andHow To Reach Women

You're Not Too Busy to Read "Too Busy To Shop"

As brands increasingly recognize the value of engaging female consumers, the amount of advice on the topic has also increased accordingly.  Blogs, conferences, networks and the Twittersphere are rich places to tap for expert opinions and research.  Many great books have been written on the topic - as you can see in the links to the left.  Adding to that conversation in a way that also brings a fresh perspective can be a challenge.  Kelley Murray Skoloda has accomplished that with her book, Too Busy To Shop.  Published earlier this year (yes, I'm late but I was busy - lots of life change!), Skoloda builds on the insights illuminated by Marti Barletta, Andrea Learned and others around the way women shop and gather information (holistic vs. tunnel vision, researching to make a good choice, wise to being talked down to, all about customer service) and includes case studies and observations that acknowledge the reality of our changing technology and communication landscape, which allows women to research and spread information even faster, while relying on their local networks more than ever. 

Some of my favorite insights include:

Priorities trump balance.  "Rather than balancing it all, moms are actively pursuing ways to honor what has become a driving priority - time with their children, especially when they're young." Skoloda calls these women "mindful" and "choosy."  Multfunctional products that save time are on their radar screen.  One great magazine instead of five.  Yoga clothes that can be worn as casual wear. Multi-function household cleaners.

Reach women where they are.  "...remember they are not 'national' beings.  They live in a particular town, city or market."  Skoloda goes on to reference the power of local moms' and women's group leaders in influencing their peer groups.  Most brands still think national will trickle down when grassroots movements in markets must be built from the ground up.  Think Candidate Obama.  One national message of hope, but it was the local groups who understood their own demographics and market and made "hope" relevant to their communities.

Before women shop, they CROP.  "This is an important new trend: women seek CRedible, OPinions while researching potential purchases.  As such, it is an essential shortcut to purchase."  These opinion leaders include friends and family, media and other influentials.  Social media makes accessing and sharing these opinions faster with exponential reach.  The influencers for each brand and audience will be different but its well worth the time to identify and engage them.

Smart, thoughtful and a fast read, Skoloda took her own multi-minding message to heart when writing Too Busy To Shop.  Take it on a plane like I did - you've seen all the Virgin Red movies, and if you haven't, catch them on Netflix - and come back with some smart ideas for getting your brand into the homes and hearts of female consumers instead.

Who's Really Driving The Green Product Boom?

Unless you've been living under a plastic rock surrounded by ethanol fumes, it's clear that green products are growing like the proverbial (free range) weed.  Several young Hollywood mothers, such as Josie Maran and Jenny McCarthy are launching eco-friendly make-up (Maran) and non-toxic surroundings for kids (McCarthy) and groups such as EcoMoms and Teens for Safe Cosmetics are gaining media attention for their efforts to use social networks to promote more responsible choices. It may surprise you to note however, that none of these groups include members of the demographic which actually accounts for the leading users of green products today. 

According to a recent survey by ICOM Information & Communications, women 55-59 are more than twice as likely than the average consumer to use green products.  Surely Gen X or Y women came in second, right? Actually, men 65-69 years old took that spot, 1.7 times as likely to use green products than the average American. These are your core influencers and early adopters.  Does your green marketing outreach include them?

Fortune 500 Board Diversity Directly Linked to Business Success

Catalyst, a non-profit advisory group working toward inclusivity in business, released the results of a study where it looked at the relationship between women's representation in corporate-officer positions and board-of-director positions in the U.S. Fortune 500 companies. The results leave no doubt that including women in the boardroom has a direct effect on business performance. As reported in Canada's Financial Post some of their findings include:

On average, companies with the highest representation of women in corporate-officer positions financially outperformed those with the lowest representation. In fact, return on equity was 35.1% higher. Total return to shareholders was 34% higher

The numbers jumped for women serving as directors on Fortune 500 boards. On average, return on equity was 53% higher for those boards with a high representation of women than those with the least women; return on sales was 42% higher; and return on invested capital was 66% higher

So in these don't-say-the-R-word times, when shareholders are clamoring for solutions, perhaps one smart step would be to reach out to a couple of female board members. The numbers certainly add up.
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"Millions of Moms" Should Inspire Thought, Not Action

