I don’t think of my blog as a place to discuss politics, but I have been amazed at how many people have assumed that women will vote for Sarah Palin, not on her merit, but because she is a woman. I am obviously in favor of encouraging and helping women to achieve their full potential, including breaking the ultimate glass ceiling. Whether it is in business or the political arena, they should be qualified for the job. I don’t think promoting a woman, just because she is a woman, is either a good business decision or helps women.

     Likewise, when voting for a political candidate, how their views on the issues align with yours should be paramount. I plan to vote for the team that I believe will move the country in the right direction over the next four years. I’ll cast my ballot for the one I hope will provide a safer, better America for my children and grandchildren.

     Of course like many others, I would love to see a woman in the White House. But I won’t be voting for or against Sarah Palin on the fact she is a woman, just as I won’t be voting for or against Obama because he is African American. I hope everyone reading this blog exercises their privilege to vote, and votes for the team that they feel is best for America based on whatever criteria they deem most important, which shouldn’t be gender or race. 

Now that football season is in full swing, what will women do on Sundays, Monday nights and Thursday nights while their husbands watch football? Millions of women will be watching as well, not just as a couple’s bonding experience, but as faithful fans themselves. Many have been football enthusiasts for years. Others have taken advantage of Football 101 classes offered by NFL teams and now are loyal followers. Recently, I discovered a new dimension of the game.

I read an article on women who had formed a Girls Fantasy Football League. Now this intrigued me. 

According to a 2006 poll by the Fantasy Sports  Trade Association, there are nearly 1 million female fantasy players. While female participation in the game is growing, the report states that men still make up 92 percent of fantasy team owners.

The article featured the Incline Village’s all-female Fantasy Football League. This is the sixth year for this league. In case you don’t know how Fantasy Football works, which I didn’t, there is a league, team owners and a draft of real NFL players. It costs to buy a team to be in the league. They keep score according to actual game performance of their drafted team members. For instance, if Terrell Owens gets two touchdowns in a game, that team is credited with 14 points. These women are dedicated football fans and can quote stats about players better than your average population, male or female.

Two devoted players, Darolyn Skelton and Shelley Robins, were instrumental in the formation of the league and have started www.girlsfantasyfootball.com.

The web site is complete with how to start a league and play, up-to-the-minute stats, merchandise and much more. Skelton and Robins are optimistic that their web site will interest more women in playing. So if you have always dreamed of starting a Fantasy Football League for women, now you know where to go to learn how!

A couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed watching the grace and incredible skill of Natsia Luikin and Shawn Johnson as they captured gold and silver medals. Darra Torres, the 41-year old swimmer, was an inspiration to us all. Michael Phelps’s unprecedented eight gold medals and the number of world records he broke were extraordinary feats.

Everyone watching realized that winning the gold in Bejing signified years of dedication, discipline and the fulfillment of lifelong dreams. While individual determination and skills were necessary to win some medals, others depended on team efforts. This is also true in business. While we are responsible for our own actions, no one can make it to the top by working by themselves. We need mentors, coaches and colleagues to be there for us, to teach us and to inspire us to greatness.

In each of our business lives, we make choices about how we reach for our gold, our dreams. We learn lessons about patience and perseverance as we realize that being a winner, getting the gold, takes time and effort. Like athletes, we need the support of coaches, family and friends. We must work hard and expand our talents. Having a “can-do” attitude and confidence in our abilities and what we can accomplish is paramount to success. Winning athletes aren’t afraid to stretch, to try new things, to risk and to fail. We must not be afraid either. Winning the gold in is about much more than the moment of victory. It is the history that got us there that is important.

When it finally became clear to the beer industry that sales to men were slumping, and that the biggest untapped market was women, they began to think about how to capture these increasing significant dollars.

Once they realized this important market segment was key to increased profitability, they stopped using scantily-clad women to advertise their products. However they still faced two major hurdles:

1. How to market their products successfully to women?            
2. How to improve the taste so women liked it?

Both the UK and US are struggling with this issue, but are hopeful they will find the key to unlock this valuable market segment. Coors has created an operation, which they have named Eve, that’s sole mission is the development of beer brands and marketing strategies that will appeal to women. A joint venture between UK-based SABMiller and Molson Coors (MillerCoors) produced a new beer MGD64, with just 64 calories per 12-ounces to appeal to weight-conscious women.  

Will these ploys work with women or does the beer industry need to finally hire consultants that specialize in marketing to women, and actually know what women want and will buy?

Many companies are realizing that there is a correlation between their success in marketing and selling to women and hiring and promoting women within their organization. Smart companies know to get the best talent, they must adjust their culture. Additionally, they are allocating more dollars to marketing and selling to women. This decision shouldn’t be based on political correctness, but on sound business basics-women control the money. They spend $.85 of every dollar. I always wondered why businesses believe their efforts should be directed to customers who spend only 15% of the money versus those spending 85%. 

In virtually all industries, women make more than 50 percent of the purchases, including automotive products, electronics, sports gear and equipment, healthcare, and Internet sales. They influence far more. If businesses aren’t marketing their products and services successfully to women, they’re losing out on billions of dollars annually.

