Marketing to Women: Dove Self-Image Campaign Elevates Advertising

Dove’s new Real Beauty campaign exposes the fact that only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful.  Their new campaign has a new tagline “You are more beautiful than you think”.  The revealing video has been viewed 42 million times! What is so provocative?  Take a look.

The video shows a forensic sketch artist drawing images of women based on their own descriptions.  After drawing the first sketch, the artist then draws a sketch of the same person from the description furnished by someone else.  The resulting sketches showed the difference in the beauty that others see in us versus our own self-image.  The truth in these spots revolves around the way women undervalue themselves and their looks.  The popularity of the sentiment is undeniable.  Tanzina Vega chronicled the popularity of the work in a recent New York Times article.

Dove has worked to communicate that real beauty is more than the waif-like models and celebrities that most beauty brands use.  Does this type of soul-searching grow business?  Evidently. Dove was a $200 million soap brand in the early 1990s that has grown into a brand that has been estimated to be nearly $4 billion dollars today.

Why do women value this approach?  The brand Dove has communicated to women that it understands and values them.  This approach is not only true to women’s emotions but it is differentiating from most beauty products that sell a more unattainable beauty.  The truth of the brand is the truth of women.  The brand speaks to emotional benefits that reward inner beauty, not just vanity.  This compelling message allows the brand to speak to all generations, to launch brand extensions, and to create meaningful programs with women and girls.  A similar approach was taken by P&G with their Olympic Mothers campaign.  It showed Mothers they were valued and important.

Brands that can speak to a higher truth that women value will win both marketing to women and the purchase war.

Marketing to Women: Women Still Dominate Retail Shopping

A new report from Nielsen confirms that women still control the spending power in the US.  Some people estimate that we control $5-15 trillion annually.  Now, I know that saying women still dominate retail shopping is like saying that it still snows at the North Pole, but there are some shifts going on that are interesting.

The report points out that men are taking a more active role in the shopping process than they have in the past. Woo-hoo!  Between 2004 and 2012, U.S. women reduced the number of trips they made across most retail channels, while men increased their visits to all outlets except grocery and drug stores.

However women are still spending more money per trip than men in all shopping channels.  Women drive the larger stock-up or planned trips and outspend males by $14.31 per trip in supercenters and by $10.32 per trip in grocery stores.

So basically, women are still doing the majority of shopping, but the data tends to suggest that men are beginning to assume more shopping duties beyond the trip to the convenience store for beer and chips.

Talking to the female shopper is more important than ever.  So those  at Nielsen are concerned, like we are, about the emotional and rational content of marketing and advertising messages.

Women remember more and differently than men do, so talk to both her emotional and rational sides and acknowledge her attention to detail. Layering emotional decision-making opportunities with rational information will increase purchase intent and will have strong “sticking” power. According to Nielsen NeuroFocus, the female brain is programmed to maintain social harmony, so messaging should be positive and not focus on negative comparisons or associations.

In other words, women form value opinions based on both emotional and rational reasons to buy.  That’s why the Darth Vader spot for Volkswagen was a game changer.  It spoke to both men and women about the special moments of family life yet focused on a buying feature of the car.  And yes, women are the buyers of most cars too.

Marketing to Moms: Four Things to Consider Before Developing an App

Considering an app to market to moms?  A recent study found that 97% of moms made a purchase on their tablet in the last month and they’re spending significantly more time on their tablets than laptops. There’s a huge opportunity for brands to provide value for moms on their tablets.

One way to make the most of moms on tablets is by developing an app for your brand. However, developing an app, especially for the first time, is not an easy task. It requires a big budget, skilled engineers, and dedicated marketers to build a useful, powerful app.

So before you begin, there are 4 key things to keep in mind when planning to develop a new app:

App functionality – In order to be truly effective, apps must be smart, innovative, and provide value to the customer. Know when your customers will be downloading the app and why they need it at that moment. Determine the use case scenario and keep it top of mind throughout all stages of development. Also know that you don’t have to include all potential features in the first release of the app. Prioritize the essential elements and add additional functionality in future releases.

Operating systems – You don’t need to develop an app for all platforms to be successful. Rather, understand the devices before choosing one or a few. First, narrow down your options by knowing which device your target audience uses. For example, about 51% of moms own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, compared to 52% of teenagers owning an Android. Second, understand the pros and cons of the various platforms. Windows is known for its flexibility and provides a great user experience. Apple has fewer models and screen sizes so testing is easier. However, a rejection from Apple’s App Store means more time and money to make improvements. With Android, though, it’s easier to get apps into the Google Play store. On the down side, there are many Android models and testing on all of them is nearly impossible. Finally, testing on various devices requires lots of Quality Assurance (QA), not only for the first release but also to maintain the app as devices update their operating systems. Don’t forget to budget for ongoing QA as you develop your plan.