With technology, now more than any other time in history, we have the ability to segment groups of consumers at a number of different levels (psychographically, geographically, demographically, etc.), yet there is still a tendency to talk about consumer groups - especially women and even more especially mothers - as one big group with common desires and interests. First, let me say that I have tremendous respect for the two organizations behind this report, Six Months With Millions of Moms, posted today on MediaPost. It currently is the most emailed article on the site, according to MediaPost's own rankings, so clearly there is a lot of interest. My concern is that brands would just take these insights and run with them, without doing any further probing with their own mom consumer segments. Example - recently we completed a project involving consumer insight work and in this particular case, Lesson Number 8, quoted below, didn't hold water.

Lesson 8: Moms Want Better Packaging.

Moms want packaging that is environmentally friendly and they make purchasing decisions with this in mind. The "three "Rs" are key to moms: reduce, reuse, recycle. If the packaging does not support these, moms lose faith in the brand.

The women we spoke with, many of whom were mothers, said environmentally friendly packaging was "nice" but didn't factor into their purchase decision for this product at all. (Sorry to be so vague, but NDA's and all...). A separate project for a different type of product incited the opposite reaction. In that case, packaging was a real hot button and would affect purchasing and views of the brand.

Secondary research provides an important foundation, but it cannot substitute for understanding your own customers and, in particular, what factors into their decisions when purchasing from your product category or your product/brand in particular. The value is in sparking ideas for the conversations you must have to get to your own actionable insights.

She Works Hard for the Money...So You Better Treat Her Right: Gen Y Metro Women Surpassing Men in Salary; Financial Services Co's Still Not Connecting With Female Consumers

Today's New York Times reports that women in their twenties who live in major metropolitan markets are outearning men in a variety of occupations - in Dallas by as much as 120%. Some theories put forth behind this major sociological shift are that women are gaining college and graduate school degrees at a higher rate than men and starting careers earlier in anticipation of having to slow those careers down later when they marry and have children. Likely there are a variety of factors at play, but clearly this is no short-term trend, particularly with the widening gap between the genders in higher education, a key to most of the better paying jobs. Product and service companies MUST adapt to this shift in order for their business growth to keep pace with this market evolution and its impact on consumer choices and decision factors. With all the data from this study, the reasons offered behind the shift were rooted in theory vs. fact. However, when it comes to why and how these young women will connect with your brand, relying on theory won't be enough. Priority number one? Find out.

During the same week a study was released by Oxygen called "Girls Just Wanna Have Funds," about women's response (or lack thereof) to financial services ads. Some highlights from the article in Ad Age: Ninety-four percent felt financial services ads didn't target them, yet 62% consider themselves the financial head of their household. In the midst of this data that reflects an opportunity the financial services industry should take very seriously, were two "cheeky" questions that (loosely translated) revealed women would prefer "big financial assets" to a big posterior and a financial makeover to a beauty makeover. We get that humor is part of the Oxygen brand but can you imagine the same kinds of questions being asked of men? Instead of taking the opportunity to dig deeper and learn what are key motivators and needs around financial services, Oxygen kept things superficial comparing financial concerns to beauty concerns. It, unnecessarily in our opinion, undercuts a message that might open the door for Oxygen to connect with more financial services companies and partner with them in developing something really groundbreaking, and relevant.

A Retailer's Greatest Marketing Tool

STORES Magazine recently published the results of an exclusive research study conducted for them by BIGresearch, which explores shoppers views of what constitutes bad customer service - generating 7,000 verbatim responses.  The biggest complaint (cited by 21% of those polled) was employees who either "don't know" or "don't care" to help customers.  Adding fuel to the fire:

An underlying theme of many shopper comments is the disconnect between the image projected by the brand in various forms of advertising and the experience they have when they visit the store. It may be time for marketing and HR to get on the same page.

