Now there are no excuses. What are you waiting for? Get social!

Best Nicole

I just finished recognizing 13 highly effective social applications in the Forrester Groundswell Awards.

What hit me about this year’s winners were that they prove that excellence in social media can come from anywhere.

The consumer and employee winners sell car races, yarn, security software, credit scores, books, and shipping. The B2B winners sell computer products, marketing services, online services, regulatory compliance services, environmental services and enterprise risk services.

The finalists came from a diverse set of industries including travel, education, retail, financial services, auto, media, wine, weight-loss help, insurance and steel manufacturing. Not to mention a product that lets women go the bathroom standing up.

The methods are diverse, too. The winners included online market-research communities, blogs, podcasts, a word-of-mouth campaign and online communities. Finalists used YouTube, widgets, avatars, idea communities, Facebook and online events. And a number of successful entrants created campaigns that spanned multiple social channels.

The geographic diversity wasn’t as great, but one winner was from Australia and one finalist came from Brazil. In the past we’ve gotten some fantastic European entries.

Look, people, the message is this: Do not tell me you cannot do this. People in every country and in every industry, with all sorts of customers and all sorts of management and all sorts of objectives are creating not only innovative but incredibly effective social applications. I’ve worked with six insurance companies in the last two years. I just talked to a bunch of milk-processing executives (”got social?”). I have yet to find a company, an industry or a geography that can’t benefit from connecting its customers with each other through social.

There are no excuses left. Just do it.

There are some serious hard cold facts that point out that even the biggest brands are experiencing HUGE changes and drops in brand loyalty! Everyone should be reading this article. I hope that you will pass it on to your colleagues and friends. It is time to take note and make the changes needed—to get those customers back now. In this new economy, you want to show your customers how much you value their brand commitment, and how eager you are to make adjustments that reflect the times and the changes in their lives. You want to prepare for a committed journey with them as we move towards the future…a future where the customer is put first and foremost.

Nothing could be more important than that!

Best Nicole

So I have an answer. I came across a blog that provides a clear outline of both the scientific differences and the implications of marketing to women. It comes from a blog called “There is More to Life Than Shoes” in the UK. Their post called “How to Market Your Business to Women” gives you the facts both scientific and the tools to get started.

Creating a value proposition—that speaks to this most important target market by taking action NOW—means that you are poised to grow your business. Women love value and are bargin shoppers. In this new economy, they are clammering for businesses like yours that have finally taken them into account: thinking about who they are, addressing their needs, giving them what they want and letting them know that YOU understand the benefit of having their business.

How easy can it be! Gazillions of sales await for your business, products and services.

Best Nicole

Women are now the most important target audience in the world, and yet many of us feel traditional marketing ignores and patronises us. How can you market your business successfully to the girls with the power? The experts at marketing consultancy PrettyLittleHead are on the case.

WE’RE IMPORTANT BUT NEGLECTED
Women are now the most important target audience on earth. Figures published recently by The Economist suggest that women in the West are now responsible for almost 80% of purchase decisions. Even when it comes to choosing traditional boys’ toys like cars and electronics, women are fast becoming the dominant purchase-makers, and many of the most substantial areas of business growth are those driven by us girls.         

Yet despite the huge opportunities presented by women who are ready to spend, we are often patronized, misjudged or simply ignored by traditional marketing. In a YouGov survey conducted at the end of 2006, over two thirds of women questioned felt they couldn’t identify with women featured in advertising. One in two said they felt people try to sell them things by making them feel bad about themselves, and over 70% said they thought marketers believe they are only interested in household items and beauty products.  

So how can you improve your marketing strategy to reach that huge female audience out there?         

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
Two significant developments have occurred over the last decade that mean we are now in a better position than ever before to market effectively to women. Firstly, we know loads more than ever before about the scientific differences between male and female brains – mental preferences, stress responses, biological instincts and strategies for surviving.

Secondly, we are beginning to recognise that acknowledging differences between the sexes is realistic, not sexist. Men and women aren’t the same: in fact, they’re profoundly, uniquely, interestingly and helpfully different from each other.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM SCIENCE
What can science teach us about the differences between men and women and the way they approach the world, and what do those differences mean for marketing?

Masculine = analytical, linear and focussed.  Feminine = whole-brained
Scientific tests have shown that there are hard-wired differences between the way male and female brains are constructed. Evidence suggests that women have a greater ability to connect between the left-hemisphere of the brain where the centres of logical, linear and analytical thinking reside, and the right-hemisphere where more emotional and intuitive thinking takes place. This may mean that when it comes to problem solving or assessing a situation may use more emotional and intuitive parts of the brain alongside more reasoned approaches.

Masculine = action.  Feminine = feeling
A further area of difference appears to emerge in the more primitive inner parts of the brain – the sub-conscious areas where automatic and instinctive responses take place. When the male brain is at rest, most activity takes place in the most primitive area of the brain that deal with survival instincts and fight or flight responses; when the female brain is at rest, it appears that most activity takes place in the limbic system – the area where feeling is centred.

Masculine = fight or flight.  Feminine = tend and befriend
The male response to stress is the release of a cascade of hormones (testosterone, adrenalin and so on) that encourage a flight-or-fight response. In women, stress responses induce the production of oxytocin. This kicks off the ‘tend and befriend’ response; whereas testosterone drives men to physical action, oxytocin encourages behaviour that is nurturing, calming and conciliatory.

