Marketing To Women: Strategies & Insights

‘’I do no know why but women want any of the things men have when one of things that women have is men.’’  Coco Channel

Women are often overlooked in how they add to society. Historically the greatest thinkers of    middle ages have had very interesting views on women. The views on procreation, for example Aristotle was considering an active, ensouling masculine element bringing life to an passive female element. Confucianism is introducing men to begin their day with thanksgiving and appreciation to Almighty Gods for the fact that they have not created them a woman. In Christian traditions a woman was considered as a ‘’vessel of sin’’: namely a woman (Eva) according to Bible was guilty of the exile of the first people from the Heaven.

The main virtues of women have been considered obedience, humility and modesty for a long time. The role of women in a “man’s world’’ was to bear  children, parenting and housekeeping. In this attitude women didn’t have any legitimate (and approved by the society) ways to make a living and were economically dependent on men, which only reinforced gender inequality.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries  as soon as the society reconsidered its approach to ‘’women’s question’’, the systematic inning of women’s rights come around (the first wave). By the late 1980s, the campaign for gender equality entered the ‘third wave’ and the first thing women begun to do was prove their equality by imitating men.

Nowadays women not just have reached the same heights as men, but also dominating them in some spheres. And here comes the most interesting thing   Women imitating men, and following the rules of a ‘’man’s world’’, have reached the ‘’men heights’’. But it appeared that women are not men! Historical inequality between men and women is based on the fact, that even a human naked eye can indicate- women and men are different.

Below is a little excerpt from Tom Peter’s “Re-imagine!’’ book, which is focusing on how the business climate has changed, exploring radical ways of overcoming outdated, traditional company values and psychological differences between men and women.

Men	Women
Get away from authority and family	Connect
Self-oriented	Other-oriented
Rights-oriented	Responsibility-oriented
Stay detached	Get personal
Proud of personal power	Proud of joint achievements
See  general	Notice  details
Low sensitivity to odors	High sensitivity to odors
Screen out quiet sounds, are comfort with load	Hear quiet sounds, are uncomfortable with loud
Poor developed sense of touch	Well developed sense of touch
At three-day age slowly establish eye contact	At three-day age twice  intense establish eye contact than boys

And yes, women are different but it only could come to man’s mind that if different- they are worse.

How does it apply to marketing?
Very simply. While the pursuit of women to reach to equality was only getting stronger, they were aspiring to be look like men in everything. Women were earning money, they were engaging in politics, learning to deal with technology and electronics, consuming men products and consuming it in a ‘’male way’’. Accordingly, the marketing communication could be homogeneous, and the products sold to both men and women could have equal success.

But here is the point!

It has become clear to women now that the male lifestyle and consuming ways doesn’t apply to them.  Women nowadays are becoming more and more self-determined (or they have been always so). Men’s communication is getting worse for them day by day.

And little  more about psychological differences between men and women. (T. Piters)

Men	Women
Talk about their ‘’favorites’’	Love to talk
Think silently	Think out loud
Direct	Prevaricative
Want to hear facts (only)	Want interesting stories
Go to store for a particular thing	Purchase on the way

What does it mean in terms of marketing?
When men are purchasing a product, they just purchase it, nothing more. (Men see the general things. Remember?). Service from the point of view of men is unnecessary and is detail. For women instead, it’s important the service and ‘’packaging’’. Sometimes service is more important than the product. The personality of the merchant, additional services, comfort at the place of the purchase are contributing women in shopping, rather than men. Women are ready to pay more for additional service!!

Men just buy a product, women are joining to the brand!
It is very important also to consider the point of ‘’purchasing on the way’’! An example is a bank. To go to outside specially  for  paying the bill is a male thing! To pay the bill after shopping at the mini-office bank located at the same shop is feminine! Do all companies catch this fact up? Apparently, no!

To conclude,  as a business, never discount women’s roles as strong brand influencers.  Develop a way to combine all their preferences and you will have created a promising marketing strategy indeed.

Lastly check this video of Nike ‘’voices’’! It is a great example how this company is boosting women self-esteem, therefore increasing its brand loyalty trough this positive marketing ad.

[1] http://www.4p.ru/main/theory/133443/
[2] http://www.tompeters.com/reimagine/
[3] http://www.trendsight.com

Top 5 Most Traded Commodities in The World

When economists say commodities, they mean goods for which there is demand, but which are supplied without qualitative differentiation across the market. Commodities are usually produced by a large number of companies around the world. Lumber, oil, sugar and electricity could all be considered commodities, while Levi's jeans would not be, as consumers consider them to be distinct from jeans sold by other firms.

