Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

Business Made Easy - Marketing to Women

Ever wondered what the difference is between marketing to women and marketing to men?

Is there a difference. Oh yeah!

Here's the difference in a nutshell:

Women like to buy in before they buy. Men do too. Men, however, will more likely buy into the value of the product before they buy. Women are more likely to buy into the seller. This is a key difference between marketing to men and marketing to women. 

Here's my story:

The other day at Lowe’s, I was pricing out sliding glass doors for the four-season room on the back of my house. One of the door panels had become damaged during a recent hailstorm when a limb broke and crashed into the window. When I arrived in the door department, the sales person was helping a couple with some questions they had. This gave me plenty of time to observe different buying styles in action.

The sales associate was doing a great job answering their questions. Together, he and the husband were talking about the energy efficiency of high-performance glazing. Was it better to go with dual glazing or double-paned glass with low emissivity coating? The husband ran his hands over the vinyl cladding around the outside of the door and asked about the practicality of top-mounted insect screens. There was a lot of verbal interaction as the husband sized up the product and relative value of the product in relation to the price listed.

The wife stood quietly nearby. She was not disinterested, mind you. She was just sizing up the product in a different way. She was watching the sales associate. She was deciding whether to buy into him and what he was saying. So, she asked another type of question, “What do you think about the sliding glass doors that have the curable vinyl cladding on the outside and the warmth of wood on the inside?” Note that she asked, “What do you think?” Asking a specific question about the product was just the vehicle for her to find out more about the sales associate’s ideas, thoughts, and information. In short, about him.

When she spoke, she looked him straight in his eyes. While he referenced the sliding glass door by looking at it when he answered her, she barely gave the door a glance. She had already evaluated the product. Plus, she could tell from her husband’s questions and responses that he was already considering the purchase. She wanted to know if she could trust the sales associate. Her body language and type of question was indicative of someone who is considering buying into a person. Pam’s statement of people buy us, and then they buy what we have to offer rang true. This was so obvious in the buying styles of this husband and wife. The husband was considering the value of the product. The wife was considering the trustability of the salesperson.

They also did my work for me. When the salesperson asked if he could help me, I said, “No thanks. I just need a couple of prices so I can comparison shop.” Then I turned to the couple and said, “Thank you! You guys were great!” They looked at each other, puzzled. They had no way of knowing that they’d just given me the perfect example of the difference in marketing to men and women.

What do you think? What's been your experience? Do you think women buy in more then men?

Susan L. Reid
Inner Samurai Business Expert

Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

 

10 Ways to Ensure Marketing Success

I saw this article written by my friend and colleague, Samantha Hartley of Enlightened Marketing and immediately thought how valuable it would be for you to read this hot business strategy! 

Samantha is an expert on brand consulting and brand marketing strategy for small business, consultants, and entrepreneurs.To read her article in full, you can do so here: "What If Marketing Doesn't Work." Otherwise, here are Samanatha's 10 ways to ensure marketing success:

Ten Ways to Ensure Marketing Success
by Samantha Hartley

Marketing isn't going to work all the time, but it shouldn't fail all the time either.  Here are ten ways to ensure that you get more success.

1.    Test everything!  It's helpful to think of marketing as an ongoing learning experience.  You should test many different of strategies, tactics and messages.  Plan time for reflection on your results.
 
2.    Set realistic intentions.  Don't expect a 100% return on your Facebook invitation to a teleseminar.  Every prospect who receives a free consultation may not hire you on the spot.  You'll feel a lot of failure if your expectations are too high.
 
3.    Stick to a plan.  Marketing plans don't need to be complicated; that can lead to failure, too.  Instead, select three to five things you'll do over the year and write detailed plans for them.  Then, just do it.  Don't get distracted by a bunch of new and different ideas.  Focus on your simple plan and see what works.

4.    Keep your plan alive by revising and updating it.  It may sound like a contradiction to the previous point, but instead of constantly seeking new tactics, adapt and adjust your original ideas over the course of the year to make them work better.  If you're networking, you can test new elevator speeches or venues. 

