Book Summary: EVEolution
This article is based on the following book: EVEolution
“Understanding Women –Eight Essential Truths that Work in Your
Business and Your Life” by Faith Popcorn and Lys Marigold, 2001
Hyperion, New York ISBN 0-7868-6523-7 Paperback ISBN
0-7868-8441-X 272 pages
For any business to survive today, it needs to understand how to
market to women. The fact is women make 80% of all purchasing
decisions. Women are brand loyalists. Your product or service
must address their complex, multiple lives as home managers,
home-workers, entrepreneurs, caretakers of elderly parents, and
professionals. Build a lasting, meaningful relationship with
your female customer. EVEolutionize your business before it’s
too late!
Understand the eight truths about marketing to women:
1. Connecting your female consumers to each other connects them
to your brand. Women need a “backyard fence” to talk to each
other. If your brand is marketed in such a way that it connects
women to each other as a community, a group, sisters, mothers
and daughters and friends, they will embrace your brand into
their everyday lives.
The web communities such as iVillage, women.com, and oxygen.com
are just a few of the examples of women being linked together.
Through EVEolution, and with the help of Faith Popcorn’s
consultancy firm, BrainReserve, Snackwell’s launched a program
of Mother-Daughter workshops across the US. It bonded mothers
and daughters, reinforced the idea of eating healthy, while
nurturing a positive self-image and attitude about food to
pre-teen girls.
2. If you’re marketing to one of her lives, you’re missing all
the others. From home office services, to cameras keeping an eye
on her kids at daycare, if your brand markets to her merged
professional and personal lives, then you will win her heart.
Women need assistance in running all the facets of their lives.
Appeal to her need for convenience. Give her a solution for her
perennial problem of what to fix for dinner tonight. Supply her
with support for dog-walking, childcare, telecommuting. Deliver
her dry cleaning, diapers, and pizza, run her errands, so she
can find more time to just relax at home with her kids.
Acknowledge that she thinks about her family while she is at
work, and provide her with a service that gives her peace of
mind.
3. If she has to ask, it’s too late. Anticipate her needs. Women
are the same whether it’s personal or work. If her husband
doesn’t anticipate what she needs, she may be disappointed in
him. If an employer doesn’t anticipate she needs a nursery near
the office, and fairer compensation, she may consider another
EVEolutionized company that offers more mother-friendly perks.
How to become more Anticipatory than merely Reactive: Women must
be in on the planning every step of the way. Talk to consumers
in ways that inspire innovative thinking.
4. Market to her peripheral vision and she will see you in a
whole new light. Women are attentive to the small details men
miss. They will go out and shop for that suit they saw on Diane
Sawyer last night while watching the news. Starbucks is one
company that is EVEolved all around. The female customer can
enjoy her coffee in a bright, clean place with a well-stocked
restroom (a must if you want to attract women) and she can
purchase the in-house music on CD or a cookie for her toddler in
tow. Work on the subtle details surrounding your brand, the
store music, the way your menu is designed, the uniforms of your
waitresses or sales representatives. She will more likely notice
these things than if you assault her with aggressive advertising
or bothersome phone calls. .
5. Walk, run, go to her, secure her loyalty forever. The Avon
lady was just the first step. She was born in an age when women
stayed at home because they were mainly housewives. Today, women
don’t want to make that extra trip to the grocery or salon
because they are simply exhausted. If you can provide her
quality service at home, at the times when she is at home, your
brand will be indispensable. Why not supply her groceries on a
monthly basis? Go to her, because frankly, she doesn’t have the
time to go looking for you.
6. This generation of women consumers will lead you to the next.
Practice the brand-me-down approach. The detergent a woman uses
is most likely the brand her mother always used. Household names
are what they are because women run the household. In Asian
markets where family ties are strong, the brand-me-down approach
will definitely sell. Attaching a brand to the name Mother will
have a strong identification with quality and trust. Hold
mother’s day events or family day events and strengthen your
commitment to her.
7. Co-parenting is the best way to raise a brand. Ask her how
she feels, what colors she prefers, how does she think she can
be served best? When was the last time you asked her for
feedback and actually responded by redesigning your product?
8. Everything matters – you can’t hide behind your logo. Women
look for integrity in a brand. From the way you treat your
employees, your CEO’s personal life, to issues like animal
testing, environmentally sound practices, and raw materials
sourcing. You need to walk your talk and back up your claim.
Women don’t simply look for value in a brand. They look for
Values.
By: Regine P. Azurin and Yvette Pantilla http://www.bizsum.com
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