In AMC’s hit movie Mad Man, an excellent made-for-TV movie about life on Madison Avenue in the 1960s. The star of the show, muses in a publicity pitch meeting. “What is it that women want?”
This is the same problem that has been plaguing advertisers, merchants, store owners, and entrepreneurs for years and years. And it will continue to torment us for many more years.
David Ogilvy, the famous advertising giant and founder of Ogilvy and Mather. He was famous for quoting at meetings. “The consumer is not stupid, she is your wife. Now, what will it cost her to buy this product?”
As someone who evaluates countless ads and tries to reach and communicate with this audience for a living. Me to try to establish what women want.
Over the years, through study, trial and error, and beating several times, this report is meant to help those who want to find their way in the dark.
The fundamental role of women with respect to spending
This chapter contains exceptions for Treasure Hunt by Michael Silverstein.
Women, of course, are the center of household spending and consumption. They are responsible for 100% of the growth in real household income between 1974 and 2004.
They control and influence more than 75% of discretionary spending and are masters at acquiring material goods.
Women carefully research their products and have a keen instinct for value and a clear sense of their own individual preferences. They can make a brand or new product concept successful within months of launch. Or they can squash a flawed idea in ninety days or less.
They are working hard to live a rich and balanced life of their own. They develop elaborate coping strategies and smart shopping tactics to help them buy as much of what they want, live their lives almost as they please, and avoid as much financial stress as possible.
Women are the main influencers of purchases and consumption:
o 85% if the woman over 18 years of age is identified as the main buyer of the home.
o 90% of married women identify themselves as primary buyer.
o 80% of consumer goods purchases are made or influenced by women.
o 51% of consumer electronics purchases are made by women.
o Women buy 50% of all cars and influence 80% of their sales.
o 48% of stock investors are women.
o More than 40% of households with at least $600,000 in assets are headed by women.
If you’re selling any of these products and you’re not focusing your marketing message on it, you’re in for a rude awakening if your competitors start today.
What is the medium in which you want your message delivered?
Vertis Communication of Baltimore completed a comprehensive customer service study that was published in 2007 and this is what they found:
o Despite the influx of electronically generated ads in the last decade, 85% of women ages 25-44 read print direct mail marketing pieces.
o 72% responded that they have responded to direct mail campaigns that contain a “buy one get one free” offer.
o 63% said they have responded to a direct mail campaign that offers a percentage off merchandise. (Up to 54% in 2005)
o 57% of women ages 35-64 prefer companies they express an interest in to send them follow-up communications via direct mail pieces tailored to their needs.
o By comparison, 38% of men prefer generic direct mail follow-up
o Personalized tracking information is more effective than generic tracking information.
o 56% of women said email is an accepted form of follow-up communication. Compared to 52% of men.
o Only 5% of women prefer texting as a follow-up
o 53% of women have access to email.
o 40% of adults are comfortable providing credit card information online; this is down from 52% in 2003.
What does all this mean to me?
At the end of the day, you have to drive the sales to your door, the phones to ring, or the customers in your restaurant and store. We have a saying that just states our CODA “Nothing happens until someone sells something”. With us, that someone is you, our advertisers.
When you’re marketing to women, some thoughts come to the fore to help get her in your door.
or Respect her. Listen to their feedback and input and treat it like you would your most trusted business advisors because it is. She will make you and she will break you. So treat her with the respect and dignity that she deserves. Talk to her, not just her husband because she’s writing her checks.
o Have a conversation with her. Focus on her, on her wants and needs, and have a real conversation over the course of your communication pieces. He wants many things, but authenticity is the highest. Remember you have a “dummy” meter that can read a dummy from a mile away. Communicate the value you bring rather than a list of features. Incorporate feedback into the process.
o Quality is key. She is willing to pay for it. Look at Whole Foods as a case study, its stack is up 1,552 percent in the last decade. She only wants the best for her family, rightly so, and has no time for shoddy jobs, services, or goods. And trust me, she’ll tell everyone when she’s been wronged. To quote Shakespeare, “Hell has no furry like a scorned woman.” So give her the quality and product that she deserves and wants.
o Communicate with her in the way she wants. You don’t have time for methods other than direct mail. Although many other methods are sometimes sexier, do what works. Incorporate an entire campaign, but make it revolve around response-driven direct mail. Use it to open up the conversation with her, and then use other methods, more direct mail, to keep her coming back to you. If direct mail isn’t part of your marketing communications arsenal, you’re doomed to fail.
o Understand that she is part of many communities. If you do all the right things to reach her and serve her well, she will do the right thing for you. She will share her experiences BOTH good and bad with all of her communities. From the bench at football and soccer matches, to in the living room or going out for lunch with her friends. She will share everything.
o Be real and unique. Need I say more than Target, Whole Foods, Starbucks, No Pudge Brownies, Costco, and Tealuxe in Chicago? Know who you are and who you serve and continue to improve the experience. It is a real experience. And the most important thing to know who she is and what she wants.
The following steps
We wish you the best in your journey to serve this wonderful market. You should go on many hikes to those who have done well and those who need help along the way. Learn for everyone, create your own community. Listen and learn do the best you can. Pick yourself up when you make a mistake and learn from it.
