Marketing to Women Online

Find Your Best Keywords

Women sometimes have unique ways of describing things.  When my girly girl friend was feeling macho and wanted to hang a window flower box outside she promptly marched up to her boyfriend and asked to borrow his “whirry whirry screw thing…you know…..vroom” - not the technically correct name but he knew exactly what she was talking about. 

When you’re trying to find your best keywords – keep two things in mind.  One – what is the visitor intent?  Two - how does the visitor describe your product – it may be different from the terms you use internally.   

Find your best keywords tip #1  - Visitor intent

What is the intent of the person typing in the keyword? Women owned businesses are growing at an exponential rate.   Many of these women business owners are opening up offices or stores and need phones.   A woman business owner typing in “phone systems” – a broad term – may be early in the buying process.   What does she see?  A landing page with tons of techno speak or a page displaying lots of products with no text to help her choose which one might be right for her.

Wouldn't it be nice to be taken to a page that explains what the different phone systems are and which options might be best for a small business owner?     

Now - a woman business owner typing in “IP-PBX phone system” has probably done a lot more homework.  She knows a specific type of phone system – she’s later in the buying process.  Now is a good time to take her to a specific phone system.  To find your best keywords, understand what your visitor’s intent is.

Find your best keywords tip #2 - Words your visitors use to describe what they need

How a customer describes your product may be very different from terms you use internally.   Example “Human capital talent acquisition” is how some staffing firms refer to their services.   But the business owner looking to hire people may just be typing in “mortgage staffing” or “automotive staffing company”.    

We have a client who sells a self help releasing technique.   A huge issue for women is what they term “emotional trauma.”  Upon further exploration – we found emotional trauma could be broken down into lots of other terms:  grief, caretaker’s syndrome, co-dependency, martyr syndrome, low self-esteem.   The other problem with trying to find your best keywords is – some visitors do not recognize their true condition.   A martyr thinks she is a self sacrificing saint, and that’s a good thing.  “Martyr” strikes her as a negative label she would never give herself.  So we had to delve deeper – what do women with this syndrome suffer from – sleep deprivation and lack of energy – so we targeted those keywords. 

Go out there and find your best keywords.    The time you spend researching will be well rewarded by attracting qualified traffic to your site. 

Online Ad Placement

Sometimes you just have to ask...."What were they thinking?"   Have you ever read the msnbc news section?   These days, the news is so graphically disturbing and cruel, you never know what horrible story may end up there.    Like the recent cases of young girls ripped from their homes, sexually assaulted, and murdered.    And yet in every msnbc news story - there's some bright cheery ad right there next to these horrific headlines.  Ads similar to the one I've displayed selling everything from better bodies, to online dating, to home equity loans.

Now - I'm sure if you look at the numbers - msnbc news pages must get a gazillion views.  But I have to ask - when people are reading about  rape, murder,  war and unsepeakable acts of cruelty - does that content affect their frame of mind?   Are they going to be open to your warm fuzzy upbeat advertising message?  (they will be if your message is fear or anxiety based - if I were a home security company - this is exactly where I'd be)   

What if the above ad ran next to the story of the little girl killed in Florida?  (it didn't - but it could have)   The 30-45 year old mother who this ad is probably targeted at is reading about her worst nightmare.  Is she really going to be receptive to your message?

It's not just online ads.  Look at network TV's prime time line up.   Crime drama after crime drama.   And they're adding even more.  Just look at CBS's new line up.    Media buyers are openly concerned about "the number of police procedural dramas one schedule could carry."   I've watched a lot of these shows and it's common to go from some gruesome scene of a dead body to a bright cheery ad for some prescription drug .

How much does the content surrounding an ad affect the audience's receptiveness to the message?    I don't have the answer, but if  I were an advertiser, I'd want to know.   

Guidelines for Creating Online Surveys

We all love to pretend we’re people we’re not. One of my fondest memories of my sister was the time she put on her Cinderella costume and refused to take it off for 2 days. (she was 32 at the time)

We’re also all easily influenced and swayed by suggestive language. “How fast were the cars going when they crashed” will get higher mph answers than “how fast were the cars going when the accident occurred”.

What does this have to do with guidelines for creating online surveys? Everything.

In an earlier example we looked at how people described their investment strategy. Were these people consciously lying? I don’t think so. But we all want to portray positive images of ourselves. The beauty of online surveys is – there is an anonymity to it. But sometimes we genuinely aren’t aware of our shortcomings. Keep this in mind when you’re thinking of guidelines for creating online surveys and how you use the results.

Guidelines for creating online surveys:

1. Keep them as short as possible. The longer the survey is, the fewer people will fill it out.
2. Let them know ahead of time approximately how long it will take.
3. Start out with easier questions first.  Put more personal questions towards the end.
4. Don’t use influencing language. Be very careful how you word your questions. Instead of “Is there anything offensive about this name” “how do you feel about this name – what images come to mind.”
5. When possible – use open ended questions where you can get an actual written answer. This provides enormous insight into what people are really thinking and is a goldmine for keywords and copy ideas. (The trade off is it required more time and thinking – multiple choice answers are much easier and more likely to be filled out – so weigh the pros and cons of this option)
6. Tell them why you are doing the survey. And even more importantly – tell them what you’re doing with the      information. Women love to give their opinion, but even more importantly, they love to be heard – let them know you heard their suggestions, opinions, or show them how you used their information in a positive way.
7. 3 words – privacy, privacy, privacy – let them know clearly and up front who will be seeing their information and who it will be shared with.
8. When possible – reward them for their time. It lets them know you appreciate the fact that they are taking time out of their busy schedules to help you.

