by Andrea Learned

We’ve all got them.  Whether you are male or female, you have the ability to tap into your feminine brain traits to better understand a woman’s buying mind.  You just may be out of practice. 

After a month of speaking to several traditionally male-dominated industry audiences and a day at the M2W Conference in Chicago last week, this realization hit me.  Business is often approached in a linear, set, “we’ve always done it this way” manner.  Since patriarchy is our history, it makes sense that the way we all think as business people tends to default first to our masculine traits: What are the numbers?  What is the research?  Just give me the six steps and I’ll get it done!”

But, what all the sessions at M2W and my own experience have shown me is that the first big hurdle in marketing to women is in remembering that it cannot be a linear process.  If you want to reach women at the curves along their buying paths, you’ve got to first curve out of your own business comfort zone to get there yourself.  Yikes - this is so hard for so many of us!

Rather than wondering which exact questions you need to ask your customer advisors before you  interact with them.  Relax.  Then, gather a manageable number of them, provide for their eating/drinking/sitting/milling around comforts, and then just listen to their initial conversations with one another as your first step.  Ideas for topics to raise will emerge for the next gathering, never fear.  Remember - women tend to take a bit longer to buy, so you need to allow for more time getting to know them. (It’s more about the process than the goal!)

As well - the next time you are planning a new web site launch, ad campaign or promotional event, back away from those task checklists.  Instead, invite women, and their not-so-tied-up-in-a-bow insights into that process before you even write that list.  Otherwise, if you tend to your linear ways first and only THEN allow for their input, it may be too late.

Marketing to women may look messy and give you pause because doing it well just can’t be contained in a page of bullet points.  Try to get over it.

So, I’ll close with a non-linear, cross-industry moment of my own in pulling from Michael Pollan’s latest book, In Defense of Food.  In it, he writes about how so many nutrition scientists seem to take a reductionist view of food and then lose sight of the larger, and yes, way more complex picture.  This one sentence sums it up nicely:

“The problem with nutrient-by-nutrient nutrition science,” points out Marion Nestle, a New York University nutritionist, “is it takes the nutrient out of the context of food, the food out of the context of the diet, and the diet out of the context of lifestyle.”

In the same way, the problem with line item-by-line item marketing to women is that it can’t handle the holistic, complex buying paths of women - which are influenced by so many immeasurable and subtle things.  But, use those feminine brain traits of yours to walk that path yourselves, guys and gals, and you’ll see exactly where to go. 

By Delia Passi 

I realize that some women don’t wear makeup, but given the number who do, and the amount of time and money we spend on eye makeup, it would appear we are more than a little interested in getting some attention to our eyes.  So why is it that when we are in front of a salesperson, we so often feel that we can’t get the eye contact that makes us feel important, respected and valued? 

It doesn’t seem like a lot to ask, but sometimes a little more eye contact would go a long way with women customers, or women friends for that matter, guys.  (For those men who are uncertain, the eyes are the two round things in her head.)  Give women eye contact and they will feel you are taking some interest in them as a person, which is important in her decision on who to work with or buy from or to talk to.  

I know that some people, male and female, have some hangup about eye contact, and find it difficult to look people in the eye regardless of the circumstances.  Maybe it’s some issue with vulnerability, confidence or self-esteem.  Well, if you are going to make a decent living in a sales or service profession, you better get over it, especially if you are working a lot with women.  And who doesn’t work at least sometimes with women?  Men’s room attendants are about all I can think of offhand. 

Don’t worry about which eye to look at either, although I would advise against looking back and forth from one to the other.  That can be distracting.  I’ve heard people say they look at the bridge of the nose to kind of split the difference but that’s just kind of weird.  The eye has so much to say it would be a shame to miss it.

Next week:  Bobblehead

 Delia Passi, Founder of WomenCertified® and author of Winning the Toughest Customer: The Essential Guide to Selling to Women is a regular columnist on eBrandMarketing. Want my take? Email me and visit my sites www.deliapassi.com, www.womencertified.com

by Milton Pedraza - CEO The Luxury Institute

She’s educated, employed, and controls the lion’s share of spending in wealthy households.

