Women Finding a Stronger Voice in Marketing
According to Adweek, the marketing industry is putting more women in ads, buying media where women will see it, fostering communities for women and finding the right voice.
Sometimes it takes time for the marketing industry, no matter how progressive it may feel, to discover simple truths about people. That is how I feel about the Adweek’s proclamation–really, it took until 2016 for marketers to wake up?
I remember when I traveled with my wife to look at a car for her in the early 1990s. The salesperson kept tripping over himself trying to give the keys for a test drive to me. I pushed back and kept saying, “This is a car for my wife, not me.” It was embarrassing for both of us. I’ve seen my wife deal with many issues as the first news anchor at her TV station, as a nonprofit administrator and as a state senator, but why would people in advertising and sales make such bad decisions about marketing to women?
We’ve known in healthcare marketing that women “lean into” healthcare and make the healthcare decisions for most family members (from children to their spouse to parents). That makes women the “Chief Health Officer” of their families. And the key decision-maker for all healthcare marketing.
Over the next 10 years, it is expected that women will control two-thirds of all consumer spending. If you continue to take women for granted in your messaging, then good luck staying in business in the future. And your messaging must be strong online. According to a study conducted by Adweek:
- 94% of women actively engage with brands online
- 51% of women visit a brand’s website
- 40% of women visit a brand’s social media account
- 64% of women have made an original post about a brand
- 31% of women have daily online brand interaction
Women visit a brand’s website to find news about discounts, promotions, new services and product information–not to be yelled at, oversold or patronized. Respecting women’s time, having a high utilitarian content quotient, and not falling for tired stereotypes is key to future marketing to women. In fact, those issues just might be key to marketing to anyone in this new, empowering digital-media democracy.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