Pricing model – Will the app support your core business or will it be the sole revenue stream? If your business has other revenue sources, you may offer the app for free because it builds mobile presence and authority for your brand. If this will be your main revenue source, the app itself might be free but perhaps it will generate revenue through an eCommerce engine or paid membership. While some paid apps are very successful, tablet users have been shown to prefer free apps with ads to paid apps. Paid apps accounted for only 23% of all tablet app downloads in 2012. Does your app offer something that customers will pay for or does it offer another value to your business?

Download strategies – Marketing your app and getting customers to download it provides a huge challenge. Make sure your app is searchable within the app store. You can do this by choosing the most relevant keywords. What will customers be looking for when you want them to find your app? Find out and use those keywords. Note, you are limited a specific number of characters for keywords. For Apple, keywords must be less than 100 characters. Another download strategy is through email marketing. Email your existing customers and include a direct link to the app store so they can download the app immediately. Make it easy for them to find and download. Also consider integrating a social sharing element into your app so users market the app for you.

Creating an app may or may not be worth it for your business, but after thinking through each of these topics you should have a better idea of your approach and strategy. For more insights on the habits of moms on tablets and how to build the best app strategy for your brand, download the white paper, “Tablets 101: A Primer for Mom-Focused Brands.”

This guest post is by Katie Petrillo. She is the B2B Marketing Manager at Punchbowl, where she writes about marketing to moms for the Punchbowl Trends blog. Follow her on Twitter @PunchbowlTrends and find her on Google+.

Marketing to Moms (and Dads): The State of the American Mom 2013

The 2013 State of the American Mom report is out – and interestingly, they actually looked at opinions of both Moms and Dads.

Here are some of the results important for marketing to moms – and dads:

Men shop around too.  An equal amount of Moms and Dads, 78% and 76% respectively, shop at more than one grocery store weekly.  Most make the extra trip for the best sale prices.

Smartphones are the tool of choice.  Almost 60% of moms have a smartphone, compared to 44% in 2011.  It is certainly the primary organizer of life.  The report shows Moms are playing games (64%), looking up stores/locations (58%) and finding nearby restaurants (50%).

Baby wants a smartphone and a laptop too!  Of course, you know children won’t even know how to turn pages in a magazine or a book.  43% of Moms report their children start using a laptop or desktop at 3 – 6 years, and 25% of Moms say that’s when they start using a phone or tablet.

What are the trends behind these facts?

Multichannel Shopping.  Consumers are challenging retailers and brands to keep up with their multichannel shopping behaviors.  Two-thirds of all shoppers regularly use more than one channel to make purchases.  While the Mom report is talking about physical grocery stores, many are shopping online, warehouse stores, farmers markets, specialty stores and grocery stores to fill their pantries.  Some 70% still use bricks and mortar stores, but 47% are online.  And all research begins online before those “reality” shopping trips.

Life on a Smartphone.  We just feel smarter with a smartphone. Nielsen says in their 2013 Mobile Consumer Report that 61% of all adults have a smartphone and 94% have some type of mobile phone. Of course, we don’t actually talk on our phones.  We send and receive an average of 764 text messages versus 164 calls sent/received on our phones.  We use our phones for a variety of activities – email, music, shopping, location services and internet browsing.

Digital Children.  Hilary DeCesare, a cyberbullying expert and CEO of kids’ social networking site Everloop, thinks in an increasingly digital world, it’s important to expose children to different technologies early so that they are prepared to adapt and thrive in more advanced professional settings. The digital expert thinks kids as young as 2 can benefit from tablet use, as long as the parent “is monitoring what [the] child is watching.”

Marketing to Women: Breadwinner Wives

One of the lingering effects of the “new normal” is the growth in breadwinner wives.  From 2007 to 2011, women’s contribution to household income grew from 44% to 47%.  And in some 40% of marriages, the women are the highest wage earners.

“This past recession caused women’s share of earnings to rise even more significantly, with the largest single year increase,”  said Kristin Smith, a family demographer at the Carsey Institute and a research assistant professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire.

The trend is strongest among couples where the husband has a lower level of education. Women married to men with a high school degree or less contributed 51% of total family earnings in 2011; those married to men with a college degree contributed 42%.

