Marketing to Women Online

The Power of One Good Friend

As I sit right smack dab in the middle of the holiday marketing season I am inundated with ads of families, couples, parents, romantic partners.....but there's one relationship that's glaringly missing from the ads...

Friends.

Sure there are ads with female friends doing their holiday shopping together. But where's the ad with the woman/man/kid shopping high and low to find the perfect gift for their best friend?  

When you DO produce a commercial about true friendship, it stands out.

Marketing to Grandmothers

What today's grandmother looks like

I have a question for companies and marketers who target women.   How much of your marketing budget is directed at grandmothers?   I know there are billions of dollars spent marketing to mothers, but I rarely see ads targeting grandmothers.

So I have to ask a big, "what's up with that?"   

Is it because when you think of a grandmother you picture a grey haired lady sitting at home living on Social Security? 

What marketers think today's grandmother looks like

Are Today's Moms Longing for a Return to the 1950's?

Mad Men, Pan Am, The Play Boy Club...what's up with all these shows focusing on life in the 50's and 60's? That was a time when women had limited opportunity and sexism was rampant. So why do men AND women look nostalgicly at this era? ( is nostalgicly a word?)

A new study about moms from Women at NBCU might shed some light.

The headline reads, "MOMS ASPIRE TO BE MODERN DAY JUNE CLEAVERS,ACCORDING TO A NEW WOMEN AT NBCU STUDY WHICH PAINTS AN  ALTERED PICTURE OF TODAY'S AMERICAN FAMILY"

Coldwater Creek and Stereotyping Girls

I have to start out by saying I'm normally a fan of Coldwater Creek's advertising. So I was intrigued by their new TV commercial, "Sisters." It's a great premise, a family of 5 girls and the story of how they try to outdo each other.

 

I was waiting for great things, until the spot listed out what the girls competed with each other about -

Women Mock American Apparel "Plus-Size" Campaign

 

Here's a marketing to women tip - when you're creating a campaign, trying to be "clever" is never a good idea. 

American Apparel conducted a contest to find a plus-size model to be included in their promotion for their larger sizes.  Fun idea.  Get your target audience involved.  Sounds like a winner.  But then they came up with their "clever" slogan for their contest, "The Next BIG Thing" (Yes, they used "BIG" in all caps).

Get it - it's a contest for plus-size models who can be a "big" thing. Isn't that clever? Isn't that catchy?

There's only one problem, it's actually condescending to the very customer they hope to attract through the campaign. And women let them know it.

Graphics - Where Are You Directing Your Visitors' Eyes

In another interesting test from Which Test Won a company tested two graphics with very minor differences.   Look at Version A then Version B and guess which one got a 26% lift in free trial sign-ups.

Version A

Version B

Which did you guess? 

What Women Can Learn From - Startup from the Ground Up

I recently read Startup from the Ground Up - Practical Insights for Transforming an Idea into a Business by Cynthia Kocialski. I love hearing from women who have been successful in male dominated fields. Cynthia Kocialski has been involved in more than twenty-four start-ups, all of which have been acquired for almost $20 billion.

While women are starting their own businesses in record numbers, you don't hear as much about women creating "startups." Wikipedia has this to say about startup companies:

Successful startups are typically more scalable than an established business, in the sense that they can potentially grow rapidly. Investors are generally most attracted to those new companies distinguished by their risk/reward profile and scalability.

In my research on the differences between men and women, I've found women business owners tend to grow their businesses more slowly and organically.   There's nothing wrong with this business model.  But certain businesses could benefit greatly by having a more traditional startup mentality, hiring an executive team and securing funding for faster growth.  

Tips from Startup from the Ground Up

These tips are useful for all business owners, but especially for women business owners.

Negativity In the Workplace

We've all been there - worked in a negative work environment, whether it involved a difficult co-worker or a bad boss.   What do you do in those circumstances?   

Author Paula Renaye has a new book out called The Hard-Line Self Help Handbook. She tackles a lot of tough issues.  The following is her take on workplace negativity. 

I think three of her most important points are:

1. Take responsibility for your attitude.  Just because others are negative doesn't mean you need to join in.  This is especially important for women.  Focus on what you can do vs. what you can't.
2. Own your choice.   If it's that bad, find a way out. I know the job market is tough right now, but discreetly explore options to try to find a way out.
3. Own your actions.   If you're  a manager and your employees are all negative, look at yourself and your role.  Be willing to accept feedback.

OK Paula - take it away.

Office Politics Self Help—10 Ways to soar like an eagle even if you’re working with turkeys

By Paula Renaye

Working environments are interesting little microcosms of life with relationships that function—or don’t—from the top down.

I once worked as a subcontractor for man who owned a small consulting company. He often complained that he just couldn't get ahead because of all the dumb people messing things up for him. His great ideas and big deals would work if everyone would just do things his way.

BlogHer 2011 - Conference Highlights

 

It was another fabulous BlogHer conference in San Diego. Nearly 3,000 women bloggers convened for one kick-ass weekend.  So what's new this year?  What were the learnings, trends, themes?  Let's find out.

Theme #1 - Writing your story helps you know your story

"Real confidence comes form knowing and accepting yourself - your strengths and limitations - in contrast to depending on affirmation from others."  Judith M. Bardwick, sociologist.

Every year at BlogHer I notice certain themes. Vulnerability came up in several sessions, as did how much to share or not share.  Brene Brown made so many profound statements including, "Nothing makes you more vulnerable than being a mom."   With so much judgement out there,  why do we feel the need to share?  A panelist summed it up best when she said, "Healing is in the telling of the story, not the reaction to  it."   It seems seeking acceptance from ourselves is more important than seeking acceptance from others.  In another session a woman noted, "I don't know if I write my blog or my blog writes me."    I heard story after story of women who discovered themselves through their blogs.  I think this is unbelievably cool.

Use Video to Sell Your Product

I'm a long time fan of using video to sell products.  Women especially want more information before they're ready to buy.  While many people won't read a block of text, they will watch a video.

Invodo specializes in creating just such videos. They recently shared information about their work with Summit Toy:

Invodo creates high-quality product video content at scale and develops leading technology to implement and deliver the content to retail sites and other points of consumer influence. For manufacturers like Summit Toy, Invodo’s vast syndication network enables delivery of the custom videos to retail partners that are also selling the products. The videos drive sales and reduce returns by highlighting key features of merchandise and aiding the consumer buying decision process.

“Manufacturers are always seeking tools to help retail partners sell more merchandise, and video optimized for conversion lift makes that possible,” said Craig Wax, Invodo CEO.

Here's an example of a video Invodo created for Summit Toy.