Women Count

Over 10,000 Egyptian women protested against the military's violence against women on December 20. Women are no longer willing to be silent. Welcome to the rise of the Sheconomy.

Although U.S. women earn 77.4% of men, yet control 51.3% of wealth (2010 U.S. Census). Time Magazine reports that women make 85% of U.S. household buying decisions and Harvard Business Review stated that "women control $20 trillion in worldwide consumer spending, which is more than China and India combined.

We women need to be understood. What are your female customers:

1. Demographics
2. Life-stage interests
3. Psychographics
4. Buying behaviors
5. Favored communications channels

Women are more wholistic in their approach to life. As a result, they appreciate a wholistic approach to marketing. The most successful brands marketing to women integrate their marketing:

Product: Women want a high-quality product that they can trust. Plus, the product design should be aesthetically pleasing. Think how your target defines chic, not pink.

Place: Give her back her time. Customize the product experience, brand, and messaging based on women's interests. For example, mothers may need products that come to them. The Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) augmented their annual conference and Leadership Institute educations programs with webinars available any time and programs in members' cities through APAP/On the Road.

Price: Price signals quality. Build an array of products at varied price points, defining the value proposition at each purchase level. Coach launched Poppy in 2009 to achieve their goal of selling 50% of their handbags under $300.

Promotion: Personalize offers by in space and time. Key questions to ask your women customers are: Where and when does she want to hear from you? How does she communicate with others now? Are there certain times of the day when she reads emails, Facebook, or Twitter? If so, make sure that is the delivery time. Does she take public transit to make out of home a logical choice? What publications does she subscribe to online or print?

Egyptian women demanded to be heard. Are you hearing your women customers?

SOURCES:

Time Magazine, Woman power: the rise of the Sheconomy, by Belinda Luscombe , 11/22/2010
The National Post, Police beating of ‘girl in the blue bra’ becomes new rallying call for Egyptians, by Michael Higgins  12/20/2011
Forbes, Don't take this personally, but you take things too personally, by Molly Cain, 10/13/2011,
Harvard Business Review, The Female Economy, by Michael J. Silverstein and Kate Sayre, 09/01/2009

Update on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 3:49PM by Wendy Wisner Roan

2011 Global Gender Gap Report: The Best (And Worst) Countries For Women

The Huffington Post reports that the U.S. ranks number 17 in the World Economic Forum's in the 2011 Global Gender Gap Report. Ranking is based on:

1. Economic participation and opportunity, which covers the wage gap as well as the percentage of women working and women working in high-skill jobs. 
2. Educational attainment, which includes access to all levels of education.
3. Health and survival, which measures life expectancy and mortality rates.
4. Political empowerment, which measures how women are represented in decision-making structures (i.e. the government).

Welcome to Focused Light

Welcome.

Customers experience companies like your friends experience you. It’s personal.

Your friends’ brand experience of you is the accumulation of feelings, thoughts, memories, and experiences about you. The same is true for customers’ relationships to organizational brands. Personal and organizational brand experiences stem from one-on-one connections through social media, phone calls, emails, the written word– and a sea of visual experiences. Your most loyal customers see you as a personal friend.

Loyal customers spend more money. They recommend you to their friends.

I love surfacing what customers love about brands—and why they leave them. While it’s hard work, it’s also fun to develop strategies that build on strengths and mitigate what customers won’t accept.

In Focused Light, I’ll tell stories and reveal the science behind winning brand strategies. I’ll write about research, consumer experience, marketing, sales, communications, management, and culture – all as they relate to brands. Plan on reading about how your brand and other brands’ employees, operations, and communications contribute to customer loyalty or defection.

Today, Apple moved my satisfaction score from a 9 to an I’m-in-love. Their website allowed me to easily view and consider a large selection of travel cases for my new 13” MacBook Pro. After I mistakenly ordered iWorks along with a new case, I easily found a telephone number on Apple’s website to correct my misstep. Ansley answered within a minute. She not only fixed my order, but thanked me via her personal email, and shared her telephone extension. I have a personal shopping concierge at Apple.

According to Exact Target, 41% of customers choose the telephone as their first choice in solving customer service issues (just like me!), 33% relying on the website and 20% choosing email.

I hope you will join me in the dialogue.