Men dominated jobs suffered the most in the past recession.  From December 2007 to January 2010, America lost 8.7 million jobs, with male-dominated industries, such as construction and manufacturing, suffering the most. Unemployment peaked in October 2009, at 10%, with men’s unemployment at 11.2% and women’s at 8.7%.

As the economy improves, women will tend to stay in their job roles.  Many households lost ground in savings, housing values and retirement accounts.

Other gender-related shifts that have taken place in recent years: Colleges are graduating more women than men; women under 30 earn more than their male counterparts in most of America’s largest cities; and women now comprise about half of the workforce.

An unintended cultural effect was found in a 2010 study by Western Washington University where researchers found that when a woman’s contribution to household income tops 60 percent, the couple is more likely to divorce.  However, this cultural shift may balance out as the new generation starts their households.  The vast majority of young people – about 80% of women and 70% of men across all races, classes, and family backgrounds — desire an egalitarian marriage in which both partners share breadwinning, housekeeping, and child rearing.  The data come from Kathleen Gerson‘s fabulous 2010 book, The Unfinished Revolution.

Marketers should be alert to how women are portrayed in advertising because of this new normal.  Old stereotypes will not serve a brand well, particularly if women are the primary target.

Marketing to Women: Top 12 Posts from 2012

2012 marketing saw unanticipated events like the rise of Pinterest and Instagram – and disputed practices of Facebook and Instagram.  Facebook reached 1 billion users.  Changes to healthcare funding made marketing healthcare hugely important, and patient satisfaction rules. So here’s a quick read of what Lipstick Economy readers were interested in.

12. Marketing to Women:  Should You Focus on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter?  Overall, almost two out of five (38%) online consumers follow retailers through one or more social networking sites.  You need to understand the demographics and how it the social networks are used by your specific channels.

11.  Marketing to Women:  Blogs Drive Purchase Intent.  Recent research from BlogHer shows that 61% of active blog users say they have made a purchase based on a recommendation from a blog.  One of the leading indicators of purchase intent is trust.  And 81% of women trust the information and advice they receive from blogs

10.  Marketing to Women:  Facebook $1 Fee to Message Non-Friends.  Facebook calls the little charge an economic signal to determine relevance. I call it “selling my inbox”.  On a blog post, they say ”This test will give a small number of people the option to pay to have a message routed to the Inbox rather than the Other folder of a recipient that they are not connected with.”

9.  Marketing to Women:  Women Rule Social Media.  LinkedIn is the only exception to the more than 50% rule by women; the male-female split is 50-50.  Back in March, Google+ was the third largest social network, yet to be usurped by Pinterest.  An interesting infographic gave us real demographics for the networks such as 54% Tweeters are on Mobile, 36% Tweet at least once a day, and average time on site is 11 minutes.  Google+ users are more likely to be single geeks looking for friends.  The average number of Facebook friends is 130.  Two million companies are on LinkedIn.

8.  Marketing to Women:  A Picture on Pinterest Is Worth A Thousand Words.  Pinterest is the third most popular social network behind Facebook and Twitter.  The beauty of Pinterest is we don’t have to read someone else’s opinion  We can make our own.  It’s a beautiful thing.

7.  Marketing to Women: Instagram or Instagrim?  New Policies Announced.  Since Facebook went public and purchased Instagram, the pressure is mounting for added advertising income.  Some new policies were announced and within a week were revoked due to customer pressure.

6.  Marketing Healthcare to Women:  What Does Patient Satisfaction Mean?  Based on new health care reform legislation, patient satisfaction surveys will factor into how much money a hospital gets paid by Medicare.  Patient ratings will compose 30% of  the consideration, and clinical quality will determine 70% of the payments.  Hospitals could lose 1% of their Medicare payments.  The only way to earn it back will be improvement of scores, and a real understanding and delivery of patient satisfaction.  Warm friendly service, appetizing food, entertainment amenities like WiFi and cable, and a pleasing atmosphere are becoming more important to patients.

5.  Marketing to Women:  The Ultimate Travel Agents.  80% of all travel decisions are made by women.  Surprised?  75% of those taking cultural, adventure  or nature trips are women.  And boomer women are major players having the money, time and interests.

4.  Marketing to Women:  Pinterest Rules!  Pinterest has been a winner in driving traffic for many retailers.  Some even more than Facebook.  Pinterest is inspiration for purchase decisions.

3.  Marketing to Moms:  Childhood Obesity Number One Health Concern. With one-third children overweight, the epidemic is of concern because 50% of overweight children become overweight adults.  It’s an important topic for all marketers.

