Whether you call it “fresh thinking” as my colleague, Lisa Johnson, does, or “thinking outside the box,” as so many others do, the concept should simply remind us to broaden our perspective.

Case in point: When ReachWomen pitched our first financial services client, one of the reasons we were hired over a few much larger, “brand name” consultancies was BECAUSE we didn’t have any other industry-specific experience.  That client was ready for a little fresh thinking.  And, yes, in the process of working with them, we identified several very new (to their industry) approaches for connecting and resonating with women customers.  More on that a bit later.

Cross-Pollination: Not Just For Bees

In order to develop a better understanding of the core needs and motivations of your women customers, it would be worth examining even those businesses that seem to be in polar-opposite industries.  As long as they appear to have had success with the women you'd like to reach, you will likely discover helpful hints to use for your own purposes.

For example, let's say the market of your dreams is teenage girls. You might start by asking your nieces, daughters or granddaughters which magazines they read. You might further pay attention to how they dress and which brands they consider to be “cool” (or just look at the label on their jeans). Then, go visit those magazine or 
clothing sites and notice the copy style, palette and fun tools on their pages. Done well (and not just slapped together), the hip copy style of the Delia’s clothing web site, for example, could be effectively cross-pollinated into most any business trying to attract the teen girl market.

When approaching the slightly more mature women of the world, consider the ReachWomen example that follows: In the course of conducting research for the aforementioned financial services client, Lisa “brailled” the culture of affluent women to find some alternative education delivery methods that would resonate.  What she found was a...

...A Garden Of Ideas

Lisa talked with these women. She heard about their fears, frustrations and time limitations. She read what they were reading.  She visited the web sites they did.  She watched Oprah to tap into the interests of the mass  female audience, and from the business end, she studied brands that were adding new employees rather than downsizing.

A few of the things Lisa discovered:

• Women were gathering in groups of 4-10 to socialize around topics they wanted to learn: investment clubs, garden clubs, book clubs, etc.
• Women more frequently and more actively participated in all-women groups.
• Personal and business coaching is on the rise, especially with businesswomen.
• Email and the Internet are time saving tools that are fully embraced by these women. 

Interpreting what she'd learned, Lisa advised our client to turn their sales force into a staff of “financial coaches” that offers both phone and in-person appointments.  She also recommended that they re-purpose their mass marketed seminar content into smaller, more exclusive, learning groups led by a female financial coach.  Given her findings, Lisa also prioritized for the client the concept of a personal invitation (rather than a flyer or mass email) and the importance of word-of-mouth "buzz" generation.

Bounty From Far Away Gardens

How can we cross-pollinate the goodies from the above research into ideas that are helpful in our own marketing strategies?  Some ideas:

• If you are in a service industry (banking, insurance etc.), consultant and author Cheryl Richardson’s “life makeover” groups provide a great example of encouraging (and equipping) women to connect with each other in small groups.  Use her "Life Makeover Group Resource Center" concept as your guide.

• If you are in the retail industry, consider training your customer service representatives to be more coach-like (in person, online or by phone).  For example and when feasible, you might allow (nay, encourage!) your service staff to spend more time with customers in order to develop longer term relationships.
  
• Embrace women’s fondness for the efficiency and simplicity of learning and interacting online!  Go ahead! Convert your two day seminar (that hardly any women can find time to attend anyway) into a succinct series of email “lessons.”   Women's health companies are some of the first to do this.  (Check out the link below to sign up and see what one of them is doing to educate women about PMS and menopause.)  

A side note: Since women do tend to cluster in women-only groups, especially around topics that are new to them, you might consider putting more female customer service people on your “front-line,” or staffing-up with female employees during the hours you’ve noticed most women visit your site or store.  

Cross-Pollinating Your Way Into Women's Conversations

Once you've gathered some fresh thoughts through cross-pollination with other industries, you'll want to gain the support of women ,and be included in the buzz of their interactions.  In the next issue of Reaching Women Online, I'll help you think more creatively (or, think more "freshly") about connecting women to your brand by joining their  conversations.  I'll also explore how to initiate some conversations of your own that really serve women. Now that's fresh thinking!

Links:

http://www.delias.com

http://www.cherylrichardson.com/lifemakeover.html  

http://www.womenshealth.com/minicourses.html 
(Please note: I just signed up for this course myself, and haven't seen the first lesson.  On that note:  If you do sign up for this or any other "women-focused" educational e-series, please let me know what you liked, what didn't work etc.. and maybe we can fine tune a template for ourselves.  I'll report on what I hear back from you.) 

Marketing to women conferences and seminars seem to be gearing up for spring and summer.  If any of you attend one and learn something interesting, please let me know.  I'd love to explore any particular topic further for you, or interview your favorite speaker.

In the meantime, ReachWomen is busy working on our own seminar for the American Management Association to be held in NYC, Atlanta and Chicago this fall (to be taught by Lisa Johnson).  Lisa and I would both love your feedback if you do attend one of those (of course)!

And, one more reminder: If any of you are planning to be in or around Los Angeles on April 26th, I'll be on an "a la carte" panel on marketing to women online at Internet World.  So, you don't have to pay for the whole shebang, just pick and choose (to see me)!  http://www.internetworld.com/events/spring2002/register.php  Feel free to email me in advance, and I'll look for you.

 
Take care until next time,

Andrea


P.S. Yes!  Write me with your ideas, comments, or questions at: andrea@reachwomen.com