women consumers

The Marketing Muscle of Women

Women Have Buying Power I was in a new business meeting the other day where I was discussing the immense marketing muscle of women with a brand manager. This brand manager (a man) chimed in that he didn’t necessarily buy it — he wasn’t so sure that women had the buying power that they actually do. Which might explain why his brand (as great as it is) is languishing.

I walked out of the meeting more than a bit frustrated at his assumption that his point of view was the right one. Especially since it was so wrong.

When I got back to my office, my website home page (my screen saver) was staring at me. And so I read it. The facts about the power of women as consumers are indisputable. Their collective buying power exceeds the economy of Japan. They control more than 60 percent of the personal wealth in the U.S., and account for 68 percent of all total online spending.

According to Tom Peters, one of the world’s top marketing gurus, women are the top marketing opportunity for the foreseeable future. And it’s a scientific truth that women and men see and interpret things differently – because their brains work differently. But the reality is that if a product or brand meets the needs of the women, it also exceeds the need of men. Smart marketers understand this, and are willing to look at new ways to translate their brand’s marketing messages to reach this key consumer.

So here’s the skinny: women DO make 85% of all consumer purchasing decisions. Women DO feel that marketers don’t understand them. Women DO account for $7 trillion in consumer and business spending, which is a lot of buying power. The savvy marketer (and successful brand manager) knows this.

QR Codes Taking Off With Moms and Marketers

QR Codes, Moms, and Marketers

According to a recent report by Mobio Identify Systems, Inc., the use of QR (“Quick Response”) codes has exploded by 1,200 percent during the last half of 2010. Moms are taking center stage as they use their smartphones to click on those unique black and white squares that are delivering a wide variety of information to consumers. Blogs, tweets, magazine articles and broadcast media are all talking about this latest technology that busy moms are embracing.

QR codes have been around awhile in other parts of the world, but are just beginning to really gain awareness in the U.S. The primary benefit for marketers is that the QR codes are helping them build their mobile strategies. With 60 percent of moms owning smartphones, developing a strong mobile strategy is a must for marketers who want to reach moms in a way that is effective and relevant for their busy lifestyles.

For female consumers, the primary benefit of QC codes is their convenience. And that’s what it’s all about when marketing to moms – helping to make their lives easier. A QR code can be snapped on a smartphone camera, and instantly deliver detailed information about a product, consumer reviews, e-coupons, comparison pricing, and much more. Codes can be printed on everything from promotional materials to billboards and point-of-purchase displays. They can even be used to encourage consumers to “like” a Facebook page, deliver digital prizes, or enter sweepstakes.

A few major brands are helping to build prominence for QR codes in the U.S., including Target, Best Buy, Macy’s and Post Cereals. Best Buy has enhanced the shopping experience of its customers by adding QR codes to all their price tags. According to a recent Ad Age article, Macy’s is behind the most visible QR education effort, with a 30-second spot running nationally. The spot explains to shoppers how to use the codes, and the benefits they’ll experience once they scan one with their smart phone.

The opportunities for incorporating QC codes into marketing campaigns are endless. A QR code on a bag of pasta can be scanned to receive an instant recipe on a smartphone. A coffee retailer can offer free coffee to every 10^th person by scanning the bar code at checkout. And at checkout customers can scan their QR codes to see if they’ve instantly won any additional value.

As QR codes continue to be highlighted in the months to come, the important thing for marketers to understand is how to make QR codes effective to female consumers. In addition to convenience, a primary way to make codes effective is to make sure they equate to value – a discount, a coupon, or a “sneak peak” at upcoming products.

Is this the year of the QR code for your brand?

The Buying Power of the Power Moms

Buying Power of Power Moms

Moms Have Buying Power

Anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis knows that moms are the most coveted consumers in the U.S. market. Their buying power tops $2.4 trillion annually, and they control or influence 85 percent of all household purchases.

