What do you know about women?
Or more specifically, what do you know about *selling* to women?
There's something about the internet that appeals to women more than men — and this appeal is having a very important effect on their behavior.
By and large, women are more social than men, and the communities that have sprouted up on the web are mostly driven by women. And just as women are the major offline consumers in families all across the world (and particularly in America, according to BusinessWeek magazine), women buy more online than men do, too.
Uh oh.
If you didn't know that about your business, you've got a problem. That's because most people believe that their average online consumer is a man…and they create marketing campaigns that target mostly men.
And as a result, their sales are far lower than they should be.
When Donna Fox told me about this, I had to listen. Donna is a very skilled marketer and an expert on selling to women. I tracked her down and interviewed her for the new edition of my Landing Page Cash Machine ebook.
One of the things she told me probably will surprise you.
If you want to sell more to women, you need to do more than just 'feminize' your site.
In other words, just because you use more pink on your website doesn't mean that more women will buy from you. If you sell exclusively to women, simply making the website pink won't help either.
The difference between male and female consumers is bigger than that.
Donna shared with me a story about DeBeers Diamonds.
They knew that most of their engagement ring sales were to men…even though it's women who were — as a general rule — more passionate about jewelry.
So DeBeers developed a campaign that changed the story about what a diamond ring is all about. They told the story that a ring on the left hand says "I Love You" and a ring on the right hand says "I Love Me!"
What's the message to women? That it's okay to buy yourself a diamond ring.
DeBeers was appealing to women who wanted to appreciate and demonstrate their absolute self-worth, rather than let her worth only be relative to a man.
The net result so far has been $4 billion in new sales.
Oh, and in case you were curious… DeBeers doesn't have any pink on their website.
So how can you have as drastic an effect on your market as DeBeers did with theirs? More specifically, what kind of story can you tell that really speaks to the woman you are serving?
To really excel at marketing to women, you've really got to get to know your customer in the context of the products and services that you offer.
What needs do they have?
How old or young are they?
What's their real problem…and the cause of it?
What do they really want?
And how can you market to them respectfully?
The key is really to know who your customer is.
Now that you know the truth about women, and how often they buy online, will you take a little time to focus on them more?
I hope you do.
And that's why I included this special section on Marketing to Women in Version 3 of the Landing Page Cash Machine.
It's coming soon, so watch for it.
More soon.
To Your Success,
–Mark Widawer
PS – I'd like your feedback on this topic. Do you agree? Disagree? Share your opinion with all of us by leaving a comment.
Thanks,
-M