Nine of ten times she is married, or living with a life partner. Her responsibilities often include working at a high-paying job or running her own business while also caring for a child or a parent -and managing the household and its finances. This is the portrait of today’s frenetic and financially powerful wealthy woman that emerges from a recent Luxury Institute survey of women from households with $150,000 or more in annual income ($262,000 average income, $2.2 million average net worth).

Key findings is how profound the female influence is on spending and money management - something that companies from financial firms to home improvement retailers simply cannot afford to ignore.

Married wealthy women, on average, make almost two-thirds (64 percent) of a family’s purchase decisions; 73 percent report making a majority of the household spending decisions. Almost one in four married wealthy women (22 percent) say that they make all of the investment decisions on their own; another two-thirds report making financial decisions jointly with a spouse or partner. Nearly half (48 percent) say that they call the shots on home improvement projects and related purchases.

Women hold particular sway at home when it comes to spending money on travel and home appliances.

In more than two-thirds (68 percent) of wealthy households, the matriarch holds ultimate ‘veto’ authority on home appliance purchases, making it extremely difficult to sell ovens, refrigerators or dishwashers to the wealthy without the consent of the lady of the house. Similarly in travel, 61 percent of wealthy women make the family’s vacation decisions, a powerful swath of authority that includes choice of destination, airline, hotel, cruise line, car rental, and restaurants.

In 48 percent of wealthy households, women choose the family’s health care providers–both the insurance plan and specific doctors. Bank account selection is the domain of women in 46 percent of wealthy households; in 40 percent, the woman decides which automobiles and consumer electronics to buy. Almost one-third of wealthy women (31 percent) say that they control their family’s real estate purchase decisions. It’s often her own money that she’s spending and investing.

Highly paid females are flexing financial muscle and turning traditional assumptions about gender and income roles upside down. On average, women earn 39 percent of the total income in wealthy households; 24 percent of wealthy women report that they are their family’s primary breadwinner, bringing home at least half of the family’s income. Thirteen percent of wealthy women with a spouse or partner say that they earn at least 70 percent of their household’s total income. These are not women who need to ask permission before buying something big.

Wealthy women are certainly no idlers: 72 percent work on at least a part-time basis and 54 percent work full-time.

Most are well compensated for their efforts: 60 percent of wealthy women who work earn at least $100,000 a year; 20 percent earn at least $200,000 and the median annual income of working wealthy women is $124,000. One-third of these women (and 45 percent from households with income greater than $300,000) support another family member through their work; 28 percent support two family members, and 18 percent support three or more dependents. The average amount spent on supporting additional family members: $22,400. The financial influence of affluent females is powerful and growing in the business world, with women increasingly holding positions of executive authority.

One-third of working wealthy women hold jobs at the vice-president level or higher and another 22 percent hold some type of managerial position. Twelve percent of wealthy women serve on a company’s board of directors; eight percent are partners in a firm; and two percent hold C-level corporate positions.

Fifteen percent of wealthy women own their own businesses, and lifestyle is a primary consideration in doing so. One-third say that they launched a business to have a more flexible schedule, and nine percent did so to be able to spend more time with family and friends. One in six wealthy women who started a business did so to pursue financial independence or to take advantage of a better opportunity than they had in their previous work. Women 55 and older, as well as those with household income greater than $300,000, are 50 percent more likely to be business owners. Just four percent of women from high-income households with a net worth less than $1 million, and 10 percent who are younger than 45 years of age, are entrepreneurs.

Wealthy Women At Home

Despite their significant financial and professional accomplishments in the workplace, wealthy women are still far more likely than men to do most of the domestic chores. Working wealthy women with a husband or partner report that they spend an average of 2.7 hours per day taking care of their household. Almost one in four (22 percent) wealthy women who work say that they spend at least four hours daily on household duties.

Motherhood may be a big reason for the focus on domestic duties. Seventy- five percent of wealthy women are mothers–66 percent of those younger than 45 years of age and 81 percent of those who are 55 and older. Just 34 percent, however, have children younger than 18 living at home. The average number of children is 1.8, with 36 percent of wealthy women the mother of two children, 12 percent with three, and 12 percent with a brood of four or more.

Wealthy Women In The Marketplace Among the businesses with the most to gain from a sharper female focus are brokers and banks.

