We Need To Talk: Building A Relationship With Women
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday March 22, 2003
Three years ago, marketing specialist Amanda Stevens was unpacking books in her new home. She flicked open Dr John Gray's guide to the sexes, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, and had what she calls ``a blinding flash of the obvious".
Stevens, who had started her own advertising agency at 21, realised if men's and women's different communication styles must be accommodated in one-on-one relationships, they should certainly be taken into account in marketing.
``Marketing is really nothing more than building a relationship on a larger scale," says Stevens, whose Splash Group specialises in marketing to women.
Stevens could find no one in Australia who had tackled the differences in a scientific way. A university graduate in business communications, she then began a two-year research project involving neurologists, two US universities and the results of about 120 neurological studies.
By taking that research into marketing, which Stevens says hadn't been done before, she could consider genetic and neurological differences that might cause men and women to react differently to marketing messages.
She has since developed a methodology for marketing to women based on this research.
Stevens says the male brain is genetically wired for hunting, focusing on prey and hitting a target. A woman's brain is wired to scan surroundings and perform several tasks simultaneously.
The bundle of nerve fibres connecting the left and right brain hemispheres is much thicker in female brains. It provides 30 per cent more connections between the hemispheres, and explains why women can multi-task. But the male brain is configured to concentrate on only one task.
``If the male brain is scanned while he is reading, he is virtually deaf," says Stevens.
Direct tests have been done on how men and women respond to marketing messages and how they build brand loyalty. ``It's not theoretical; it's not how someone might react in a situation, it's actually what their responses are neurologically," says Stevens.
She says worldwide studies show women make or influence the purchase of 80 per cent of consumer goods. Their childlessness or delay in starting a family means their spending power is increasing.
In the past decade the number of female property owners has increased by 50 per cent, and the gap between men's and women's salaries is closing faster in Australia than other countries.
Buying cars or choosing banking, finance and insurance are much more likely to be a joint decision or a woman's decision.
``These industries haven't needed to market to women, because they haven't been the ones making the decision. But they're where the biggest and fastest shift is in the power of the female consumer dollar," Stevens says.
Splash Group undertook a successful project for Wizard Home Loans, targeting women with a three-month ``pregnant pause" on mortgage payments during pregnancy or maternity leave.
The project emerged from research into paid maternity leave that showed concerns about mortgage repayments was a key reason women delayed childbirth or remained childless.
Stevens says research also shows women have wider peripheral vision, and their brains rest at 70 per cent of activity state compared to 30 per cent for men.
This means advertisers can ``slip messages into a woman's periphery" when she is not actively seeking information. Peripheral advertising can be more effective because the message is not competing with similar messages simultaneously.
For example, Splash advertised Goss cosmetics in BRW, the first time this magazine had been used for women's cosmetics. While it would not achieve the reach of women's magazines, it was not competing with dozens of other cosmetics ads.
Splash's SHEmarketing methodology uses a multi-dimensional selling proposition for marketing to women. The model has three stages acquisition, retention and maxim-isation and 10 strategies that build on each other.
Acquisition involves multidimensional selling, peripheral media activities, building emotional rapport with women wanting to bond and build relationships, and cause marketing for women who care what a brand stands for.
For retention, a community network should connect women to each other as well as the brand.
To maximise relationships, women should be recognised and rewarded for their roles of mother, partner and professional woman.
Stevens conducts SHEmarketing seminars for advertisers and agencies in Sydney and Melbourne, and has sold out her current six-week series.
pam@kershaw.com.au
© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald