
An infographic by Marketing Zeus shows the power of the female consumer. Sources include Girlpower Marketing.
Anyone who has been reading this blog knows that women think differently than men. We’ve talked about how a woman’s brain has four times as many connections between the left and right hemispheres of the brain as a man’s. All of those signals hurtle down the superhighway into her right brain – the home of emotional memory, intuition and experience. A woman’s heart is in her brain – tell her a story that is filled with emotion, and explain why your brand is relevant to her.
Storytelling is the marketing buzzword of the moment. Storytelling certainly isn’t a new concept – in the world of PR it has been a critical part of everything we do since the beginning of time. But with the onset of content marketing, the concept of storytelling as part of a strategy for marketing to women has become of increasing importance.
Stories help women consumers decide if they like, trust, and want to do business with a brand. Stories set the stage to begin a relationship that can last for years to come. Every brand needs a story to be a competitor in today’s marketplace, largely because social media has provided a forum for consumers to have conversations with brands, and stories set the stage for those conversations.
The reality is that consumers, especially women, are not drawn to a particular brand or its marketing goals. They’re drawn to good stories. Stories that entertain, enlighten and inform. Regardless of whether those stories make a female consumer feel happy or sad, they do make her think and feel. And the brands that know how to tell a good story will increasingly have her attention.