Home improvement chains, realtors, and car companies get the message from wealthy women–and in turn they’re getting their messages across effectively.

Marriott, Hilton, Visa and Home Depot stand out for their skill in marketing to wealthy women. Each of these companies earned an unaided mention from seven percent of respondents. American Express (five percent) and Remax (four percent) each received frequent mention, as did Cadillac, Capital One, Lowe’s and Westin (each with three percent). Honing the proper message for wealthy female consumers starts with understanding their needs and tastes, followed by creating relevant products and services that are delivered with impeccable service–just good fundamentals of business.

Luxury Lust: A Biological Link?

Higher social status has long been known to correlate with better health, but it now appears that even perceived changes in status are enough to trigger physiological reactions. Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health identified specific changes in brain activity in students competing in a computer game for money when told how their performance stacked up against inferior and superior players. Outperforming the better player -even though there was none- activated areas in the brain controlling emotional pain and frustration. The results of the research in the April 24, 2008, issue of the journal Neuron may also provide some physiological basis for the human desire to buy luxury goods and services to elevate or reinforce their social status.

Luxury Automobiles -Brand Status

Porsche races ahead of Lexus and Mercedes to take the top spot for status among luxury nameplates. In a recent Luxury Institute Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) survey of luxury automobile brands, wealthy consumers ranked Porsche highest for overall brand status. Respondents cite the German carmaker’s “reputation for performance” and call Porsche automobiles “world-class sports cars for the true connoisseur.” Those surveyed have an average household income of $349,000 and average net worth of $3.7 million.

Wealth Management - Brand Status

The poor risk management practices on display at many large financial firms over the past year have not gone unnoticed by these same banks’ existing and potential wealth management clients.

Recognizing that wealth management firms faced a likely crisis of credibility with clients in the wake of the subprime meltdown and the ensuing credit crunch, the Luxury Institute surveyed an elite panel of ultra-wealthy American investors ($751,000 average income, $13.9 million average net worth) to gauge the impact of risk mismanagement on brand status. No large financial firm will emerge from the crisis without some scars, but those that have done a better job than others in managing their exposure can boost their image in the eyes of wealthy clients. Now is the time for firms to assess any damage to their brand reputations and to take action to earn back the damaged trust and confidence of wealthy investors. Here are the Wealth Management LBSI standouts, ranked by wealthy investors and grouped by type of institution.

Luxury Retail Outlook

Retail sales continue to come in weak at the high-end of the market.

Retailers overall posted a deceptively decent gain of 3.6 percent in April sales at stores open at least a year, according to the UBS-International Council of Shopping Centers retail sales tally. The timing of Easter, however, makes year-over-year comparisons difficult. Luxury retail continued to take its lumps. Nordstrom, for example, reported a 3.8 percent same-store sales decline. Retailers can take little comfort in the attitudes the wealthiest 10 percent–11.2 million– of U.S. households.

This group -with a minimum net worth of $828,000- has a much more favorable view of the economy 12 months from now than it does of the present situation, but plans for spending are muted. According to the American Affluence Research Center’s Affluent Market Tracking Survey #13, the index of future business

Also, there is more optimism than pessimism within this ultra-wealthy group on the outlook for the stock market and for their own income 12 months from now. Optimism, as a rule, rises with income and wealth. Vacation travel, however, is the only luxury spending category projected by AARC to experience growth in the next 12 months, and 55 percent of the ultra-wealthy report making a conscious effort to defer or reduce expenditures. The tendency to cut back recedes predictably as wealth escalates: just one-third of individuals worth $6 million or more are making any efforts to slow down their spending.

Luxury firms are turning to sales outside of the United States and Western Europe to fuel their growth, resulting in a potentially enduring sea change in luxury consumption.

Russia, Brazil, India and especially China are becoming important areas for sustained future growth for luxury goods firms, and their value is also apparent more immediately as they take up slack for slumping U.S. and European economies. China, the third largest consumer of luxury goods globally with a 12-percent market share, could jump ahead of the U.S. this year and be second only to Japan in consumption of luxury gods. The latest call for the surge in Chinese luxury sales comes from Wang Depei, vice chairman of the China Economic System Reform Research Association at the First Luxury Brands Forum in Shanghai. Depei forecasts that China will overtake Japan in luxury consumption by 2015.

