Over a million women are achieving secondary degrees each year, with the majority entering the workforce fulltime upon graduation, according to Women for Hire: The Ultimate Guide to Getting A Job (Perigee, September 2002).  So, what can you do to serve these late Gen X and early Gen Y women who are trying new-to-them products, exploring new services and searching for information on your wares?

Their Consumer Background

Companies that want to reach these women (who are the tip of a generation as huge as the Baby Boom) will have to learn to think like they do and forget much of the research about their Boomer parents.  Let’s take a quick look at who they were a few years ago to get an idea of the kind of consumers they will be:

• Clicking a mouse is second nature to them and they have experienced mass media saturation from birth.
• They are more distrustful of the established brands they’ve seen their parents buy, and traditional marketing messages delivered in the same way won't necessarily work. 

Within the first few months of graduation, I distinctly remember my gang of friends having anxiety about finding the best apartment for the best price in a safe neighborhood, getting the right phone service, budgeting their monthly paycheck and basically settling in to newfound independent life.  For us elder types, that may have meant finding a brand of underwear that worked best for business attire (for example) and carrying it with us throughout our life.  But, it won't be as easy to gain brand loyalty from this crop of younger women. 

Take the fashion industry, for example.  High speed access to information has made “what’s cool” more varied and more quick to change as the latest skirt- length-of-the-stars is immediately reported online.  But, don’t give up.  There are a few key macro trends we can still tap into to reach the women of this group who are just now entering the workforce.

Reaching Them Now

First and foremost, there’s the concept of self-discovery.  Young women transitioning from college to the workforce are trying on new looks, different roles and a variety of jobs.  They are in information gathering mode and will seek advice from peers with even just a bit more experience, and occasionally from mentors within their workplace, or otherwise in their community of influence. 

Lindsey Pollak, expert on young women and careers and co-author of the aforementioned Women for Hire, agrees.  “These women are full of questions about what they should be doing, wearing, and reading - and where they should be shopping.  Their peers, or mentors at their first job, take on new significance.”

Second, communication has truly evolved with this group.  Email, cell phones and PDAs are all being reinvented to meet the needs of these women.  Unlimited local calling in a cell phone plan, for example, is something that Cricket Communications very successfully markets to young women in college who are dialing in to budget constraints.  Unlike older generations who have merely added a mobile phone to their home line set up, many, many young women (and young men, as well, yes) use their cell phones 100% of the time.  Times, they are a changin'.

Third, re-working existing belongings is this group’s modus operandi.  These women are less brand-driven and find it hip to individualize and re-create.  Take The Learning Channel’s hugely successful show, Trading Spaces, for example.  While it started with more of a 30-something, homeowner type following, Spaces fans are skewing much younger now.  The program recently had extra-high viewership for a series of episodes on re-working the apartments of 20-somethings in Hollywood.  

Also from the perspective of using financial resources wisely, but in a different way, these women are more seriously considering investing in established (and higher priced) brands  that are known for their product quality or longevity.  This is a generation in debt, and stressed about it, and they are looking for ways to get the utmost out of their future purchases.   Coach shoulder bags and Ann Taylor suits, for example, continue to have a good reputation as investment purchases, even with these hard-to-sell women.  

Individualism Midst the Unfamiliar

Young people have just experienced the first recession of their adult lives.  Things are a little humbling, with fewer jobs to be had.  This group of women will have to be much more savvy to get jobs, and they’ll need to conform in more ways than they may have expected.

So, here they are.  Wanting to convey their individuality in new situations and in unfamiliar environments. Companies that help them express themselves and connect, compare and contrast with their peers, will really help these women to research and make purchases in ways that work for them. 

Furthermore, ad campaigns that show up where these women already congregate, online or off, have a much better chance of resonating.  Online quizzes like those on Emode.com, using humor and fun graphics, have been hugely successful with college women transitioning into the career world, because they make it so easy to share results and laughs. (Full disclosure: ReachWomen has a business relationship with Emode).

Finally, a simple review of those marketing efforts that successfully connected with this group during their college years will surely help direct the ways to reach them as young career women.  For example, companies wanting to capture their investment dollars might consider marketing products with the same savvy they used to sell credit cards.  They could start by being the ultimate resource for getting out of debt!

Their Way, Not Their Mom’s Way

These women really are a “whole new generation,” with technology and mass media at their core and no shadow hovering from the Baby Boom.  While they may be heading into purchasing bigger ticket and more sophisticated products, they should still be approached as the savvy, online-fluent, multi-tasking, peer-driven generation that flocked to instant messaging and downloading music using Napster.  They will always do it “their way” (with a nod to Frank Sinatra).

Links:

http://www.womenforhire.com

http://www.cricketcommunications.com

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/tradingspaces/tradingspaces.html

http://www.coach.com

http://www.anntaylor.com

http://www.emode.com

http://www.napster.com 

Lisa and I realize that we embody that of which we tend to write (tail end of the Baby Boom into Gen X), and it is good to get a reality check on what's up from our expert friends who represent other generations and women's market segments.  

To help us gather the right information to report to you, we tap into the minds of people like Lindsey Pollak who happens to be that of which she speaks, as well - a young, educated, business-minded woman who is blazing her own trail.  (Need I say that we highly recommend the book she co-authored, Women for Hire, to any woman in a career transition?)  In future issues, I'll be tapping into women's segment experts more regularly, including Stephanie Wilkinson, publisher of Brain, Child, the magazine for thinking mothers.

And, finally, yet another reminder of what we're up to in the coming months (we'd love to see any of you at these events, of course!): Lisa will be delivering the American Management Association seminar we developed on marketing to women this fall in NYC, Atlanta and Chicago.  Check here for exact dates and details: http://www.amanet.org/seminars/cmd2/5236.htm .  And, I'll be speaking, with extra support from Steve Sarner of Emode.com, at IQPC's Food & Beverage for Women conference in Chicago, Oct. 28-30, 2002.  Check out the conference program at: http://www.foodbevx.com/NA-1765-02  

Enjoy the crisp fall air and that productive back-to-school energy blast!

Take care until next time,

Andrea


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