Maria Bailey has written a new book called Power Moms that delves into that power of moms. In her book, Bailey acknowledges that mom bloggers are powerful influencers. However, she notes that these bloggers are only a small fraction of the 83 million mothers in the U.S. Which means that marketers reaching out to mom bloggers are leaving a lot of moms untouched – about 70 percent of them to be exact.

Power Moms Have Influence

Power Moms (those influencers that align with a brand’s goals and marketing needs) can be reached by marketers both online and offline. Moms tend to build their sphere of influence around a personal passion – whether it be cooking, entrepreneurship or service to others. The challenge for marketers is to identify that group of moms that aligns with their particular brand’s goals and needs, and then to have the knowledge, awareness and ability to tap this powerful and lucrative market.

Marketers: Does your brand reach moms in a way that is relevant to them? And moms: Do you find that most brands engage with you in a way that makes you feel understood?

Why Pink Is Not a Marketing Strategy

Pink is Not a Marketing Strategy

Must Marketing Strategies Geared toward Women Include Pink?

A recent article in the Huffington Post talks about Nokia’s plan to launch the first smartphone specifically geared towards women — the pink N8 – complete with an ELLE fashion app and an option to install a “Little Pink Diva Theme.” But does a product need to be pink to appeal to women? Absolutely not. In fact, often the reverse is true. Sometimes painting a product pink simply tells a woman that a brand hasn’t really given any thought to her and her needs at all. Pink is style, not substance, and it certainly isn’t a marketing strategy.

Marketing Strategies Aimed at Women Must Be Relevant and Authentic

Marketers cannot rely on outdated assumptions and stereotypes when trying to engage women. To be relevant to women consumers, marketers need to do the hard work – taking the time to learn about women and understanding what motivates them to order to present their brands in a meaningful way.

Yes, this can take time, and there’s no quick fix. But a woman’s b.s. meter is always on – and she knows when she’s being addressed in an authentic, sincere way. . . . and when she’s not.

What do you think – are pink products patronizing to women? Is this a desperate and dated strategy by Nokia?

Embracing My Inner Hippie : A Woman’s Life Stages

Embracing My Inner Hippie - Flower Power If I continue at this pace, I might be a full-fledged flower child by 2014. It’s been a slow transition but a clear one: I’m turning hippie. I promise you won’t run into me in the grocery store barefoot, with my floppy suede hat and bell-bottoms. No, that’s not what I mean. What I do mean is that I’m beginning to embrace something that perhaps was there all along.

My 20s and 30s were a time of accumulation. High-end home stores and high-end shoe stores were my BFFs. I had more than I could possibly use or wear. But as I moved through my 40s something kind of wonderful happened –– my world and priorities shifted. I became more comfortable in my own skin and I needed far, FAR less to make me happy. I must say, I’m truly enjoying this chapter of my life.

What does all of this have to do with marketing to women? Simple. It’s about marketers understanding a woman’s life stages, instead of the stereotypes of her chronological age. It’s about effectively speaking to her based on where she’s at in her life, and not by the date of birth on her driver’s licence. The same marketing messages that are used for women in their 20s and 30s aren’t going to work for me. I need less, I want less. But I have the money to spend on what is important to me. So, marketers take heed: this hippie has a fat wallet and a new way of thinking.

Why VW’s Super Bowl Ad Struck A Cord With Moms

One of the most popular ads shown during last week’s Super Bowl was for the 2012 VW Passat. You know, the one with the child dressed up as Darth Vadar trying to use “The Force” while the Star Wars score plays.

This commercial tugged at the heartstrings of millions of parents whose children have run around their homes flailing their light sabers. I know, because I’m one of those parents. Once upon a time I had a son that age who wore the exact same costume — attemping the exact same thing. This commercial took me on a nostalgic journey back in time, and I’m grateful for that journey. Perhaps that’s why the ad instantly went viral; it mirrored a real life situation that most parents can connect with.

But it was also one of the few ads that resonated with a key consumer demographic: Moms. We all know that a large percentage of Super Bowl viewers are women, but this sporting spectacle has also become one of the biggest family events of the year — meaning many of those women are also moms.