The Wealth Report - May 2008
Get the complete Wealth Report here

Milton Pedraza is CEO of The Luxury Institute, the uniquely independent and impartial ratings and research institution that is the trusted and respected voice of the high net-worth consumer.

  By Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, author of  Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs and president, Real Living

     The 4th annual Marketing to Women Conference last week at the beautiful Chicago Cultural Center was amazing. I had the chance to meet brilliant marketers and brand managers who are either already acknowledging the power of women in the marketplace, or who are learning to do so by attending. Inspiration was everywhere, especially for me where I could be around a group of people who all share my passion for marketing and for empowering women.

     My presentation? Home is Where the Purse is showcased why real estate is the perfect lens to understand women consumers. Just look at the math: women make or influence 91 percnt of home purchase; they purchase 94 percent of all home furnishings and, those purchases increase 200 percent after a home purchase. That’s a lot of spending power and no one is closer to these women consumers than real estate agents - and 75 percent of them are women, too. When I launched our real estate brand Real Living in 2002, we launched the first woman-facing real estate company for just that reason. We’re a circle, in a sea of squares. A lifestage and lifestyle marketer in real estate while most brands continued to talk to themselves or agents. It’s been fun, and it’s especially great to now be in the midst of so many marketers who really understand and care about women consumers. Finally. 

     So what did I learn? From Nan McCann, founder of the M2W event and of PME Enterprises, I was reminded of how far we’ve come by her stirring accounts of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the Suffragettes and the fact it took until 1920 for women to earn the right to vote. WE tv presented their WE Vote 2008 campaign committed to registering one million new women voters this year. From Joe Lagani, vice president and general manager of GlamLiving, I learned why Glam Media is dominating the women’s online space. It’s because they get us. And there is so much more to come. From Stephanie Ouyoumijian of Publicis, I learned that even though women are feeling stressed about the state of the economy, there is a lot a marketer can do to empathize with her and to support her through these times.  And, that all marketers need to be creating contagious ideas to change the conversations with women.

     And all of that learning was just in the first half of the first day of the conference! If you haven’t been to M2W before, I’d highly recommend that you attend.

     Only negative note. I stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. I’m a big fan of the property in Orlando, but I have to say that I’m not of the Chicago Four Diamond property. For example, press the “Ask me anything” button. That pretty much assured next to nothing, no matter the request. Specifically, I was attempting to get some help retrieving 20 copies of my book from a Barnes and Noble to my room. No one even called me back. Disappointing, really. Overall, the hotel is too masculine. What do I mean? No shower caps, lack of counter space near the sink, to name a couple factors. While I expect edgy from the brand - and loud music - I also expect friendly and efficient. The “spa” is in the basement, and is comprised of two rooms with a faint mold smell. One woman I know travelling across the country to get to the conference, called and confirmed late check in and then arrived to find herself without a room. You get the point.

     I can’t wait for the next Marketing to Women conference - I’ll just stay somewhere else!

by Delia Passi, Founder of WomenCertified

I sure do shake a lot of hands.  I love meeting people and because I do a lot of networking I get introduced to lots of people.  What most people don’t realize is that the first step in meeting someone, the shaking of hands, is when a very important unspoken message is conveyed between those two people.  How you shake hands says a lot to the other person about who you are and how you feel about them.

If your handshake is too far off the middle ground, it speaks volumes.  A lot of men complain about the men who attempt to crush their hands as if to say “I am the alpha male.  I will dominate you!”  Of course it might also mean “I am intimidated by you.  I must deceive you into thinking I am stronger than I am.”  I’d love to introduce two hand-crushers and watch their interaction.

We women don’t get our hands crushed too often.  Instead, all too often, we get a wimpy little finger squeeze.  Men, thinking that we are delicate little flowers, often give us a limp hand or that kind of two fingers and a thumb press.  What does that tell me when I am trying to do business with you?  That you don’t think I’m up to the job?  That I don’t deserve a little respect?  In all likelihood that’s not really what you think, but it’s what your handshake is telling me.

