In the hit AMC movie Mad Man, an excellent TV movie about life on Madison Avenue in the 1960s. The star of the show, muses in an advertising 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 haunt us for many years to come.
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 knocking multiple 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 Michael Silverstein’s Treasure Hunt.
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 purchasing 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 its 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 buying tactics to help them buy most of what they want, live their lives pretty much as they please, and avoid as much financial stress as possible.
Women are the main influencers of purchases and consumption:
or 85% if the woman over the age of 18 is identified as the main purchaser of the home.
o 90% of married women identify as primary buyer.
o 80% of purchases of consumer goods 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 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 to be 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 containing a “buy one get one free” offer.
o 63% said they have responded to a direct mail campaign that offers a percentage discount on merchandise. (Up to 54% in 2005)
o 57% of women ages 35-64 prefer that companies they express interest in send them follow-up communications via direct mail pieces tailored to their needs.
o By comparison, 38% of men prefer generic direct mail tracking
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 text messages as a follow-up
o 53% of women have access to email.
o 40% of adults feel 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 need to drive sales to your door, phones to ring, or customers in your restaurant and store. We have a saying that simply states our CODA “Nothing happens until someone sells something.” With us, that someone is you, our advertisers.
When you’re marketing to women, a few thoughts come to the fore to help get her to your door.
or respect it. Listen to their feedback and input and treat it as you would your most trusted business advisors because it is. She will make you and 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, 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 that you have a “fake” meter that can read a fake 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 will tell everyone when she has been wronged. To quote Shakespeare, “Hell hath no furry like a woman scorned.” So give her the quality and product she deserves and wants.
o Communicate with her 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 center around response-driven direct mail. Use it to open the conversation with her, and then use other methods, plus direct mail, to keep her coming back to you. If direct mail isn’t part of your marketing communications arsenal, you’re doomed.
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 games, to the living room or going out to 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 most importantly know who she is and what she wants.
The following steps
We wish you the best on your journey to serve this wonderful market. You should go on many excursions 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. Get up when you make a mistake and learn from it.