Normal is boring which is why brand communications are failing to influence women spenders. Brands who understand what women want are more likely to create stronger long-term connections with the right female audiences.
Too many brands following the ‘norm’ are missing the communication with women. According to a study by The Nielsen Company, women complaint that brands don’t understand them. Women are earning, consuming, and influencing spending at a greater rate than ever before. They are now in control of 85% of the household wallet which is a fact not to be ignored. Many brands are lacking insight into why and how women buy. Whilst others that might already hold the insight, are failing to translate it into persuasive strategies that female consumers are likely to respond to.
Brands forget that their target audience is constantly evolving and the brand needs to evolve with them. Women stay with brands that meet their needs and exceed their expectations. They have a much stronger stimulus to notice the appearance of things. How things look does matter and brands that create something original with focus on the aesthetics will certainly win over their attention. However, even though you are wowing your female consumer with an outstanding campaign, it does not actually mean that you are truly engaging with them. So how can you deliver a better customer experience for your female consumers?
An advert created by Microsoft Digital Advertiser Solutions in 2007 perfectly demonstrates the relationship between the old-style traditional advertiser and the modern consumer. This film represents in a humorous way the real challenge for brands to connect with the female consumer; no matter how well-intentioned the marketer is, he is failing to connect with women.
Escape from normality
Word of mouth is a major driver of purchase decisions amongst women. More and more, women are making their needs, desires and interests known by shifting the culture of consumerism itself. Women are natural communicators. They love telling other women about things that has made their lives easier, cheap bargains and great new products and services that they have discovered. Women are constantly sharing ideas and asking for recommendation with their friends on social networks. It is no surprise that women make up 82% of active users on the fast growing social network website Pinterest.
Fortunately, today it is easier than ever to monitor online conversations. The challenge for brands lies in truly connecting with them and building a relationship based on trust. The majority of Hotcow’s work shares one thing in common – it is targeted at women. We are experts in creating connections, capturing content and building ongoing conversations with female audiences of all kinds. To successfully connect with female consumers, building eye-catching campaigns goes along way to interrupting people, but this is no longer enough to create engagement. Rather, brands need to demonstrate what they will do to make a difference to their lives.
Brands need to look at marketing as networking – finding friendships that matter. Hotcow’s research has validated our long term thinking that ‘normal really is boring’ with a massive 71% of people saying that their attention must be grabbed to have any chance of me (consumer) recognising you (brand) or wanting to learn about you (brand). Hotcow’s MD Sally Durcan says “marketeers don’t believe that their brand is ‘normal’ or ordinary so why create communication that is perceived as ordinary. Brands who turn ordinary on its head and make it relevant to them are winning the pounds from the purse”.
When interacting with your brand through a personal experience, the consumer begins to see where, and how, you can make a positive change to their lives. This is when you start building a ‘genuine’ relationship with them. Ultimately, it is important for brands to recognise which touchpoints you can use to create stronger connections with your targeted women and tailor your strategy towards creating genuine relationships and maintaining them.
Hotcow is a multi-award winning Experiential Marketing agency. We get brands in front of consumers in ways that persuade them to buy. We fully implement our ideas; nothing needs to be farmed out. For more information or free consultation, contact us.