Yes, it can be challenging for large corporations to get on the same page.  Don't the Marketing and HR people have enough to do without worrying about each other's departments?  The reality is, the customer doesn't care.  In their minds the experience you describe in ads should be the experience they have in store, period.  Marketers and agencies must care about customer service because it directly affects their brand's performance and success overall.  It is easy to blame the employees for being sullen or unengaged or unwilling to help customers but that tone is set within the company.  If people feel valued, connected to the brand, part of a larger mission vs. a clock puncher it is amazing how much more engaged they can become.  It is this very philosophy that turned one of Seattle's now famous landmarks - Pike's Place Fish Market - into the successful business it is today.  On the verge of bankruptcy the leaders brought in the whole staff to help them chart their vision.  A group of farily young guys, they came up with the goal of becoming World Famous.  And that's how the fish tossing and friendly smiles and working the crowd got started.  Read the rest of their story here. 

While creating ads may be the fun part, it's time to get HR and training involved in the conversation.  As stated in the article:

Still, retailers need to remain vigilant about training and committed to coaching the sales associates on the tenets of good customer service. In an industry where differentiation is vital, customer service can truly become a competitive advantage.

Building A Better Shoppping Experience...For Everyone

TNS Retail Forward released a new report, "Men in Grocery Stores," which details the confusion and frustration men experience when it's their turn to buy the milk.  As reported in Media Post, Mandy Putnam, Vice-President of TNS Retail Forward outlined a typical male shopping experience:

"Grocery stores are not organized in ways that support ease of shopping for male grocery shoppers. Men shopping alone circle back through aisles multiple times in their searches, often become overwhelmed in center-store aisles, and often focus their attention within a fairly narrow visual range. But they are more inclined to reach for their cell phones to call their partners rather than ask store personnel for help."

We'd bet if a study on the same topic was done with women, you'd find many similar frustrations.  They just have to experience them more often, as the study points out:

...of the last 10 "stock-up" trips made in a given household, 5.5 had been done by a woman shopping alone, versus 2.3 by men. Men were more likely to go to the store for "fill-in" trips, to get a single or handful of items: While women made 5.2 of those trips, men made 3.4.

Some of Putnam's suggestions for improvement include store maps, item locators and better cell phone access as well as bigger, bolder merchandise displays at eye level.  There's nothing here that would compromise the shopping experience for women.  In fact, it would likely only enhance it.  Transparent marketing works both ways.  We hope some grocery stores are listening.  Shopping experience could be a huge differentiator.  Think Target, Whole Foods.  Need we say more?

To See The Big Picture, You've Got To Let Go

When an executive from one of  the biggest consumer products manufacturers in the world advises "letting go" control to consumers, you have to acknowledge that the game has changed.  As reported in DM News, P&G's Kent Oldham, speaking at the 2006 National Center for Database Marketing Conference at the Caribe Royale Orlando Resort, gave fellow marketers the following advice (which, incidentally, dovetails nicely with our most recent post):

“Now more than ever, consumers are owning our brands, and we not only have to understand that they are owning our brands. But we also have to embrace that idea and understand the implications of [it].”

Mr. Oldham went on to talk about the key trends influencing this change as well as the opportunity for marketers to glean information from consumers at every touch point, leveraging this access to feedback to increase relevance (and sales).  "Letting go" also helps to build trust among an increasingly skeptical audience and encourage consumer feedback and participation.  According to the article:

Another point Mr. Oldham made was that the implication of not learning from every touch point a consumer has with your company or product or service can be costly.

“No matter how much great brand-building work you do, and how much equity your brands have, all it takes is one negative consumer experience to destroy all of it.”

Are you ready to "let go" and learn the good, bad and ugly about your brand?  It's not too late to start engaging your customers and make them partners in your growth and success.  Means you have to make an even bigger commitment to satisfying them.  But you already knew that, right?