Businesses such as brokers and banks that cater to the wealthy need to focus more resources on women. Financial services providers who stand to gain considerably by targeting wealthy women aren’t doing a great job. In the next decade or two, women will control 60 percent of the wealth in this country. Much of it they will have earned. The rest will be inherited from parents and husbands they outlive. When women are asked what is the one area of your life you would like to improve, women cite their financial situation nearly 40 percent of the time. It is even higher with low income women.

Hotels ranked the highest among women as an industry that was best accommodating their needs.

Home improvement chains and automotive manufacturers are getting their messages across effectively. Nearly twenty-five percent of wealthy women say that these industries do a superb job of marketing to women. Unfortunately, while the corporation might have finally gotten it, the retailers selling their products often don’t.

Electronics retailers still fall short of the market they could be selling to if they changed a few of their strategies, provided better training for their sales staff and took the time to understand their customers and how they buy. Wealthy women were particularly turned-off, but this industry does only a mediocre job as a whole when marketing and selling to women.

Beer companies still struggle with developing and selling their products to women in general. Liquor distillers have done a better job, but wineries have done the best at reaching all women, including wealthy women.

Marketing and selling to affluent women is lucrative, but tricky if you aren’t familiar with their lifestyle, demands, expectations and buying patterns.

If affluent women are your market, what are you doing to reach them?

“I just read an article about how academia can’t get and keep talented women professors in the scientific areas. Rice received a multi-million dollar grant to revamp their current process. Many thought it was a poor use of money and criticized the efforts.

According to the article, published July 28, 2008 in the Houston Chronicle:

The results are small, but real: 14 additional female faculty members, new hiring and mentoring practices, and a bank of 1,300 resumes from women with doctoral degrees in the sciences and engineering open to university hiring committees from around the nation.

“If we’re not taking advantage of women’s education, we may be losing a resource we’ve invested in,” said Jessie DeAro, director of the National Science Foundation’s Advance program.Advance will spend about $19.5 million this year on gender-equity programs at 28 universities, including Rice. (The University of Texas at El Paso and Texas Tech University are the only other Texas schools involved in the project.)”

Any thoughts on how Rice and other universities can reach their goals?

Right now, it doesn’t seem like the have a very viable program, but at least it is a start. They realize there is a problem and that is a good first step. Attracting and keeping talented women should be a goal of all institutions. Diversity is a very powerful tool.
 

For years I have worked with corporations on marketing and selling their products more effectively to women. I have also helped them learn to recruit, retain and promote women within their organizations.

After years of experience, I realize the need to convey to clients that to get the best results, both processes should be integrated. The synergy created by the whole is definitely greater than when either piece is done separately.

By helping women in your organization climb the corporate ladder and develop sound leadership skills, the culture will change and many paradigms of the past will shift. This will allow for more open communication between the genders and a better work environment for all employees. Meanwhile, women consumers will be more attracted to your company and marketing plans will be adapted to better fit their needs.

Create a win-win for your organizations.             

After a brief break, we are back blogging and will be writing new posts every Monday.

What I find intriguing is the number and variety of companies and industries that have figured out women are the growth market for a number of reason. In the process they also discovered that following the money trail often led to women.

Advertisers and marketers are also realizing that one size doesn’t fit all. Some are marketing heavily to mothers, while others are targeting single women. From Gen Y to baby boomers to retirees, women are becoming the sought after market by businesses.

I recently read an article on Harley Davidson. You probably wouldn’t pick them out as a strong marketer to women. However, they have a number of initiatives they are doing to attract more women. Leslie Prevish, Harley-Davidson’s women’s outreach manager, says the company has been marketing to women for years, but has ramped up efforts since 2003. They recently created a designer ring for women who buy one of their bikes and complete the Rider’s Edge training program. Their 680 dealerships are hosting events for women and they have added a micro website to their regular site, which is geared strictly to women.

More than half of today’s tire showroom customers are women, and dealers are adapting to that growing audience with a diverse selection of marketing entrees. Smart dealers are realizing that women focus on much more than the tires and price. Cleanliness, warmth, comfort and plenty of amenities, keep female happy and coming back.

Media venues are also trying to increase their female viewership and help their advertisers reach more women. One such venture is NBC Universal. “The project kicked-off in May and provides advertisers access to female-friendly assets of the company,” said Laureen Zalaznick, president for the women and lifestyle entertainment networks at NBC Universal.

In a recent survey of chief purchasing officers of major corporations, it was revealed that women make more than 80% of the buying decisions in U.S. households today. They’ve become nearly every family’s chief purchasing officer. Women are buying the majority of consumer-electronics and home-improvement goods today, as well as the weekly groceries. They also make more of the vehicle and car-maintenance decisions.

Women are dramatically changing how products and services are designed, packaged and marketed.

What have you noticed recently in your buying sphere?

Reading numerous articles provides a lot of diverse information and opinions. I’m always amazed at some of the things I read and that’s why I decided to make the major focus of my blog commenting on interesting topics you might have missed.

We all know women are serving in the armed forces, fighting in Iraq and having military careers. Women have been in some capacity of military service for a long time. However, for the first time in its history, the Marine Corp has created an extremely targeted ad campaign specially designed to recruit women. The tone has changed from the machoism of previous ads to focus on patriotism and issues that resonate more with women. They are being place in television shows women watch and magazines women read.

While other branches aimed advertising toward women recruits during WWII, the Marines ads that spoke to women, were few and far between.

As more and more entities realize the value women contribute to organizations, more are reaching out to the talents women process in ways that they haven’t done previously.