Use these guidelines for creating online surveys and enjoy the valuable data they generate. But pay close attention to how you interpret this data.   If you get answers that surprise you – do more digging to find out what’s really going on. If you’re asking people to divulge information that may not portray them in a positive light – be extra careful how you read the results.

Online Surveys - Getting to Know You

How do you get to know her? This “woman customer” you so desperately want to buy your products? How do you gather information about her, her life, her needs, her motivations, her deepest desires? We’ve all read the stories of women who not only become customers, but become brand evangelists singing your praises to anyone who will listen. Who are these women and how do you gather information about them?

Marketers have more resources than ever for gathering data: online surveys, focus groups, interviews, customer rating systems, website analytics. All can be excellent sources of information, but all can also be flawed. There are two main problems. One – gathering the data is one thing, interpreting it is another. Correctly interpreting data isn’t always easy. Two – as much as she says “I want you to understand me” she may not always tell you the truth about herself. She’s not purposefully lying, but the image of ourselves we want to project to the world and who we really are often not the same thing.

I was talking to a friend who had a financial/investment services client. The client offered two types of investing advice and services. One service was geared towards value investors – those who are risk averse and comfortable with slower growth – more of a buy and hold strategy. The other service was designed for an investor who is much more aggressive. This investor wants the hot stocks, triple digit returns, and quick turnarounds.  The client believed the audience was evenly split.  But when the client did an online survey – the vast majority of visitors classified themselves as value investors. So they were considering changing the content on the site to speak more to this less aggressive investor.

When she told me about the online survey, I gave her my highly professional technical analysis - “It’s crap”.

OF COURSE visitors filling out the online survey were going to say they were disciplined value investors. OF COURSE they think of themselves as smart long-term planners happy with steady growth. Who’s going to willingly raise their hand and say “Not me – I chase every high flying stock opportunity with the wild abandon of a giddy schoolgirl in hope of bagging the next triple digit winner.” But you only have to look at the plethora of websites and trading services that make mega-bucks with headlines like “this stock is poised to rocket up 200% in the next 30 days.”

I consider myself a low-risk value investor. But I’m embarrassed to tell you how much money I’ve lost trying to find the next eBay or Qualcomm. I finally had to hire a financial advisor whose job it is to specifically talk me out of bad stock ideas. “But Pete – the newsletter said this trial drug could end childhood disease, save the rainforest and cure cancer! But if I don’t get in now, I could miss out on billions of dollars!!” He gently points out that the technical chart looks awful, the company has no track record of ever having producing anything, and it’s located in Botswana. Pete makes me stick to my value investor strategy.

Do I want you to understand me? Absolutely. Do I want you to create websites that speak to me, my needs, and in my language? You betcha. Am I always going to be honest with you when you try to get that information from me? Hmmmmm. Let me think about that while I check the share prices on Google. 

Don't Call Her a Soccer Mom

We all know her.   You’ve seen her in advertisements. She’s in her mid 30’s to early 40’s.  She drives a minivan.  She lives in the suburbs.  She has a husband who means well, but she’s the one who’s really in charge.  Her life is focused around her kids – doing their laundry, driving them to the ball field, juggling housework and cooking duties.  Her days are filled with important choices like:  choosing the right soft drinks, finding laundry detergent that gets stains out, buying breakfast cereal that’s healthy, but which the kids will actually eat.  You have a clear picture of her in your head, right?    She’s a soccer mom.   There are millions of her out there.   She’s a prime target for advertisers.  There’s just one problem….   

She doesn’t exist.

Are there women out there with these traits?  Yes, there are.  Are there women out there who make these same choices?   You bet.  But what we see portrayed are stereotypes.  Stereotypes make sense because they are largely based in truth.    So what’s the problem?   By stereotyping, you may not have a deep enough understanding of who your customers really are, what they really want and how to communicate with them.   The lives these women live are so much deeper, richer and more complicated than what the “soccer mom” stereotype would lead you to believe.  

ster·e·o·type n.  )

1. A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.
2. One that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.

Stereotypes of women in the media abound.   And it’s not just advertisements. You have only to look at prime time TV to see stereotypes of women in the media. In the article “Primetime Stereotyping:  Social Psychological Effects on an Impressionable Culture” authors Pamela Davis, Lisa Russell, Amber Ruth and Robert woods discuss stereotypes in television.

   If I were to tell you that I resemble a hippy woman from the 60's, you would definitely be able to come up with a mental image of me, right!  Flowers in my long, flowing hair, a tie-dyed T-shirt, and bell bottom pants.  I am a free spirit, and an open minded Liberal.

  Perhaps the description helps you get a mental image of myself.  By creating such mental pictures and having a preconceived notion of what a hippy looks like, and what characteristics he or she has, you are using the cognitive short cut called stereotyping.  We utilize stereotypes in everyday life to reduce the amount of information we need to analyze.  Our world is so complex that we need to categorize who and what we come into contact with on a daily basis.

People tend to use stereotypes to "fill in" details about a person if they are not a member of their in-group and they do not possess the motivation to get to know them on a more personal basis.

Check out the full article about stereotypes of women in the media.

Stereotypes are a shortcut that may prevent you from doing the important research to truly understand and communicate with your customers. 

So, how do you overcome stereotypes of women in the media? And specifically – how can you overcome stereotypes of women in the media who are shopping online? That’s the 287.2 billion dollar question.