Last time I discussed the need to communicate to women differently, with the emphasis on demonstrating a genuine understanding of her world and creating a real relationship, rather than using outdated stereotyping.
Click here to read the last issue.

But should we shout loudly that we’re singling out women, or is this likely to offend? How obvious or subtle is the right approach to women? The answer - both can work but choose the one appropriate for your offer.

Let’s look at both ends of the spectrum:

1. Overt: your aim here is to make it obvious you’re targeting her because she is female, so use recognised, obvious gender cues such as the colour pink.
   
   The tricky bit is judging when cues are acceptable to her, versus lazy or misinformed stereotype shortcuts e.g. all women love to be shown you care, versus showing you care = give flowers.

Linda McGregor,
Principal,
All About Eve

2. Covert: you focus on her needs, not her sex e.g. she’s busy and looking for ways to do more with less time. Often this approach means you hit a male need too, because it’s about need, not gender. This is standard good marketing practice.
   
   However, the covert part comes in the way you then communicate that need and link it to your brand. Think of it as talking her talk, as a friend would – right style, relevant content and language e.g. use a more invitational style to build trust with her and tell stories to bring a human factor into play that she will more easily relate to.

When overt works well
This approach is useful when there is a genuine value or benefit to be gained by her from purchasing the tailored female version of the product. This could be connected to functional delivery, safety, fit and so on. It is based on clear and apparently intuitive insight into her different needs because she is female.

Successful ‘overt’ approaches:

Breast Cancer pink
What started as a clever use of a coloured ribbon to show support for a female focused disease, has become the most successful marketing use of pink. By using a stereotype - women and pink - this cause has harnessed a highly acceptable, positive way to broadcast that you’re supporting women.

Bürgen
With its healthy bread range, Bürgen has clearly acknowledged that women have different health needs. Its Soy-Lin bread openly addresses the specific nutrients that female bodies require.

But this is KEY with overt campaigns - without a strong purpose for targeting a female directly, obvious ‘for women’ labelling is risky as it often points to superficial or created reasons for purchase. The early days of female razors was a point in case:

Gillette
The price of the ‘for women’ item is higher, yet the only adaptation to the product is colour, pink rather than blue. Marketed as tailored to female needs, it seems to imply she’s concerned enough about looks rather than functionality to drive her to pay for a colour premium.

When covert works best
On most occasions. Outside of where it’s accepted that men and women want different things, most women won’t thank you for singling them out for ’special treatment’. Why? Because often there’s a subtle social history that has meant women were considered inferior consumers e.g. owning cars, mechanical or technical gear or, operating in lower status categories e.g. housework versus business. Make the same ‘sell’ as you would to a man but change how you sell it.

This communication approach does require more understanding of the subconscious of what makes the female audience tick. Think of it as two step marketing:

1. Get the offer and message right
2. Get the communication of it right

While it may be more work, boy can it deliver because you build a stronger connection.

Successful ‘covert’ approaches:

Clarks Bad Feet Kids
A great example of effective targeting to mums. No reams of copy about importance of right shoes for growing kids, responsibility of a mum, medical testimonials or biology lessons, all stuff she’s heard before. Just a clear picture painted of the key relevant fact – kids with bad feet. Clarks has understood how to talk her language and make her care about fitting and quality in shoes that last only months thanks to those growing feet.

To sum up
We use the phrase ‘Don’t think pink’ because it’s a label used to describe the fatally bad campaigns that have used over-obvious and inappropriate female stereotypes in ways that simply offend the very women we aim to attract.

But, as with all things feminine, it’s never quite that simple – and sometimes pink is gold!

Linda

(For a full explanation of the key Fundamental Four™ differences between the sexes and how it impacts marketing, see our previous interview)

Thanks to: Linda McGregor at All About Eve, Bürgen, Gillette, Nestle, Clarks, National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Posted by: Carmen Campbell