Patty Minglin , a marketing consultant with M2M, recently pointed out several marketing-to-mom lessons marketers can learn from Volkswagen’s success:

Focus on Family. Yes, resonating with mom is a key component to any marketing-to-mom strategy, but if your brand can create a spot that resonates with mom, dad and kids — you’ve hit the marketing-to-mom trifecta. Developing a campaign with universal family appeal does more than just bring dads (and kids and even grandparents) into the conversation, it actually gives mom the opportunity to use your campaign as a way to connect with her own family.

Tell an Emotional Story. The VW ad resonates with moms because of the whimsical and heart-touching emotional story it tells, which resonates with mom consumers. Commercials like this allow women to view a brand as smart, savvy and family/mom-friendly.

Appeal to Shared Experiences. Not only do moms have shared parenting experiences, but they also have shared generational experiences — and there are moments when those two worlds collide. What mom hasn’t watched her own children run around in super hero costumes and princess crowns and not been reminded of her own childhood experience of pretending to be Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia? That is powerful messaging that transcends beyond parenthood.

Does all this really work? It appears to be working for Volkswagen. Even before the game the spot had gone viral with millions of YouTube views. It’s also ranked at the top of almost every Super Bowl ad review list, leaving Ryan Rudnansky, featured columnist for Bleacher Report, to state, “The ad is not only ingenious in setting up things for the car at the climax, but also strikes a nerve (or a funny bone) with the general public, something all great ads do.”

Marketing to Women: Not a Niche

Women Are Not a Niche Market

When will marketers finally get it? Recently I was speaking to a professional group and was introduced as a specialist in the marketing to women “niche.” I almost choked. Once again, my specialty has been referred to as niche. Really?

Women influence 85 percent of all consumer purchases, and represent over $7 trillion in purchasing power. This is a niche market?

Yes, our team has managed public relations and marketing programs for food and baby products, but we’ve also represented men’s grooming products, motorcycle and automotive manufacturers, fast food, an airline, a real estate firm, gaming, and a major university. Why? Because eventually it all comes back to women. Women who, yes, are often moms – but who frequently have responsibility for making major business decisions as well. Like buying computer servers. And health insurance. And financial services.

According to Tom Peters, one of the world’s top marketing gurus, women are the top marketing opportunity for the foreseeable future.

Women Hold Purchasing Power

For years, women have been recognized as the chief purchasing officers for their households, and they still are the primary decision makers for household goods. But women also drive the big-ticket expenditures for themselves, their families, and their businesses. For example, women drive the purchases of:

91 percent of new homes
66 percent of computers
92 percent of vacations
65 percent of new cars
89 percent of bank accounts
93 percent of food

All this influence at the same time that 91 percent of these women feel that advertisers don’t understand them.

59 percent of women feel misunderstood by food marketers
66 percent feel misunderstood by healthcare marketers
74 percent feel misunderstood by investment marketers
84 percent feel misunderstood by investment marketers

Source: Yankelovich Monitor

The Key to Marketing to Women

It’s a scientific truth that women and men see things differently – because their brains work differently. While men think in abstract principles and have great spatial acuity, women are more accessible emotionally and think more holistically. Translating that into a brand’s marketing messages is critical in reaching this key consumer.

Does your brand truly “get” women and how they relate to your marketing messages?

Well, Bowl Me Over: Marketing Beer. . . to Women??

By Marti Barletta, CEO and Founder of the Trendsight Group

The Super Bowl is right around the corner, and I look forward to the event at least as much for the annual party and the advertising as for the game. And if there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that there will be a lot of beer advertising on the schedule.

Year after year, I continue to be astonished at the mounds of money the conventional beer industry leaves on the table by overlooking the opportunities to market to women. This is not a tough call, team: Marketing beer to women – marketing it well to women, I should say – would boost sales, would require no new product development or launch, and would shake up the category with some innovative and interesting creative work.