2.  Marketing to Women:  10 Cool Ways to Use Pinterest. Since 70% of women are on Pinterest, marketers should be there to.  But 2012 was a year when marketers were trying out Pinterest, trying to ascertain how best to use Pinterest.   It’s about research, common interests, promotions and linking.

1.  Marketing Healthcare to Women: Ten Things You Need to Know.  Since 80% of all healthcare decisions are influenced by women, it is appalling that two-thirds of women feel they are misunderstood by marketers.

 

Marketing to Women: Checking on Moms Post-Election

Who was the winner in the election?  Evidently women were!  For the first time in history, the nation elected twenty women to the US Senate, including the first Asian-American woman.  In spite of the gains on Tuesday night, we might still want something else – a female president. Before the end of President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, Hillary2016 was trending on Twitter.  But what are Moms concerned about post-election?  Take a look.

Thanks to Zeno.com, for a post-election snapshot of the mood of moms taken:

• Mood of Mom: Nervous (34%), happy (27%) and indifferent (14%) are how moms categorized their feeling, post-election.  One message that topped the list is that moms are relieved that Election 2012 is over.
• Moms Take Issue:  Concerns about the economy (61%), jobs (19%) and healthcare (13%) topped moms’ list as the single most important issues facing the country into 2013.  However, nearly 3 in 5 moms report that the election will unlikely impact their confidence that their family’s healthcare needs will be met.
• TV Ranked Supreme: Even though election night was the biggest event in Twitter history with a record setting 20 million tweets, moms reported tuning in to television (76%) and traditional news sources to get election news throughout the season.
• Good Morning, Madame President:  Could the Clintons return to the White House? 87 percent of those surveyed expect to see a female President during their lifetime.  Hillary Clinton topped the list as the most likely candidate to grace the Oval Office.
• It’s Looking Good, Girl: 45% of moms with daughters report that they’re more optimistic about their daughters’ future today than before the election.  Only 12% of moms with girls are feeling more pessimistic.

Marketing to Women: Just in Time Emails

Holiday marketing has begun. Does it matter when your email arrives in your target’s email box?  Well,  a new survey sheds light on how timing of an email reaching a recipient’s inbox affects engagement and purchase behavior.  Conducted in September 2012, the StrongMail Email Delivery Performance Survey 2012 included more than 700 business leaders participating in the global survey.  Some of the survey highlights include:

– 80% have seen performance increased for emails delivered during a particular time of day

– 61% cite a decrease in performance when emails don’t arrive at scheduled time

– 74% would like more control over the arrival of their campaigns

– 53% are not currently testing for an optimal delivery window for their email campaigns

– 61% are not currently doing any segmentation of email campaigns by time of day

When Consumers Prefer To Get Emails

Most consumers have a preferred time of day to shop online, but  research shows retailers are not aligning their email campaigns with those preferences, according to an October 2012 report from Yesmail. Here’s the kicker.  This report shows consumers (39%) preferring evenings between 6PM and 10PM as their preferred online shopping time, while just 5% of the email campaigns by top brands tracked over a 3-month period were delivered during that time window. The research suggests that the night time preference might be attributed to commuters shopping on mobile devices. Every target audience and geography has a preference of is own that should be determined by the marketer.   The majority (41%) of retail email campaigns are sent between 2AM-6AM, with another 31% from 6AM-10AM. These two time periods were preferred by just 5% of the consumers surveyed.

Marketers should consider timing their email campaigns based on subscribers’ channel preferences, as consumers who shop in-store indicate very different patterns than online shoppers. For example, 79% of in-store shoppers prefer to shop over the weekend, versus 31% of online shoppers. Among those online shoppers, 47% who identified a day-of-week preference selected a day between Monday and Wednesday.

What Consumers Want in Promotional Offers

What type of promotions get our consumers’ attention?  Consumers say the promotions that most influence them are percent discount, free shipping, money off, buy-one-get-one-free, gift with purchase and rewards points. When actual email promotions were tracked for a 3-month period, they measured up to consumer desires.  Discounts were the majority share (54%) of email promotions, followed by free shipping (30%), money off (13%), rewards points (2%), and a gift with purchase (1%).

For those of you who have not sent your first holiday season email, here’s some news that might give you pause.  Fifteen percent of top online retailers sent their first holiday email campaign in September this year.  That 15% is up from 11% only two years ago.  Everyone is vying for holiday dollars this year.

 Shopping Begins in October.  

