Marketing to Women Online

I'm the Kind Of Person Who......

The recent M2Moms conference found that :

• 60% of moms feel that marketers are ignoring their needs.
• 73% of moms feel that advertisers don't really understand what its like to be a Mom.

Bottom line - advertisers aren't connecting with moms.  Moms don't see themselves in the ads.

I believe this is one of the main reasons why so many marketing to women campaigns fail.  The images/characters in the ads don't reflect the kind of person she believes herself to be (or strives to be) 

I'm the kind of person who....

How does she see herself?  What is her self-perception?  What values does she see in herself?   How does she answer the question....I'm the kind of person who.......

For example.  I see myself as a good dog mom.   When my lab got home from knee surgery this summer, she was in bad shape.  So I pulled a mattress off the bed so I could sleep next to her on the floor.  I'm the kind of person who.... goes above and beyond (and what other people might consider over the top) for the dog I love.  

When I see a commercial featuring a person who goes above and beyond for her dog, I see myself in that person.  The mental association is - women like me who are good to their dogs use this product, thus, I can picture myself using this product. 

Marketing Pet Products to Women

 
This afternoon I saw Martha Stewart on CNBC, along with her two dogs Francesca and Sparkey, promoting her new partnership with Petsmart.

Next to the financial industry and the auto industry, I believe the pet industry has the most potential to reach out to and truly tap into the power of women consumers.  

I was reminded of this when looking at the Whiner & Diner website promoting eco-friendly pet accessories.

Everything in her home is a home decor item - everything.

Whiner & Diner features pet accessories made out of wine crates. I was instantly captivated by their elevated dog feeders made of authentic wooden wine crates.

Why You Need to Be "Her People"

One of my favorite commercials is for American Express and features Ellen DeGeneres.  After Beyonce invites her out and requests - " Have your people call my people," Ellen goes on a search for "her people."

Women are in need of "people."   Women are often the caretakers, the organizers, the planners.  Sometimes they need someone to caretake, organize, and plan for them. 

I was reminded of this on a recent speaking trip to Corpus Christi, Texas.  Apparently, Corpus Christi is on the Gulf of Mexico.  Seriously.  Who knew.  I suddenly found myself with half a day of free time and a gorgeous waterfront to peruse, but nothing but heels and business suits in my suitcase.

Where were my people to say, "Holly, Corpus Christi is on the water and the weather is supposed to be beautiful.  Be sure to pack some cool casual clothes and sensible footwear so you can explore the waterfront."

Marketing Cars to Women: Toyota - A, GM - D

This is the tale of two car commercials.   I saw these very close together and the difference between the two approaches could not have been more clear.

GM is using old-fashioned male communication style.

Toyota is using modern female communication style.

First, let's watch the two commercials.

Here's the latest from GM

Here's the latest from Toyota

Women Notice Details In Your Ads

I've noticed the new TV ads for Ford featuring Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe.   For some reason, he sounds almost.....well.....credible.

Is it the delivery of his lines?   Could it be his hand movements that made him seem more believable?   After much thought, I finally put my finger on what made him sound credible.  

It was his ball cap.

Seriously.

How often do you see a car TV spokesman in a ball cap.  Not often.  I actually can't remember the last time I saw a pitchman in a ball cap. 

Yeah, sure.  There are lighting issues, you can't fully see a person's face when they have a ball cap on.   But guys wear them all the time.  At least, regular guys do. 

What Images Increase Sales to Today's Women?

What are the most important elements in advertisements targeting women?  Quite often - the images.

As we've seen, women sometimes don't respond to/relate to the same images that men do.

So what images do women respond to?

I asked Sally Bjornsen that question.   Sally runs Sally Bjornsen Represents where she represents a select group of photographers.  Ad agencies hire these photographers to do photo-shoots for their clients.  I wanted to talk to Sally for two reasons:

1. She has an extensive advertising background working for companies like Nike and Nordstrom as well as running her own women-focused ad agency.
2. With her current business, she sees firsthand what types of images agencies are looking for today.  

Sally has seen some trends as to what types of images are connecting with consumers, especially female consumers.

How To Create Websites for Women - Dailyworth.com

 

I'm always looking for websites that include elements that engage women.  Dailyworth.com is a personal financial and business advice site for women. Here's what Dailyworth.com is doing to connect with their female visitors.

Daily emails

The main service Dailyworth.com offers is a daily email:

Our emails provide money-related and professional advice in simple, sassy servings.

A short digestible daily email is perfect for today's time-starved woman. 

Women-friendly design

How to Sell to Women - Address Her "Worst-Case" Fears

   

So what's the worst that can happen?

Chances are pretty good that it's a woman who can answer that question. There are two reasons for this:

1. Women tend to think more long-term about their purchases.  They want to know what will happen 3 months, 6 months, a year down the road.
2. Women are often focused on avoiding bad outcomes.  Motherhood especially can cause a woman to determine ahead of time what could be a bad situation and how to protect herself and her children against it.

Are you addressing these worst-case scenarios with her? 

Address her concerns

Some sales people don't want to bring up anything "negative."  By all means, stay focused on the positive. But if she has a concern, wouldn't you rather get it out of her so you can address it directly, rather than letting her go home and discuss it with everyone except you?

Audible.com Gets Marketing to Women Online

Want to see an example of effective marketing to women online?  Here's one from Audible.com. 

I gotta tell you.  I heart Audible.com.   It's a great place to instantly download audio books at a fraction of the price of pre-packaged audio books on CD.   I am a total audiobook-a-holic. These are my people.

This promotion caught my attention:

There are several reasons why I think this is effective:

BlogHer '09 Wrap Up - The Swag

If you weren't at BlogHer '09, all I can say is - you missed it.

I'll be blogging about the conference all week. I want to give you a flavor of what it's like to hang out for 48 hours with almost 1500 women bloggers.

Let'a start with the most important things first.

The Swag

OK - let's talk about what women really care about - the swag.  A lot of smart advertisers want to get in front of this influential crowd.  Considering just one of these bloggers might have hundreds of thousands of readers, I think a conservative estimate of the combined readership of the bloggers at the conference reaches into the tens of millions - probably much higher.  

These companies came loaded down with goodies. Women were walking around with huge shopping bags full of stuff - everything from video cameras to designer scarves to toys for their kids.