1. Boost Sales

A Woman Drinking Beer

The beer market is missing a substantial opportunity by never, ever marketing to women. According to Beverage Dynamics, women comprise 32% of Domestic Regular beer drinkers, 36% of Imported Regular beer drinkers and 42% of Light beer drinkers. Now, I grant you that women probably account for proportionately less volume consumed; but I guarantee you that they account for proportionately more volume purchased, as, wishful thinking notwithstanding, women still handle over 80% of all grocery buying duties.

As for the low consumption number, I could argue it’s a self-fulfilling formula driven by the beer industry’s practice of advertising that virtually slams the door in female faces. (“No girls in our clubhouse!”) In my three decades “trendsighting” marketing campaigns, only once have I seen an ad I would consider resonant with women – and I saw that spot only once. (I seem to remember it was Coors or Coors Light, but sadly, I have no record or recollection of what it was, or of the specifics that caught my attention.)

2. No New Product Launch Required

The “girly beers” that I have seen – like the pink beers in Britain (REALLY?!) – have been marketing “FAILS” that should never have reached the shelf. Some segment(s) of women may or may not prefer a different taste profile in beer than men, but to date, these pathetic attempts to “reach out” to women have been insulting.

3. Innovative and Interesting Creative

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least three approaches that breweries should explore in marketing beer to women. Any of these strategies is likely to have more appeal to women than anything I’m seeing on the football playoff broadcasts now. (Oh – and by the way: 38% of pro football’s TV viewers each week are female – as are fully 45% of Super Bowl viewers.)

Refreshing – Something like the Lipton Brisk approach: an icy-cold, fresh-tasting and (unlike wine or mixed drinks) “gulpable” alcohol drink. (Remember “this ain’t no sippin’ tea!”) This would make a great campaign for warm seasons or warm climates.
Humor – Funny situations based on women’s humor dynamic (“that’s me” moments) not on sophomoric male humor (practical jokes and horse farts).
Sociability – Since nobody likes to drink alone and everybody likes a good beer, social occasions are absolutely the most natural setting for beer advertising. I’m thinking of “Here’s to good friends… Let it be Lowenbrau” or the “weekends were made for Michelob” and “Tonight, make it Michelob” spots. If you click over to watch these ads, cut them a break. Some of them look incredibly dated and corny to us today, but hey- it’s not their fault I had to go back 35 years to find beer ads built around being social!

None of these approaches would exclude men, by the way. What they would do is include women, unlike the current overtly testosterone-driven beer campaigns that dominate the market.

Actually, the ONE beer campaign I can think of that probably appeals equally to men and women will likely be on air in a few days… but only for the blink of an eye.

Anheuser Busch traditionally creates 1-2 beautiful new Clydesdale spots for the Super Bowl every year. I love these ads – the little donkey that desperately wants to make the team; the young colt that gets a helping nudge from the big guys when he tries pulling the wagon on his own; Hank, the horse who doesn’t make the team, but trains all year, coached by the Dalmation, to the sound of the anthem from Rocky…

Every year, the Clydesdale spot is ranked one of the Super Bowl favorites… Every year, it does a beautiful job re-connecting millions of viewers – men and women – to a brand that comes across as a class act that Americans can care about. And then less than a week later, it’s gone. What a waste!

And what a mystery, to me, at least. I understand that young men are the core consumers. But seriously: In a category where a single share point means multi-millions of dollars, how is it that not one marketer thinks it’s a worthwhile idea to include women in their marketing message?

Notice I didn’t say “Create, launch and promote a new beer marketed exclusively to women.” I’m suggesting simply some sign that says “Women welcome – Why don’t y’all come in and have a cold one with us?” The day beer marketers open up their advertising, they’ll find women will open their wallets. And the resulting sales will bowl you over.

I second Marti’s thoughts. If you’re a brewery, you would strike gold this time of year IF you decided that pursing the 50.9% of the population that is women was worth it. And worth it – it is.