Let’s get this much straight.  I want respect and fair consideration.  If you’re prepared to give me that, then tell me with your handshake.  Stick to the middle ground.  Save the competitive bone crushers for someone else (or spare them too).  Take my hand firmly by the palm and give it a squeeze that wouldn’t bruise a banana.  Look me in the eye and let me know, wordlessly, that you want to treat me with respect.  Immediately we’re off to a good start.

Now, one last point.  Women aren’t always going to shake your hand as firmly as I’ve just told you to shake theirs.  Some will give you limp hand.  Make adjustments as you sense their handshaking style, but don’t go limp even if she does.  You still have a message to convey.  And she will be paying attention.

Have a question or want my take? Email me

Next week: Giving Her the Eye!

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of attending a workshop by Simon Sinek on developing vision for your company.

Sinek created The Golden Circle, a model based on the biology of human decision-making, that guides organizations on how to inspire people to buy or support, with cult-like loyalty, any product, company or idea.

What I got out of his talk was that the difference between what makes a business good versus great is the focus on the “Why” behind your businesses’ existence. Being true to the initial consumer need you founded the business to solve is what creates enduring business success. The Why directs the How you work which then produces the What you offer to the customer. If you or your employees lose the focus on Why you’re in business then you’re just another commodity competing on price and promotion.

A few brand building insights I took away from his 3 hour lecture –

1. “Less is more” is more than good advice; it’s how our brains comprehend information. We humans are driven by the reptilian brain. A good vision speaks to a basic – gut – desire. Define your audience and find an emotionally driven message based on an insight from their lives, not your company.  Develop a succinct articulation of that insight — Think different. Just do it. There’s a reason those taglines stir the emotions of consumers.

2. It’s Not About The Product, It’s About Them
Good marketing is completely focused on the customer. The primary message of a piece of marketing should be about the customer’s life and/or lifestyle and then neatly incorporate a product or service into that life and/or lifestyle in a way that makes sense. Compare your reaction to these two marketing messages - 20 gigabyte mp3 player or 10,000 songs in your pocket. Which hits your lizard brain?

3. There are only two ways to get people to act: manipulate them or inspire them. Both are effective strategies, but only one is capable of generating a sale AND a lifetime of loyalty.  Apple and Whole Foods inspire their customers. It’s what gives them amazing influence over their respective industries and our culture. And they do it by communicating Why they do what they do - their purpose, cause or belief - before they tell you about What they do or What they sell.
Consider GM’s cash-back incentives, Colgate’s 300 versions of toothpaste or Dell’s rampant couponing – do you buy those brands because of their vision?

You can see an interview with Sinek on MSNBC here.

Online fashion expert, style and shopping expert, Michelle Madhok, is the CEO of White Cat Media LLC publisher of blogs SheFinds.com and MomFinds.com, sites that help busy women shop online.

by Kaira Sturdivant Rouda

It’s better to give than to receive. At least to give first. Then receive. It’s the way to build real relationships, deeper relationships, but some of us have forgotten that principle during the boom years. It’s probably time for a reminder.

Let’s take real estate, for example. It’s tough, not just for homeowners but for everyone in real estate these days. Especially those on the front lines. We’ve seen business dry up, and real estate agents leave the industry in record numbers. But those who are staying are just the people you want to work with to buy or sell your next home. Why? Because they have passion for the business and for the people they serve. [Read more →]

by Fara Warner

This week I’ll be presenting at the Marketing to Women conference in Chicago and listening intently to my fellow presenters about the new tactics and strategies to reach women consumers. I’ll be blogging from the conference on Thursday, May 8.

For this blog, I’ll be taking yet another look at a country where women are increasingly important to their country’s economy. India—soon to be the world’s largest country—has boomed along with its Asian neighbor, China. And like China, its women have become a force as consumers and producers.

Technopak/The Knowledge Company, a management consulting firm, took a look at India’s most affluent consumers—a group of 280 million mostly urban-based consumers—to see what India’s burgeoning middle-class consumers were buying. The company broke women consumers into three intriguing categories that show how important it is to understand women both in a global and a local context. Here is a link to the complete research article.

The “butterflies” make up 50 percent of the women in the urban affluent class. As the nickname implies these women are all about the looks. They are moving rapidly to luxury goods, especially high-tech products like cellphones and MP3 players. But the second largest group—“old luxury”—make up 32 percent and are not as much about the “bling.” These women have grown up with luxury, as the report notes, and may tend toward more traditional luxury goods.

