Tomorrow I turn 36.
36 sounds old.
Like real old.
35 doesn’t…..35 sounds fresh as a daisy to me, BUT 36….I need to start using wrinkle cream and drinking Ensure. I’m slightly exaggerating, but you get my drift. I’m a little weirded out by the age. One thing I can say….getting older does bring some pretty great things.
- It’s a great excuse for me to leave a party early. “Oh you know…I need my rest or I just drag all day”.
- I can run an errand with no make-up on and messy hair and not care…..ask my college roommates, in my younger years I had to practically put on a prom dress before we went to Kroger.
- In business, I do find I get a little more respect in the boardroom. Fair? No, but its the truth. I’ve also come to realize that success is much more about hard work, experience and confidence than it is about your achievements in school. Yes I said it….and it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t study hard and be the best. I’m just saying, I may or may not have slept through tests in college, put parties before class, and somehow still managed to be slightly successful.
Yesterday, the Nashville Business Journal published the below article….and it makes me smile. Many of my family members don’t have a subscription to the NBJ so I decided to share it below To some, it’s a small deal…to me, it’s a nod to making a slight impact in my marketing world so forgive me for tooting my horn….it’s a quiet horn I promise:
The state of marketing to women and why it’s important
Aug 17, 2016, 11:52am CDT
Emily Tucker
Marketing to women has had a less-than-innovative history.
For generations, companies have marketed products and services to women in basically the same way, primarily portraying females as mothers and caretakers — both of which are often just one aspect of the modern woman’s life. We have seen some shifts in tactics in recent years, but in the overall world of marketing and advertising, we still have a way to go.
That very notion helped to launch the Red Letter Day Conference — Nashville’s first ever marketing to women event, which took place August 5. The purpose of the conference was to educate marketing professionals and consumers alike on marketing to women and provide the opportunity for us to have a real, honest conversation about it. With women being responsible for 85 percent of purchases according to Interpublic Group, companies should consider the following to maximize the impact of their marketing efforts.
The landscape is changing.
Many brands assume what women want based on stereotypes and dated statistics rather than talking to female consumers about their needs and day-to-day lives. This misunderstanding of who women are often leads to a brand’s message falling on deaf ears.
After coming aboard at Gigi’s Cupcakes, I noticed a shift in the conversation about our marketing as a whole. We wanted to change our focus to discovering what consumers wanted instead of relying on what we thought was best for them.
When we sat down and spoke with our customers, we found that their buying decisions were less about what they wanted for themselves and more about purchasing something quickly and easily that they would be proud to present to their family.
That’s what marketing to women is really about — grasping and understanding where a woman is in her life and then providing her with solutions to make that life a little less hectic.
Time to get real.
Women’s roles have changed a lot in just the past decade and these days, and men and women experience similar work-life balance issues. Women’s lives can sometimes be even more hectic as they struggle to have enough time for their children, their significant other, their home and their work — all while making it look like a cakewalk to the outside world.
Yet, women are still typically depicted as relaxed stay-at-home moms with spotless houses and clean, quiet children — and for anyone who has been a full-time stay-at-home parent, you know that couldn’t be further from reality. It’s a silly portrayal that causes women to distance themselves from brands because they feel the brand doesn’t understand their lifestyle.
Failure to acknowledge a woman’s real-life needs means you’ll be losing more than her individual purchases. You will also likely lose business from her family and friends, too. Women listen to each other, and when it comes to purchases, they don’t want to hear from just celebrities and CEOs. They take recommendations from their local mom blogger and close friends on what brands to trust and buy because they are seen as unbiased sources who understand their daily struggles.
Where we’re headed.
Fortunately, the future of marketing to women looks bright. Car companies have notoriously focused on marketing to men, but brands like Chevrolet have started to show females as power players in more and more of their commercials, and celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres are making wide-reaching statements about the ridiculous tactics currently used to target women calling out BIC’s most recent “female-friendly” pink pen as a prime example.
With women now controlling the majority of spending in any given household, companies who want to be successful in earning their dollars will adapt or die out. Now is the time for companies to get on board with the new female persona and really invest in who they are and what they want and need. It’s only going to help them grow as a brand, and aid them as they champion female support, and capitalize on the current and growing marketing trends.
Emily Tucker is the director of marketing for Gigi’s Cupcakes. Tucker has more than a decade of experience in marketing for the restaurant industry, including Captain D’s and Dominos.
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