Marketing to Women - Surviving the First Cut
Marketing to Women - Surviving the First Cut
Influencing the nomination stage of the consumer behavior model deserves particular consideration whenmarketing to womenbecause of a basic household truth. Even if a given purchase is unequivocally a joint decision- as it probably is, for instance, when the family is deciding on where to go for vacation- it's the woman of the house who does the preliminary round of research.
The nomination stage occurs when a woman forms an idea of the brands she plans to check out during her search for a product or service. It naturally follows the activation stage, when a consumer realizes a need.
See a larger version of The Spiral Path
There are three deciding factors that determine whether a brand will make it on to a woman's short list:
1.Top-of-mind awareness. She can't consider your brand if she's never heard of it. Actually, it's more than that. Your brand has to come up as a candidate more or less spontaneously before she's even started to do any serious research.
2.Relevant differentiation. Your brand has to stand out from other similar brands in some way that's relevant to her needs or preferences.
3.Brand likability. This is the Sally Field factor: "She likes you! She really likes you!" (Or at the very least, she's got nothing against you.)
Imagine this scenario. It's winter in the Midwest, and Beth is itching for a vacation. She and her fianc can't get away until summer... but what if she gets a head start and does the research now? Last year, they vacationed in Ireland. An international trip is a big investment, so they had discussed taking a more modest vacation this year to build their savings. But Beth's aunt just returned from Bora Bora with an album full of amazing pictures - the island is so beautiful, so exciting and so romantic. "Florida doesn't look so exciting anymore," Beth muses, "Maybe I should see how we could make this work..." And the nomination phase begins- months before Beth and her fianc will make an actual decision.
Here's another example. Ana reads a magazine article about the benefits of starting a college savings account for children. She realizes that now is the time to start saving and mentions to Mark that they need to look into this for their 6-month-old daughter. She wants to choose a bank they will be happy with for the next 18 years and makes a list of all the banks she knows about. But she or someone she knows has had problems with every single one! Ana concludes, "I just don't like any of these banks. How can I trust them?"
As these examples show, marketing to women during the nomination stage would benefit from specific marketing efforts. We're going to look at word of mouth, milestone marketing and brand communications.
Word of mouth is incredibly important - women are very likely to start a purchase search by asking around. This is especially true when the benefits of purchase can only be assessed through direct experience, like vacations, banking decisions or computer usability.
To make it to nomination withmilestone marketing, you need to cross paths with a consumer when she approaches the milestone. Two of the most obvious life events are marriage and children - but there are many in a woman's life. Your understanding of her roles and her mindset within the context of these life-changing circumstances can turn the key to get you in the door at these critical times. Conversely, your lack of understanding can lock you out.
To make the first cut, it's not necessary for the consumer to have a lot of detailed information yet. The nomination stage of the consumer behavior model is driven by a general feeling that this is "the right kind of brand" for her. Remember Beth? She was ready to re-think her vacation plans just by seeing pictures of Bora Bora. You need to consider the general impression women get from your brand and marketing communications. Identify what kinds of women customers are in your target market and what kind of "brand personality" is important to them.
You only get one chance to make a first impression! And that first impression depends on if you survive the first cut and make it to the next buying stage - Investigation and Decision.
Marti Barletta
The World's Foremost Speaker on Marketing to Women
CEO, The TrendSight Group,www.trendsight.com
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