You're likely to get better results by improving something that works rather than always trying new things.  Of course, you should always test out new techniques, but be prepared - many will not work perfectly the first time.

5.    Put in place ways to evaluate or measure the results.  How will you know if they work or not?  Try using tracking methods, like asking "Who may we thank for sending you to us?" or having a dedicated landing page (unique url).  

6.    Focus more on active than passive marketing techniques.  I'll give you an example.  Generally, response rates to phone calls (active) tend to be better than those to letters (passive).  So, if you're planning a mailing to decision makers, follow it up with a phone call to each of them.  It may seem like you'll face more rejection, but actually, you'll get better overall results. 

7.    Consistency is more important that quantity.  Instead of being a member of every organization in town, join one and attend regularly.  Likewise, you'll find you get better results from doing one marketing method monthly, excellently, than trying to do ten things haphazardly.
 
[Honestly, one thing is enough.  For the first 15 years of my career I only used one technique, networking.  It worked!]

8.    Tell people what to do and why.  Be sure to include the key ingredients in every marketing effort:  a targeted message and a call to action. 

9.    Become a student of marketing.  The more you know about marketing, the better you'll be able to test, improve and learn from your efforts.  Read books on your favorite kinds of marketing, and ask business buddies about their experiences.  One of my favorite questions at networking events is "How do you attract customers to your business?"  I'm collecting marketing best practices while I network.

10.    Get help from an expert!  Sometimes the best way to learn something is to be guided step-by-step through a proven process.  You can work in a supportive environment and ask questions while you apply and practice new skills. Learn more step-by-step approaches on the teleseminar, "Branding for Infogurus: Get a brand. Get known. Get clients!"

Thanks Samantha for this hot business strategy on marketing!

Susan L. Reid

Inner Samurai Business Expert

Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success

Three Easy Steps to Creating Your Marketing Funnel

Today . . . I am thinking about this question that came in from one of our readers. She's been in business for a couple of years and wanted some suggestions about what to put into her marketing funnel.

If you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Q: What's a marketing funnel and what goes in it?"

A: Good for you! Having a marketing funnel in place for your business is a hot business strategy.

In short, a marketing funnel is a visual representation of the actual products and services that you are offering your prospects. The point of a marketing funnel is to keep people flowing down from the top of the funnel to the bottom. As you go deeper into the funnel your products and services will be priced higher and higher, until you get to the bottom where your highest priced offering awaits.

Here's how it works: Picture a funnel—wide and open at the top and tiny and narrow at the bottom. At the top of the funnel is where you want to get as many prospects in as possible. At the bottom of the funnel is your highest priced product or service. In the middle are in-between levels and prices.

Three Steps to Creating Your Marketing Funnel

Step one: Get your prospects into the funnel by offering them something free, such as a special report, e-Book, e-Zine, PDF chapter from your book, intro teleclass, or tip sheet. The important thing to keep in mind when creating your free offering is that it must be of value to your prospects. In other words, it must be something that they want. In exchange for signing up to receive your freebie, you get their names and e-mail addresses (leads).

Step two: Strategically fill the middle of your funnel with information products and other programs to sell. This will give your prospects the chance to "sample" you and get to know you at a lower price point before committing to your highest priced product or service at the bottom of the funnel.

10 Information Product Ideas for Your Marketing Funnel

•    Audio Programs (MP3s or CDs)
•    Books
•    E-Books
•    Home Study Courses
•    Special Reports
•    Teleclasses
•    Teleseminars
•    Video Programs (MP4s or DVDs)
•    Webinars
•    Workbooks

Step three: Choose 2-3 high priced and highly sought after products and services for the bottom of your funnel, such as, private consultations, extended coaching packages, weekend live workshops, or a year-long personal mentoring program.

That's it!

If you have a small business question that you'd like for me to answer, let me know.

Susan L. Reid
Inner Samurai Business Expert

Award-winning author of Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success