Women Roar!
by StartupNation.com on August 6th, 2009
Marketing to women used to be an afterthought, like marketing to a special interest group.Today, savvy marketers understand one powerful concept—that women either buy or influence the purchase of most consumer items. Sound farfetched? According to Tom Peters (and many other writers) this is the new reality, a reality that will shape this next century and beyond. Manufacturers and marketers must take notice.
Consider these facts:
- Of all consumer purchases, women either buy or influence the purchase 83 percent of the time.
- Women account for 92 percent of all vacation choices.
- Women are responsible for 94 percent of all home furnishings purchases.
- Of all new bank accounts, women make the choice 89 percent of the time.
- For car purchases, women choose 60 percent of the time.
- In the consumer electronics realm, women purchase 51 percent of all items.
- Women make 80 percent of all healthcare decisions.
According to Tom Peters, in his masterful work, Re-imagine!, “the real story is the 10.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States alone. These enterprises employ 27.5 million of us. (In other words: one out of every four American workers.) In fact, women-owned businesses employ more workers inside the U.S.A. than the ‘fabled’ Fortune 500 employ worldwide.”
Moreover, female-run and female-owned businesses now account for over $3.6 trillion in annual sales. Now that’s significant economic power.
Not Taken Seriously
Yet, for all this power, women (as a group) are not being taken seriously enough by many companies. For many businesses, marketing to women is just considered another niche, and not given the primacy that such a market ought to command. Intelligent marketers know that this underserved market represents an enormous opportunity, if approached correctly.
In the seminal work, EVEolution, author Faith Popcorn addresses the discernible fact that women and men are different, that marketing to women requires a very different approach. As she writes, “Women want a brand to extend into their lives in as many ways as possible. They want a brand to speak to their heads and their hearts. To understand them. To recognize their needs, values, standards, and dreams.”
Continuing, she adds, “And what women don’t want is just as important as what they do. They don’t want to do business with an organization, a company, or a brand that condescends to them. That inconveniences them. That makes them wait, argue, or defend themselves.”
In many ways, therefore, marketing to women requires much more sensitivity, but, if you get it right, you will establish a highly loyal and devoted client base—one that is naturally more inclined than men to boast of your products, services, and offerings.
