How To Market To Women – 3 Essential Tips

Spending between $5 and $15 trillion a year, women continue to dominate the sphere of consumer expenditure both online and offline. “Women are the purchasers of this world,” says Bridget Brennan of Female Factor. “And understanding why she buys is the most valuable insurance policy there is.”

Plus, many of the values that women consumers hold also apply to millennial consumers of all genders. Brennan reports:

  • “A high design aesthetic (in addition to functionality)
  • Brands/products that make the world a better place in some small way
  • Family-friendly amenities and service options
  • Great value”

Numerous companies have sought to leverage “female empowerment” in their advertising campaigns as a way to communicate to women that they are important, valued, and strong. Companies like Always (Like A Girl), Pantene (Shine Strong), and Under Armour (I Will What I Want) have all done this successfully.

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And while female-driven advertising is one approach businesses can take, advertising alone doesn’t create a loyal fan base of repeat customers or subscribers. A more holistic approach is necessary to accomplish this.

Engage Through Inspiration And Corporate Social Responsibility

Honesty and transparency matter to women and grassroots marketing tends to be appealing. Women like being inspired and they gravitate towards brands that align themselves with bigger ideas, such as social movements or causes, or any purpose that goes beyond selling a product and turning a profit.

Take the housecleaning brand Method, for example, whose co-founder, Eric Ryan, says, “We think of our brand as a movement.”
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Bridget Brennan“Method produces eco-friendly, high design household cleaning products that people display on their counters like artwork.

Check out the brand’s ‘People Against Dirty‘ campaign and its peppy ‘Clean Happy‘ brand anthem videos, and notice how Method elevates the mundane act of housecleaning into the far more inspiring idea of ‘joining us in the good fight to make our planet—and homes—a cleaner place.‘”

Optimize The Ecommerce Experience With Women In Mind

Not only do women compare your company to its direct competitors, but they’re also likely to compare it to their preferred best-in-class websites and retailers, even if they fall outside your company’s industry. Therefore, you really need to bring your A-game.

Here are three things you can do to optimize the customer experience for female consumers:

1. Use a more “EQ-driven” communication style. 

EQ stands for emotional intelligence. And according to Daniel Goleman, EQ “refers to the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and our relationships.”

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2. Focus on your website’s ambiance, or its aesthetics and feel.

Pay attention to things like corners and contours, color tone, white space, and navigation. Assess whether or not your visuals pass the Buchanan Test for marketing. And avoid perpetuating stereotypes and antiquated notions about women through your photos and video content (see below for what not to do).

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3. Adjust the tone and voice of your website’s copy. 

No matter who you’re writing to, your copy should be clear and concise. However, keep in mind that “women have been shown to respond favorably to friendly, conversational copy more than men,” says Ren Walker.

Show That You Value Diversity

Women are not homogeneous. Therefore, they “value seeing a wide (and realistic) range of options when it comes to representations of them,” reports NewsCred. And this includes representations of women from varying races, sexual orientations, gender identities, body types, and family compositions.

Women want to be able to relate to and connect with the companies with whom they do business. Dove is one company that’s been successful at celebrating female diversity with its Real Beauty and Women Get Told campaigns (see below).

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What do you think about these tips for marketing to women? Do you have any other suggestions? Let us know because we love hearing from you.