Most consumers (51 percent) start their holiday shopping in October or November.  Twenty percent start their shopping before October, though 24 percent wait until December.

Marketing to Moms and Dads: iPhone and iPad Are Winning

 

It finally happened.  My husband is coming to the light.  He is getting a new iPhone.

New iPhone May Look Like This

And it seems that he is not alone.  While Android phones surged ahead last year, new research shows that iPads and the new iPhones are preferred for the end of the year.

Research from Yankee Group:  ”A smaller percentage of consumers—only 39 percent of respondents who intend to buy a smartphone in the next six months—plan to buy one that runs Android, indicating that Android interest is flagging. Compare that with the 42 percent of consumers who plan to buy an iPhone in the next six months, and our landscapes suggest that Apple will see another record-setting launch this fall.”

In my humble opinion, there are many reasons that iPhones win.  The integration with all Mac devices, the camera,  Facetime, and iTunes are just a few.  Since everyone else in the family has an iPhone, my husband is realizing how simple it is to be connected with his laptop and his family.  Research from Techbargains.com says one in five users who identified as Android users plan on replacing their current handset with Apple’s next iPhone. The survey group of 1,300 indicated that most smartphone customers are seeking longer battery life, a faster phone, and 4G LTE wireless connectivity.

The new introduction of the sixth-generation iPhone is high anticipated.  It’s the American way.  Competition is good.  And when it comes to tablets, here’s an interesting tidbit – for every Android tablet in use today, there are 6.6 iPads.  eMarketer predicts the number of iPad users in the US will rise by over 90% this year to 53.2 million, as loyal users replace older models and new consumers purchase the device.  eMarketer estimates more than half of tablet users this year to be men (54%), but by the end of the forecast period the gender split is expected to be even.

 

Marketing to Moms: Mom Bloggers Have Political and Social Clout

With the election season in full swing, I thought it would be interesting to look at the impact that mom bloggers have on the political landscape.  Scarborough studied the effect of Mom bloggers in 2011 and came up with some interesting facts since Mom bloggers make up 14% of all American moms (those with at least one child in the house).  Seems Barak Obama understands the import of Mom bloggers.  He addressed  the BlogHer 8th Annual Conference live via conference in New York earlier this month.

This year mom bloggers will certainly have an influence on the election.  There is even a term for it – “mom the vote”.  Moms tend to agree on issues important to women and children.  Party lines may not be a factor in some debates.  Earlier this year when a lobbyist on CNN commented that Ann Romney “had never worked a day in her life”, mom bloggers went to work and by the end of the day, the lobbyist had apologized.  Even Michele Obama weighed in on Ann Romney’s side by tweeting “Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected.”

Political and Social Influence

It should be no surprise that mom bloggers tend to be more politically and social involved than non-bloggers.  After all, bloggers tend to be more influential in peer recommendations and have a following. They are self-publishers of their world.  More than three-quarters of mom bloggers say they “always vote” in presidential elections and 45% always vote in state elections.  And mom bloggers are twice as likely as all mothers to have contributed to a political organization in the past 12 months.

Are they red or blue?  Well 29% of mom bloggers self-identify as Democrats, 25% as Republicans, 29% as Independents and 17% as none of the above.

While they may not agree on parties, they do agree on lots of issues:

•  Arts and Culture.  They are twice as likely as all moms to have contributed to an arts/cultural organization.

•  Social Care/Welfare.  They are 75% more likely to have contributed to a social care/welfare organization.

•  Environmental Issues.  They are 64% more likely have contributed to an environmental organization.  They are 85% more likely to support a politician based on environmental agenda.

• Volunteer Activities.  They don’t just write.  They are 38% more likely to have done volunteer work.

Who are these mom bloggers?

These women are college/post-college educated, average 37 years in age, have a higher income ($14,000 higher totaling $84,000 per year) and are more likely to have children aged between two and eleven years of age.  They buy organic food, believe in buying locally grown food, and are more likely to buy eco-friendly cleaning products.

These mom bloggers are also heavy media consumers.  They index heavily in the following:

38% more likely to visit a broadcast TV website

51% more likely to have visited a newspaper website

20% more likely to listen to news radio

58% watch local news on television

Top Mom Blogger Markets

According to the Scarborough Research, in 2011 when the study was compiled, the top local markets for Moms who have read or contributed to blogs in the past thirty days were: Salt Lake City (35%), Seattle/Tacoma (23%), Austin (21%), Nashville (21%), Washington, D.C. (20%) and San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose (20%).