A Valentine’s Day Lesson on Marketing to Women

Marketing to Women on Valentine's Day

How to Market to Women on Valentine’s Day

With the day rapidly approaching, I recently conducted a poll with approximately 200 women regarding their thoughts on Valentine’s Day. As I suspected would be the case, the results were as varied as the women themselves. Some felt the day was simply a Hallmark-inspired holiday to be ignored, while others happily embraced it. Some liked the typical traditions of the day, while some looked for a way to make the day unique to themselves. But the common thread running through all the responses was that they all wanted the day to represent something authentic. Something that sincerely reflected what is important to them – whether it’s the store-bought card with traditional chocolates and roses, or something more personal –– a potted tree, an antique book, or a special day for herself and loved one.

Authenticity is key to women, and not just in their relationships –– they want authentic relationships with the brands that are part of their everyday lives as well.

Today’s women are savvy about how marketing works, and recognize insincere marketing ploys when they see them. Their b.s. meters are on red-alert. That’s why they often trust their peers over industry experts. With women controlling 85 percent of all purchase decisions (representing $7 trillion in spending), marketers need to achieve high-value relationships with women. And that means being authentic. Today’s brands have to be believable to be loved, using real people, real language and real stories.

Does your brand speak to women in an authentic way?

Marketing to Boomer Women: Don’t Ever Call Them Senior

Marketing to Boomer Women - Even Famous Ones

Would you call this Boomer Woman senior, aging or even (gasp!) elderly?

Who Is the Boomer Woman?

Many advertisers and marketers are just beginning to awaken to the fact that the deep pockets of female Baby Boomers is where it’s at. And though they would certainly like a piece of that market share, the reality is that disproportionately few of them understand this group of women.

Baby Boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964. Boomer Women make up 19 percent of the total U.S. population. Consider these other facts:

Every fifth adult in the U.S. today is a female over 50.
Women comprise the majority of the 80 million Boomers now working their way through society and the consumer marketplace. They have established careers and money to spend on themselves, as well as the ability to influence the majority of their households’ purchasing decisions.
In the next decade, women will control two-thirds of the consumer wealth in the U.S.
Not only will Boomer women continue to earn income by working, they’ll also manage inheritance windfalls from their parents as well as their husbands, who they will outlive by 6-9 years on average.

The reality is that in today’s world, the economy definitely is largely influenced by Boomer Women.

Marketing to Boomer Women

Vibrant Nation has recently put out a book that provides an in-depth look on the subject: What Boomer Women 50+ Know, Think, Do & Buy. Following are some key findings from the book:

Boomer Women are at a fascinating time in their lives. These women are reshaping the world with adventure and luxury vacations, luxury cars, continuing education, volunteerism, politics and entrepreneurial endeavors. They’re enjoying the greatest financial stability of their lives, and they’re not afraid to spend.

Boomer Women want to hear from other Boomer Women. Peer influencers are going to have a much greater impact than a young female celebrity hawking their face cream. Many marketers are addressing that reality, with Ellen DeGeneres and others becoming the faces of brands targeting this age group.

These are not your grandmother’s 50s. Today’s Boomer Women are educated, active, and technologically-savvy. They’re online, using iPads, Flip cameras, Blackberries, Facebook and Skype. Not just passive observers, Boomer Women are quickly adopting the Internet usage patterns of younger generations and posting content themselves.

Boomer Women recognize their importance. Today’s Boomer Women feel ignored by marketers, and in turn, have decided to write them off. In a recent survey, the majority of respondents indicated that they are indignant and angry that many industries simply aren’t taking them seriously, and they’re proactively looking to give their business to those that will. They don’t demand that ads feature only women 50+, but they don’t like ads that never feature women 50+.

Trying not to look old does not mean looking young. Boomer Women are realistic – they don’t want to look like their 20-year old granddaughters, but they aspire to be the best 50 or 60 they can be. They like to hear that they can be “ageless” and look as great as they feel, rather than that they’re “still going strong” or look great “for their age.”

And, by the way, don’t call a Boomer Woman “senior” – she’ll be well into her 80s before she’s willing to take on that title.

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