Consider this: 85 percent of all consumer purchases are made by women. That's 85 PERCENT of ALL purchases!

Those purchases includes:​

• Groceries
• Clothing
• Charity
• Homes
• Cars
• Insurance policies
• Tithes and donations
• Entertainment
• Medical Needs
• (And on and on and on.)

However, the big kicker in the marketing throat is this: 90 percent of women think that brands don’t understand them. If women are making almost all consumer purchases but they feel little to no affection or loyalty to those brands, then we have a marketing nightmare on our hands, right? Raise your hand if you sense a disconnect between those two statistics... (We have all our hands on deck and raised.) The evidence suggests that brands everywhere, in every industry, have been dropping the ball big-time with an audience that could potentially be the livelihood of their entire operation. 

You might be wondering… “What does all of this really mean for ME—the non profit, the ministry, the organization, and the church?”

It means your biggest opportunity right now is to reach women in an authentic and genuine way. And guess what—no one else is really doing it (or doing it well), so you can win in this space no matter how small or large you are.

Last Friday we attended Red Letter Day—an event dedicated to uncovering the fundamentals of marketing to women where we heard from Jamie Dunham from Brand Wise, Liza Graves from StyleBlueprint, Emily Tucker from Gigi's Cupcakes and many more. We learned a LOT (and nearly had a few marketing heart attacks). So grab some coffee and settle in—we’ll let you eavesdrop.

The 7 Big Takeaways

1. Women want to hear from you—right now and in a real way. So the first (and easiest step) is to start talking. Show the women in your customer or audience base that you see them and hope to earn their loyalty. Remember 90 percent of women don’t think brands understand them. So even if women are buying from you or giving to you, if they feel no sense of loyalty to you, they’ll be quick to leave if your competitors come along and speak to them in a more real way.

2. Women also want to be acknowledged for who they really are. That means no guesses on customer and audience profiles. Do your research and try to figure out what makes her happy, what her values are, what she disagrees with, how she wants to be talked to, etc. Always make sure that any kind of communication that you send to her, be it a social post, a direct mail piece, a blog post, or an email, shows women as multi-faceted people with multiple roles. If you’ve only ever used stay-at-home-mommy or career-focused photography, it’s time to mix it up. The woman you are talking to is made up of many different roles and passions--so make sure your communications represent that.

3. 91 percent of women do online research before making a purchase. That means you need to keep your rating app profiles updated, you need to maintain an informative social media feed, and you need to be ranking in Google searches. Once she lands on your website, it better be spectacular AND easy to use with all the important information easily accessible front and center. Speaking of online research...

4. Women trust online reviews. So what happens when someone leaves you a negative one? Quickly acknowledge the problem and show that you understand and are apologetic about the mistake/bad experience. Lastly, correct the wrong--provide a discount or a freebie for the wronged individual. Never try to argue with a customer online (or face to face), just focus on fixing the wrong, regardless of who was/is in the right. If you handle a negative review in a positive way and win back that customer, you not only win with that individual, but you also show the online world that you are tuned in to your people and you genuinely care.

5. Personal business and work business runs together. If you’ve been sending your marketing emails out during the weekend because you think that’s when women are free and willing to check in, think again. Today’s woman is refreshing her inbox during regular business hours, so play around with sending your emails in the early morning so that you’re the first one in her inbox.

6. Women want the content they digest to be gender-neutral and relevant. For example, a mom may never shop at Nike for herself, but she may shop there frequently for her husband or her children. If she continually only sees ads, email communications, and social media messages displaying women wearing the brand--she won’t connect with it. Keep it gender-neutral and appeal to every aspect of her being and livelihood.

7. Email is the easiest way you can reach women. 94 percent of people say they get online solely to check email. Short of face-to-face communication, communicating to your female audience via email is the easiest way for you to reach this demographic. PLUS, email conversion rates are 3x higher than those of social media. So the same promotion you offer on social media has the potential to get you 3x more conversions if you offer it via email. Why? Because email is personal. If you get an email addresses from customers, that means they are willing to take that first step toward brand loyalty with you. Now it’s up to you to wow them when they see you in their inbox.

On Thursday, August 11, we are diving into the complex and thriving world of email a little more. Check back for the basics on how to win at email in the social age.