The New Cool Girls Are Real Women

Want to get the hottest group of influencers to talk up your brand?  Then stay away from Paris Hilton, MySpace and Laguna Beach.  According to a new research report from Keller Fay Group and Manning Selvage & Lee (check out this MediaPost article for more), 15% of consumers count for 1.5 billion brand impressions per day via word-of-mouth.  And who are the new arbiters of cool who can talk up a brand and convince others to buy?  Boomers (40 - 59 year-olds).  And within that group it's women, naturally, who are both more influenced and influential when it comes to personal recommendations of what to buy (55% vs. 47% for men).  As we suggested in a recent post, the ideal way to get women talking is to connect with them in person.  Amanda Glasgow, senior vice president/director of word-of-mouth marketing at MS&L, New York, agrees, as she told Adrienne Fawcett in MediaPost:

Focus on touch, not tech, says Ms. Glasgow. Since most word-of-mouth conversations are based on personal experiences, marketers need to create events through programs such as tastings, test-drives or in-store consultations with friends.

Make 2007 the year you bring your brand to life by finding ways to connect with your customers face-to-face.  If you don't have physical stores, work with retail partners or non-profits to create and leverage events.  If you want to get her talking, you've got to give her an experience worth sharing.   

Family Fun (for the dog too!): Getting Tweens and Parents Outside

A couple of weeks ago a copy of The Hot Sheet: Tweens Grow Up, a youth market trend report produced by the Zandl Group, landed in our email inbox.  Its delivery coincided with a recent trip to the Outdoor Industry Association Rendezvous where how to effectively market to youth was a key focus. We interviewed Anna D’Agrosa, editor of The Hot Sheet, to get her insights on the opportunities for the outdoor industry to reach out to tweens (8-14-year-olds), who, according to the Zandl Group are “the new teens.” And, unlike in the case of older teens and young adults, parental influence is playing an increasing role.

aH: With adult and childhood obesity also on the rise, what do you think outdoor/sports companies can do to help drive interest, participation and ultimately purchases among tweens and their parents?

AD: We’re noticing an increase in parents’ participation in children’s lives, and children accompanying parents to more adult forums (e.g. restaurants, movies).  Sports/activities perceived as fun AND active (e.g. roller skating) that the whole family can participate in are attractive to parents.  Parents are also increasingly interested in “well-rounded” children.  The focus on traditional team sports has waned and parents are more interested in their children’s future college applications.  Activities that can be positioned as contributing to a child’s overall development are becoming more desirable.  In our interviews of parents of young children, we have also noted concerns with obesity and interest in workouts for children (e.g. child-focused gyms, classes).

 
aH: Do you have any information on non-team sports and tweens - e.g, surfing, kayaking, rock climbing, etc.?

AD: We have seen increases in certain non-team sport activities with tweens. Both boys and girls are showing a greater interest in bike riding.  This is a trend happening throughout all age groups.  There are more different kinds of bikes on the market (e.g. BMX, retro cruisers, multiple-speed racing bikes).  The National Bike Dealers Association estimates that 20 million bicycles were sold in 2005 – up over one million from 2004.  Fifty-two cities and towns in the US have been designated as “bicycle-friendly communities” by the League of American Bicyclists – and the 2005 US federal transportation act earmarked $3.5 billion to improve bicycle & pedestrian facilities through 2009 (almost double that of the 1998 act).

(Skateboarding is on the rise with tween boys.  We’ve also noted a small increase in snowboarding, karate/martial arts and rock climbing.)

 
aH: Much research has been published regarding cause-marketing and a positive association among Millenials.  How aware/concerned are tweens about the future and the larger world around them?   Is this something more brands should consider leveraging?

AD: Tweens are becoming more aware and interested in the world around them. It has become inescapable for them in recent years as was alluded to in the press release – they have grown up post-911 with war on the news and the Internet providing endless knowledge of the realities of the world around them.  The biggest area of topical concern for our tween panelists is the current war.  When asked what they wish for, responses include:   “world peace,” “ending hunger,” “no more natural disasters,” “cleaning up the world.”  The “Angelina Jolie effect” (adoption of children from underprivileged countries) is also making its way to tween sensibilities.  They see Angelina as a role model for her philanthropy.  This increased awareness also leads to fear and anxiety, however, so brands need to be positive and delicate in their approach to cause marketing.  There is danger in highlighting topics, which may become scary/ turn tweens off. Tweens are extremely into their pets and animal welfare in general.  There are opportunities for brands to align themselves with animal rights/adoption groups (e.g. Humane Society) in order to reach out to tweens.