There are a great number of both agricultural and industrial commodities now being traded in the commodities market. And here is the list of top 5 most traded commodities in the world:

1. Crude Oil

Crude oil or also known as petroleum is the term for ‘’unprocessed’’ oil, the stuff that comes out of the ground, which  is in fact the most traded commodity in the world.  Territories in the Middle East export 58% of all crude petroleum. Saudi Arabia exports over twice the US dollar value of any other territory, measured in net terms. The United Arab Emirates has the highest per person export earnings from crude petroleum. Other important exporters of crude oil are Norway, Venezuela, Nigeria and Mexico.

2. Coffee

Amazingly   coffee is the second most  traded commodity in the world. It is estimated that 1.6 billion cups of coffee are drunk worldwide everyday! It is produced in Latin America, South East Asia and Africa and the main consumers are United States and Europe. Today Brazil is responsible for about a third of all coffee production, making it by far the heavyweight champion of the coffee-producing world. Indonesia and its archipelago is most notable as the world’s largest producer of robusta beans, which is my favorite one.

3. Natural Gas

Natural gas is traded a lot because it is the only thing used everywhere from cooking to heating water in winters. It has a volatile marketing style because of its price fluctuation. Russia is the largest exporter of natural gas. It is interesting to note that Canada is the second major exporter followed by Norway. The world’s largest proven natural gas reserves are in Russia, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

4. Gold

The fourth most traded commodity in the world is gold. It has always been valuable, the reason is may be the beautiful color or maybe it is rare,  for many women may be it’s the important part of them  or anything else. Additionally, to inform you South Africa no longer holds the title of the world’s largest gold producer. Currently China is the world’s top gold producing country. Next goes Australia.

5. Brent Oil

Brent oil is the second most traded oil in the market after crude oil, and 5th most traded commodity in the list. This oil is basically taken from the North Sea and Norway and areas like Europe and Africa use Brent oil more as compared to crude oil. It is used to price two thirds of the world's internationally traded crude oil supplies. According to the CIA World Factbook estimate for 2010 the world consumes about 87 million barrels of oil each day.

Fads or Trends?

Do you know what do blogs,  tattoos, Rubik's cube, and H1N1 Swine Flu have in common? Well, they all are fads! That handled pet game called Tamagotchi was also a fad, when the player was given the task of raising a pet to good health throughout its life and attend to its needs, such as feeding it, cleaning up its excrement, punishing Tamagotchi or I don’t know. Did you played that game? I remember all my friends once where so damn involved in that. Or, do you remember about Swine flu or so called H1N1? Back in 2009 seemed everyone was speaking about it, and then suddenly all rumors about it were forgotten and life continued to go on.

A fad is something that seems to appear suddenly. It quickly becomes enormously popular, and then disappears just as suddenly as it came. Mostly word of mouth is used to bring people in to try it or to create a buzz around it! Although trend is also characterized to appear very suddenly, it’s not considered to disappear. At a first glance they often may resemble each other and seem like they are the same. For every  marketer or businessman who are trying to build a business over the long term, it’s very important to know the difference between fad and trend. It can save a lot of money, as well as credibility in case you don’t jump into every fad and start to chase it too quickly. 

As mentioned above the first main difference between fad and trend is sustainability- fad appears  and disappears suddenly and trend  can have a long-term influence on its particular market. Secondly, another  difference between fad and trend is their usage in different industries. Fad, as  a rule becomes particular in one industry. Tamagotchi, for example is a game: people play it, have fun and that’s all about that. When it comes to cell phones or portable devices their trend overcame just the  the cell phone or portable device industry. Fashion, wireless communication, photography have their big role in cell phone or portable device production.  People buy cell phones that match the latest clothes fashion, have good quality camera with some extra features or have wireless connection access. Cell phones are trends! P.S. the new iPhone 5 is going to be launched today on October 14!

Fads and trends become integrated into our lives very quickly. No doubt, using a fad can bring you  a quick money, but that’s not for large companies and those who’re trying to  have long-term business. The thing is that these businesses simply can not afford to be wrong. Instead, these companies follow trends. The trick to this  is to get aboard at the right time. The key to that is good information sources. The first and the main recommendation to all marketers and businessmen is to  read and listen. Yes, read and listen!

What is the difference between marketing and PR (Public Relations)?

Recently I had a conversation with a young and motivated entrepreneur on ‘’how to do PR’’, and during the conversation I realized that he doesn’t have the idea of PR at all. Often meeting people from different fields who are much or less tied with marketing, I see that not all can find the difference between marketing and PR. 

