Marketing to Women Online

How Financial Companies Can Win with Women Business Owners

Women business owners face the same challenges that all business owners face. But how they handle those challenges, how they make decisions, and what they want from their financial partners can be different from their male counterparts.

For example, a recent American College survey found that small business owners prefer to work with financial advisors of the same sex.

Sixty-one percent of women small business owners prefer to speak to female financial advisors, compared to 24 percent of men. Seventy-five percent of men prefer to speak to male financial advisors, compared to 40 percent of women.

So for those 61% of women business owners who prefer to work with a female financial advisor, what can you do for them?  Do you have women financial advisors in your company?

Why Mothers Need to Put Themselves Financially First - New Study

Moms are famous for putting other people first, especially their families.  But when it comes to finances, moms need to put themselves and their retirement first.   It's actually one of the most loving things they can do for their family.

Here's why.  Women don't want to be a burden on their families, financial or otherwise. 

• 9 out of 10 women say they don't want to be a burden on their kids.
• Older Americans (age 44-75) are more afraid of running out of money than death. 

Women care deeply about NOT having to be dependent on others, and this includes moms.  The problem is, mothers face additional challenges when it comes to saving for retirement.

Retirement Revealed Study

A recent ING U.S. study Retirement Revealed found that mothers face additional hurdles when it comes to building their retirement security.  While the income gap between men and women has narrowed in recent years, mothers tend to spend more time out of the workforce due to caregiver responsibilities.  This reality reduces their earning and savings potential and also lowers Social Security benefits.  ING U.S.’s study found that:

• The majority (60%) of mothers do not feel prepared for retirement and almost half (46%) don’t know how to achieve their retirement goals. 
• Just over half (53%) of mothers have less than $25,000 saved in their employer-sponsored retirement plan. 
• Less than two-thirds (65%) of mothers are receiving their employer’s full company match compared to more than three-quarters (76%) of fathers.
• Only two-in-ten (20%) of respondents have a formal investment plan to meet their retirement goals.

How Banks Can Win By Marketing To Women

There are three key things banks need to do to be successful:

1. Attract new customers
2. Get more business from their existing customers
3. Retain their customers

When I work with bank clients, these are the three success metrics we usually focus on.  By marketing and selling to women, banks can move the needle on all three of these metrics.  Right now I want to focus on #2 and #3..

Get more business from your existing customers

One of the key factors for getting more business from your existing customers and for keeping those customers is to build a stronger relationship with those customers.

Does Marketing Financial Services to Women Really Work?

Some recent posts by myself and Roger Conant have sparked a really interesting conversation about marketing financial services to women.

I wrote Marketing Credit Unions to Women - Getting Men on Board.   Roger Conant wrote Marketing to Women Requires Cultural Change. 

Ron Shevlin at Snarketing 2.0 had a really interesting response - You Can't Market Financial Services to Women.

What's interesting is, I agree with some of Ron's points (not all, but some).   But I, of course, have reached a different conclusion.  

Marketing Credit Unions to Women - Getting Men On Board

I've talked and worked with many people in the credit union industry, and there is a lot of interest in reaching out to women consumers. In many ways credit unions are offering the kind of financial experience so many women are looking for.

And yet, there seems to be some hesitation, especially at the top,and often from men.  In my conversation with credit union board members, here are some of the concerns they have voiced:

• If we focus on women, will we turn off men?
• Will our efforts simply drive more women to us?  Will we end up with almost all women customers?
• Will we have to change everything we do?

The answer to all of the above is "No."

• When you do it right and meet the higher expectations of women, men benefit as well
• When you attract more women, along with the women comes the business of their spouses and familiy members
• You don't have to change things that are working for you.  Simple, specific changes to your customer service, sales process and marketing can have a BIG effect.

Why aren't more men getting on board with focusing on women?

Why Financial Companies Should Focus on Boomer Women

Many industries largely ignore boomer women. While this is not smart, the fact that the financial industry largely ignores boomer women is shocking.

Boomer women are going to control all the money - seriously.Three trends point to the importance of the boomer women market:

1. Boomer women are earning more money than ever. They are highly educated, moving up the corporate ladder and starting their own businesses (quite successfully I might add).
2. Boomer women are controlling more money than ever. Not only are they running the household finances, they are participating in long-term financial planning as well.
3. Boomer women are inheriting more money than ever. They're getting a double inheritance from their parents and from their husbands who they are outliving.

Marketing Credit Unions to Women

 

In your family, who is setting up the checking accounts, balancing the checkbooks, going to the bank to make deposits, balancing the household budget?  

In many families, that person is a woman.   Women make 89 percent of the banking decisions for their families.   This is  just one of the reasons why credit unions should be actively marketing to women. 

Another reason why credit unions should market to women is to attract women business owners.  Women are starting their own businesses at a record pace.  Women business owners are valuable customers looking for financing options and merchant services.   And women-owned businesses are a good financial bet.  Women-owned businesses are as financially sound and creditworthy as the typical firm in the U.S. economy, and are more likely to remain in business than the average U.S. firm.

Finally, women want what credit unions have to offer.  Women are very community oriented and like the personal touch that credit unions bring to the customer experience.

Credit unions looking for a financial edge should take a closer look at connecting with women. Let's look at specific things you can do to attract and retain women customers, including a real-life example of a credit union doing just that.

How to market your credit union to women

 

Why We Need More Women in Finance

I do a lot of work with the financial industry. Smart companies get that they need to do a better job of selling to women.  But it's also important to have women on your management and leadership teams.  It's not only good for the consumer, it's good for the company. 

Here's Halla Tomasdottir, the co-founder and chairman of Audur Capital, a financial services firm based in Iceland to explain why. 

Halla Tomasdottir founded Audur Capital along with Kristin Petursdottir, a former investment banker, just over a year before Iceland suffered an almost complete economic meltdown in the fall of 2008. Audur Capital got through the eye of the financial storm without experiencing direct losses to their own equity or to their clients' funds under management.

What did Halla Tomasdottir and her team at Audur Capital do diffeferently?

Women and Finance Survey with Vibrant Nation

How do boomer women feel about finances and the financial services industry?

That's what I set out to find along with my research partner VibrantNation.com, the leading online community for women 50 plus.  The results were surprising and insightful.

The one message we got loud and clear was, Boomer Women want financial services companies to recognize them as important decision makers.

Boomer women and finance survey key findings

Perhaps the most striking insight came from these two questions:

Sun Trust's "Live Solid" Is a Solid Winner

I'm often asked for an example of a financial company who does a good job of marketing to women.  So here's an example for you - the "Live Solid" campaign from Sun Trust.

While "Live Solid" is not specifically aimed at women, it does a great job of focusing on what women care about. 

Why Live Solid works for women

Sun Trust and their ad agency based the campaign on a core value that many women share when it comes to money - a focus on spending money wisely vs. simply accumulating money.