Masculine = interest in things.  Feminine = interest in people
It may sound like a cliché, but there is scientific evidence that women tend to be interested in people while men are more interested in things. Female babies have been shown to respond with more interest to a picture of a face; female toddlers are less likely to engage in mechanical play and are more likely to initiate social interaction for fun; little boys are more interested in mobile and mechanical objects than they are in natural or people-based play things; little girls are much more likely to draw pictures containing people whereas little boys are much more likely to draw cars, buildings and other mechanical objects.

Masculine = power and competition.  Feminine = relationships and empathy
Anthropological studies show that women and men have different approaches to survival. Male primates, men included, need to create mating opportunities. This leads them to focus on the hierarchy of the pack and their position within it. By contrast, females focus on the survival of their off-spring. They choose a mate to make sure they are getting good genes, they nurture their off-spring intensively and they develop relationships with others to provide further protection from external threats. All of which means that women are motivated to achieve a peaceful, safe and harmonious environment, building bonds of shared interest and support, whereas men are motivated by much more self-interested strategies, asserting dominance and competing successfully in the hierarchy.

Masculine = systemising.  Feminine = empathising
All this adds up to men and women having fundamentally different views of the world. Scientist Simon Baron Cohen says, “the female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy. The male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems”. In other words, men understand the world by breaking things down in to their component parts, women understand the world by putting themselves in other people’s shoes.

THE IMPLICATIONS FOR MARKETING TO WOMEN:
Men and women are wired differently and therefore need to be approached differently by marketing campaigns.
   
There are four key areas that determine the success of a brand when it comes to targeting the female audience. By combining the study of sex and gender difference with the study of those brands that have successfully appealed to the female consumer, we have arrived at Four Feminine Codes: the four areas of influence and activity that appeal to female motivation and operation.

The Altruism Code
How and why women respond to altruistic motives and behaviour in brands
Women tend to focus on the group and the wellbeing of others rather than on their own individual success or achievement. This is borne out of the female ability to empathise, to put oneself in another’s shoes.

The Body Shop, Fairtrade and Red are strong examples of brands built on overt altruistic positionings.  But there are others that are less overt but equally consonant with the positive, altruistic sentiment to which women respond.

Among telecom networks, Orange stands out as the most developed and powerful brand.  It has an inspiring brand positioning, encapsulated in the endline ‘The future’s bright, the future’s Orange’.  This thought resonates positively with the Altruism Code, because in the world of drab, grey, unwelcoming Telecom brands, Orange offers you the opportunity to be excited about what is to come.

The Aesthetic Code
Why appearance matters to women and what that means for marketing. Women want to make the world a more attractive place:  a more attractive environment is a safer, more harmonious and more pleasant place to be for everyone.

The creators of the iMac understood the Aesthetic Code and responded wholeheartedly. Until the 1990s, computers were cumbersome grey boxes, designed entirely for function.

The iMac changed all that, bringing in an appreciation that as a computer was something you live and work with all the time, its aesthetics are important. The way a computer looks can also generate a sense of friendliness and approachability and so encourage experimentation. The look and feel of the iMac changed the face of computer design.

The Ordering Code
The importance of enhanced order and elimination of risk to women
Women run on the assumption that order creates harmony. The desire to take on responsibilities like running a home and family and the meticulous planning of events are evidence of the Ordering Code.

The way women have embraced the Internet is a reflection of ordering behaviour.  Women now outnumber and spend more money than men online.  The internet allows women to carry out their responsibilities and duties (most of which are self appointed) with ease, and it provides information to give women confidence in their decision-making.  This is empowering! Where once women had to trudge around car showrooms being ignored or patronised, they can now get the information they need online and buy the car they want quickly and painlessly.

The Connecting Code
How and why communities are important to women
Women like to build relationships. They like to draw people together and find common ground between them.  Businesses that recognise the power of female communities in building brands will benefit from free marketing and develop deeper more commercially rewarding relationships with their female audience.
 

Smart Blog  http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/ has a post written by Andy Sernovitz that is short and to the point. He provides 3 powerful and key questions to anwer before you dive in. The answers that you get will help shape “the blueprint” that  will become the strategy and plan you put in place to ensure success and sales conversion. The benefit becomes: ROI, in addition to your short and long term goals exceeding expectations.

Let us  know what kind of questions you are asking as you build your blue print. We will post them and SHARE them with everyone.

Best Nicole

Social media is showing no signs of slowing down in terms of growth of both users and places to hang out. By and large, this is a good thing — except when your marketing department is always jumping on the latest and greatest new platform at the expense of building something that supports your brand and your word of mouth in a consistent, scalable way. You can avoid the shiny-new-object disease with a few simple questions.

What to ask:

• Are our fans there? If your fans aren’t there yet, odds are you probably don’t need to be either.

• Can we do it well? Success in a new social media space requires commitment, so always consider the resources required for a new community and how it may affect your relationship with fans elsewhere.

• Is it here to stay? Your job isn’t to pioneer new technologies, your job is to find places to do great marketing and build the best relationships.