Notably, the third group is called “Mrs. Rationality,” a nickname that reflects a more logical, less indulgent buying group. It would be easy to assume that affluent urban women would act and buy alike. But the differences in these three groups show how fast-paced change can shape and mold consumers in unusual ways.

The “butterflies” seem to be responding to the increased influence of global culture. They are drawn to broader social and cultural trends that we already have seen in more developed countries. As Business Week pointed out, traditionally women have been considered property—first of their parents and then of their husbands. But younger generations of women are increasingly more individualistic, more financially independent—much like their counterparts in more developed countries. Click on this link for the article.

This group of women—the butterflies—reflects how I believe we traditionally look at consumers in less-developed countries. We believe they will adopt more “Westernized” mores and traditions as they become more globally aware. Following on from that, we believe they will be drawn to marketing and brands that show those newly found cultural values. While that is true for some groups of consumers in countries such as India and China, we must remember that not all consumers will adopt completely this globalized view.

That’s why the “Mrs. Rationality” group is the most intriguing for me because it highlights the differences we can see among women in the same socio-economic class. This woman draws primarily from her traditional background. She is a saver, frugal and looking for value. She doesn’t define herself through expensive goods, but instead define herself through her rational choices to create a home for her family.

Look for my blog later this week on global marketing to women as well as my thoughts on the Marketing to Women conference.

James Gregory - CEO CoreBrand

In previous recessions, the marketing communications field and related practices (advertising, public relations, brand consulting, etc.) were frequently crushed, while the financial sector remained comparatively unscathed. This time things seem to be different.

Marketing communications has traditionally been a bellwether for changing economic conditions. As clients gradually began to cut back their marketing budgets, I always found it a good idea to liquefy a percentage of my stock portfolio recognizing that a recession was not far behind. Conversely, it seemed that my friends in the financial industry would simply expect slightly smaller bonuses during a recession than in the previous year.

This recession, however, seems to be different because our clients have not been reducing their budgets. In fact, they are taking our advice and increasing their marketing budgets (I am knocking on wood as we speak).

It also seems that the financial industry is taking the well-deserved brunt of this recession I want to cheer but only a little because there is no doubt that a deep and protracted recession in the financial industry will ultimately impact all industries especially marketing communications.

by Delia Passi

Women are natural communicators. Put a bunch of us together, and almost all of us will have something to add to the conversation. We have opinions, and we like to share them.

This tendency to communicate with each other is probably based on our primitive instincts. I recently heard that women were the likely inventors of verbal language. It wasn’t so long ago in our evolution that we females were in charge of sitting around the fire outside the cave, preparing food, raising little cave-kids, and maybe complaining about the quality of meat our cave-mates were bringing home. Talking was probably more useful to women in sharing chores and instructing children. The men could point at a distant buffalo, grunt and start running. Once they killed it, they would drag it home, grunt and leave it for the women to cook. Maybe not, but I like to imagine it that way.

Cut to today, and we women are still inclined to talk a lot about the activities that make up our day. Few people would argue that we talk a lot more than men do. Do we “do” more than men? Maybe, maybe not. But we sure have more to say about it all.

Marketers have recognized the power of all this talking. Women spend a lot of time communicating about the things they buy and the places they shop, so it is wise to do whatever you can to make the most of this free advertising. Currently, word-of-mouth marketing, also known as viral marketing, is very much in vogue.

The important thing is making sure that if they are talking about your product or store, they have something good to say about it. Don’t disappoint. If they haven’t yet purchased your product, then they might be talking about how interested they are in checking it out.

Once they’ve visited your store or experienced your service, they might very well shift their discussion to the experience they had there. After all, the last thing they experienced is what they’re most likely to talk about, and the customer experience has now become an integral part of your product or service. It has to be a positive experience, or it may become the subject of their next chat session–but maybe not in the way you wanted.

Next blog: Shake, shake, shake

Delia Passi, Founder of WomenCertified® and author of Winning the Toughest Customer: The Essential Guide to Selling to Women is a regular columnist on eBrandMarketing. Want my take? Email me and visit my sites www.deliapassi.com, www.womencertified.com