Even though ReachWomen focuses on listening to women in the direct, ear-using, way, many “feeling, touching or perceiving” methods also greatly support our first-hand, in-person research.  Because women are so ever-changing and hard to categorize, listening to them simply must be broad and deep.  From noticing what types of books a particular group of women reads to studying what type of foods they choose and looking at the cultural clues to their fashion style, it all matters and it all feeds or develops a marketer’s listening skills.

Because the merits of virtual listening (using Internet technology and online feedback channels to survey and interact with women) are so great, I’ll save that entire topic for a future issue.  In this article, I’ll cover a few of the other methods of observing the women’s market.  Then, you can put them in your market research arsenal for future reference. 

Keep Your Eye On The Street

In the Aug/September issue of RW Listens, Lisa talked with Chauncey Zalkin of Girl On The Street (GOTS) about the buying behavior trends of young, urban women. GOTS is a research and creative consultancy that also delivers bi-monthly trend and lifestyle reports to a database of young female consumers.  When I interviewed Chauncey again more recently and asked how she listens to women, she responded: “I don’t really tap into my readers that much for my research.  A lot of it is just that I go out into the marketplace and assess what’s going on.  It’s really intuitive for me.”  Her answer spurred the idea for this issue’s topic – how “listening” to women goes beyond your ears.

Chauncey rounds out her on-the-street observations and intuition with information gathered by her interns, the life experiences she’s had in her multi-cultural upbringing and what she reads in lots of magazines (mainly the fashion trades).  From there, she “connects the dots” for clients like Fubu, Boo.com and NYstyle.com.

Listening/fashion tip:  Notice what is right outside your door and in your daily peripheral vision.  From her wise-eye view of the diverse Brooklyn neighborhood where she lives and works, Chauncey has become convinced that many US fashion trends start with what’s going on in African-American culture. 

Keep Your Nose To The Ground

A great case study of well-funded, in-depth, down and dirty grassroots research can be found in “The Merchants of Cool,” a fascinating Frontline documentary that first aired in February 2001 and is scheduled to repeat again on November 28, 2002 (check your local PBS listings).  It’s amazing what insights can be gathered by following teenage kids around.  Included in the piece is a profile of MTV researchers literally driving out to teenagers’ houses and going into their bedrooms to see the posters on the walls, what snowboards were lying around, what music was included in their CD collection, and so on.

This “in your face” and in your space type of research can really get to the heart of the matter and help your company go from “what do I think I know about my consumers” to “what I need to learn” pretty quickly.  In the case of the research conducted for “The Merchants of Cool” documentary, the budgets were indeed big, but I still think there is something to be learned by doing even a mini-version of this type of research for your own purposes.

Listening tip: Send “peer reporters” to the front lines.  To research how moms feel about the retail mix at your local high-end mall, send your sister-in-law out with an audio recorder and find another couple of women in other locales to do the same.  This method is by no means scientific, but it will very likely inspire greater thinking on a small budget as you continue to explore the moms' market.

Keep Your Fingers On The Mouse

OK.  So, I’ll end by mentioning the obvious, but sometimes neglected: old-fashioned reading up.  The Internet has made it much easier to collect the foundation for great research, and I’d call that listening via your mouse and keyboard.  What’s available via the Internet can deliver a very thorough profile of your market for you before you hit the streets - saving you real time and money for the expensive, fine-tuning that will go on later on in your process.  Listening research tactics include:

• Pattern Observation: What “floats up” when you examine where women are flocking, online and off?  From a basic web site audience profile or reader demographics breakdown, to just noticing that a serious amount of women drive into your local hardware store parking lot on a Saturday morning (see the Home Depot tidbit in this issue), these nuggets are great research jumping off points.

• Content, Color and Design Review: Take a look at the top ten sites your women-of-interest are visiting (include unrelated industries, for sure!) and see what may be the common denominators in copy and content style, the palette and the design.  “Listen” to what those companies have already discovered about women.  

Many Observations Come From Many Senses

When you look around one week and spot ten handbags by a designer whose name you haven’t seen before, or when three of your friends mention a new flax seed product in the same two-day period, you’ve listened beyond your ears and noticed the patterns around you.  It is not hard science by any means.  Yet, such multi-sensory research can provide significant clues in preparation for actual listening research later.  

So, put yourself in the Manolo Blahniks (East Coast gal) or Wolky clogs (West Coast gal) of the women whose wallets you are trying to woo!  Guide your marketing team to wholeheartedly set up camp within the lives of the women you want to reach, and then you can put their ears to more efficient, and direct, listening use later.

Links:

Chauncey Zalkin's Girl On The Street:
http://www.girlonthestreet.com

"The Merchants of Cool" information: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/etc/hunting.html

(The show will be streamed on the Frontline website in honor of their 20th anniversary.  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/twenty/ ) 

For another homework assignment on learning through observation, you may want to read  “Take This Fish And Look At It.”  My mom, the former college English instructor, tipped me off to this essay by then-college-student Samuel Scudder (written in the 1970s, we think) which appeared in one of the textbooks she used.  

The lesson within the story is applicable for any market researcher at any time.  The gist: His professor plopped a fish down in front of him and told Sam to take the fish and look at it, and said “by and by I will ask you what you’ve seen.”  For three long days the professor forbid Samuel to look at anything else or to use any artificial aid.  He touched it and drew it and focused in on every little aspect - and did he ever pick up the smallest details by observing in such a focused manner!

This fun and inspiring essay, that will remind you to look beyond the obvious, is online at: http://www.iglou.com/watchmakerpress/MOQ/reflections/fish.html

Take care until next time,

Andrea


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