Marketing to Women Online

Profound Truths About Women

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone - and they say something so profound, so dead-on, something that touches you in your core - that you stop what you're doing and just stand there with a stupid look on your face?

That's exactly what happened to me the other day.  I was riding in the car talking to my sister.  We were discussing why so many more women today have children without a traditional family.  They make the decision - I want a child - I want to be a mother - whether there is a husband or guy at all.   Often times, there isn't.  Modern technology makes is easier with sperm banks and other options for women to say "I'm not going to miss this - I want to experience motherhood" no matter what their relationship status.

I was just curious as to the motivation - what drives these women to make this choice? To bring children into their world?

My sister thought for second and said, "I think it's because so many women feel alone in the world."

Wow - I almost couldn't speak - I felt this phrase so powerfully in my solar plexus.

"so many women feel alone in the world."

It was one of those profound truths that just knocks you flat.   Perhaps because I felt it personally, but also because I think I tapped into some universal pain.   

Women want children in their lives so there is someone to share their lives with - someone who will take care of them - someone they can build a family with, a community with.   

And something clicked inside my little pea brain.   There is a TV commercial for Weight Watchers that I believe is brilliant.   The first time I saw it it practically jumped out at me.   The copy was so dead on - the images - but the music.......I thought the music was an odd choice - it was Cher's "Song for the Lonely".    (Yes - I am a Cher fan - I am secretly a gay man)   I thought - why would they have a song with lyrics about being lonely??

"so many women feel alone in the world"

Online Copywriting Seminar

I recently presented a teleseminar for shop.org on online copywriting.  Judging from the response, it's a hot topic among Internet retailers.   They're asking many of the same questions many marketers are asking:

• How can we persuade our visitors to take the actions we want them to take?
• How can you write short concise copy that is effective?
• How can we answer our visitors' questions when we're not even sure what questions they are asking?
• How can we speak to different visitors with different needs and motivations on the same site?
• How can we convey our brand with our website?
• What are personas and how can we apply them to our business?
• How can you create fresh content when your copywriter is writing hundreds if not thousands of product descriptions each year?  How can we keep our website and our copywriter fresh?

We'll be answering these and other questions next week in our Persuasive Online Copywriting Seminar April 3-4 at our offices in Brooklyn, NY.    I'd love to hang with you.  Interested in joining in the fun?

Just a few seats left.

Are You Willing To Take Chances?

Are you willing to take chances?  Are you?  Really?  It sounds good - rolls off the tongue - gives you a sense of bravado. "Yes - I"m willing to take chances".  But are you? Truly?  Are you willing to piss off  A LOT of people in order to really connect with a few?

It takes some serious chutzpah.    Women, as well as men, fear rejection.  We all fear that our passions will be ignored or even worse, proven totally worthless.   Will that stop you from following your passion? Will it stop you from preaching it to the masses?

One of my favorite thought leaders, Roy W. has often said, "Criticism makes you cautious."   How true.   How many times have you had your thoughts, insights, dreams trampled on by others who "know better than you." 

Do they?

The incomparable Michele Miller invited me to be a part of her Wonderbranding Seminar in Austin Texas at Wizard Academy this past week.  What an honor and an absolute blast.  I learned more than probably any other person in the room, not only from Michele but from the other participants.

A familiar theme of the seminar was, "By trying to appeal to the 'average person' you water down the message so much that it does not offend anyone, but neither does it truly connect with anyone."

Who are you willing to piss off?   By creating a message that truly resonates with a segment of your audience, female or male, you may have to risk alienating another portion of your audience. 

 

   

Online Ad Placement

I just ran across the news story about the New York Post Online running an ad for a dating service right next to the story of the sexual assault and murder of graduate student Imette St. Guillen.  The ad featured a girl who looked eerily similar to St. Guillen looking seductively into the camera with the tagline "Get Soaked By Love".

Wow - someone fell asleep at the wheel there.  I know these ads are randomly placed, but doesn't anyone double check these things?

I've written before about online ad placement - specifically the dangers of running your ads in the news section of a website.  I know, I know.....the traffic numbers are really impressive.   And depending on the product you're selling - that placement can be very effective. 

If you're selling a product like a home security system, software that protects your computer, a credit card with special ant-theft features, financial services designed to help you through the market's ups and downs........the news section is perfect.  If someone is reading the news stories and upset or stressed - they're in the perfect frame of mind for your product.

But be especially cautious if the product you're selling is being marketed to women. 

PriceWaterhouseCoopers Targets Women

Wow – once again proof of the incredible power that a gifted copywriter can bring to a marketing campaign. It’s too bad whoever was in charge of strategy was missing from the equation.  (I know, here I go about strategy again.   I know what you’re thinking, here she goes with another Howard Dean scream moment.   But I’ll try to keep the fist pumping and guttural wounded animal sounds to a minimum)

The following is copy for a PriceWaterhouseCoopers ad in pink magazine –a publication aimed at professional women.

at some point in her career, every women has shared
challenges with another women
down the hall
up the street
in a corner office
three thousand miles away

at some point in her career, every woman has needed
to compete with another women
to fight on behalf of another woman
to place her trust in another woman
to interview another woman

at some point in her career, every woman has needed
another woman to trust with her children
to remind her of who she use to be
to be a role model without ever knowing it
to listen

at some point in her career, every woman should tell her story.
not for her, but for another not so different from herself.

change begins with understanding.
understanding begins with conversation

Here’s what Toby Bloomberg has to say about the ad

It spoke to me. I thought it was lovely. It evoked emotion. I wanted to reach out and .. and .. and .. do what? Did PriceWaterhouseCoopers want me to call them for a consulting job and they do what? Was I suppose to know what PriceWaterhouseCoopers is doing these days after all the mergers and reorgs?  Or was this simply a feel-good branding ad that I could turn into a Hallmark card?