Don’t think pink.
Many industries are obsessed with marketing to men, but the problem is, women are doing a majority of the buying – women are the purchasing agents for the home. But there are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to do a good job in reaching women.
This isn’t some sexist assumption that women love shopping. And in no way are we saying either men’s or women’s time is more important than the other’s. We’re just helping you understand how to best approach women in the workplace. Now, although “fun purchasing” can be a trend for women, statistics show that they are also making the buying decisions for insurance, figuring out the best accountant, and dozens of other key financial issues.
Today’s woman isn’t just making purchases for herself, her husband and her children, but for her aging parents as well, and she’s also highly influential within her network of friends and even complete strangers in areas of commerce.
You must also understand that women aren’t just playing the role of purchaser, but heavy influencer as well.
And a dominant misconception out there today is that one must feminize a brand in order to appeal to women, and because of that, they fear they’ll fail to appeal to men. Think of it this way, when a man and woman enter a buying decision, think of the woman as a floodlight, taking in a lot of detail with a broad range. Now think of the man as a spotlight, who’s homing in on a more finite area. So, what this translates into is that the women has about 20 criterion on her list and the man has 10.
Here’s the crucial part, both of their top 10 criterion are similar. If you do a good job with your marketing in reaching her longer list, you will not turn the man off. You will actually over-deliver to his expectations.
Women can be great marketing partners because if you can identify at least 11-20 of those extra influencers on her list, then you that gives you a competitive edge.
And do you know what’s not on her list? Pink.
Women may tend to like the color, but it’s certainly not a marketing strategy.
Next in this series: Get the focus group together
This post is the first in a series of excerpts from OneCoach CEO John Assaraf’s interview with Lisa Johnson, CEO of formerly ReachWomen, an international marketing consultancy. She also co-authored: Don’t Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy and How to Increase Your Share of this Crucial Market.
Members of the OneCoach Business Growth Network have unlimited access to this and hundreds of other interviews with world-class thought leaders.
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