The concept of public relations (PR) means by its nature that you can not ‘’buy’’ PR in newspapers and magazines, either have reporter to say what exactly you want  to hear from them. That is marketing: actually one of the tools of marketing; advertising. Marketing and public relations (PR) are two distinct business functions which are both important in  your business development, depending on what stage your business is at.

The main difference between marketing and PR is that: marketing is limited to outward messages

, mostly for the purpose of selling,  while PR involves all forms of communication  enhancing awareness of your product or service. I agree with all those who insist that PR is critical for entrepreneurs and start-ups, but, well, let’s sum up what you can get with each:

With marketing you get:

• defined target market that you know who to promote your products and services towards
• identified competitors  with their strategies that help to you stay ahead by remaining competitive
• complete creative control over your advertisements and guaranteed date that they will run

With PR you get:

• credibility, mass media and large audience that help you to market your products and services by a third-part endorsement towards large audience
• a story that runs once or twice
• less or no control over them and no guarantees and it can be time-consuming

Marketing and PR together

Many marketing and public relations departments of successful companies work in hand as they both work to keep the company and its products in a favorable light. As a rule these two business functions work better if they are clearly complementary – a strongly positive reputation makes the marketer’s job easier, while marketing activity affects a company’s reputation.

Reading this,  many people now would ask me also ‘’ What if a company has experienced some bad press, how these two functions can do together in that case?’’. The answer is simple. Many PR professionals would agree with me if I say that doing a charity or organizing a fundraiser could be a good choice for the company to create some  buzz around it. In addition, many marketers in the same time would work on new strategies that for every product sold, they will donate a percentage for fundraiser. The outcome I guess  is clear: the public may be more apt to purchase products from this company rather than others  because a portion of the profit is going towards a good cause.

5 Marketing Myths That Are Killing Business

In this post I want to present you five most common misconceptions about marketing contagion. Many  people waste tons of money and  pretty much time on their marketing, without taking into consideration these simple facts about marketing, that  is  sometimes really harmful for a business, especially the one with a good potential.

Myth 1: Marketing is advertising

Marketing is educating your potential customers or your target group about your products and services. Whether you are doing it through advertising, direct marketing, social media, strategic partnership or whatever it is, the key is to reach your target audience. Likewise, advertising can be important to marketing, or unsuitable with it, depending on your company, its  goals and its budget actually.

Myth 2: Internet marketing is what I need for a good marketing plan

Internet marketing is a wonderful tool for all companies today. The ability to market your services for a free or low-cost, sell anything online and provide a clear cut communication for your customers is a great way to get your message out. Anyway, the internet marketing is not the only trick to be succeeded, or at least it is very weak. In case of integrated marketing, when marketers create an integrated communicated strategy involving television, radio,  print advertising, public relations, events, and PR, is what that makes  internet marketing outstanding. All these activities make a big sense to your customers when they visit your website, like your Facebook pages and etc., so it’s worth not to overlook them.

Myth 4: Pricing our products to cover full costs will make us profitable

This is probably one the most myths about marketing I have meet, which is very important to overcome.  One of my favorite pricing and marketing professors  Gorge Cressman says, "When we price to cover costs, there is an underlying assumption that customers value us for our costs. Then the logical conclusions would be that we should increase costs so we can increase price, and customers will love us even more!"

Marketers should instead determine how many customers will ascribe how much value to their offerings, then ask, "Given our cost structure, what volume changes are necessary to make price changes profitable?"

Myth 4: The media and advertising are needed to create buzz.

Well buddy, you are right, media and advertising are important to create a buzz, unless you are using them in time. When used either too early or too much, the media and advertising can squelch buzz before it ignites. Don’t forget to take this into consideration!

Myth 5: Partnerships and alliances work only for big companies 

The last myth about marketing: partnerships and alliances work only for big companies. As a rule,  these are extremely important relationships for all companies to pursue a set of goals or to meet  a critical business needs while keeping the status of independent organizations. In other words strategic alliances and partnerships, most time competitors, are designed for growing product and service offerings, gaining access to new markets, and working together on new product developments. Another good point with partnerships and alliances  is to deliver your customers the products and services of your partners when you can’t do it all. All in all, it is bad to lose the trust of your customer, right?

Conclusion: Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably. All the ways you can think of to execute these for your company are marketing activities, which require enough investment in time, creativity, resources, and energy. The more you are eager to invest, the more your business is successful.