Book Summary: EVEolution

Book Summary: EVEolution

This article is based on the following book:
EVEolution
"Understanding Women –Eight Essential Truths that Work in Your
Business and Your Life"
by Faith Popcorn and Lys Marigold, 2001 Hyperion, New York
ISBN 0-7868-6523-7 Paperback ISBN 0-7868-8441-X
272 pages

For any business to survive today, it needs to understand how to
market to women. The fact is women make 80% of all purchasing
decisions. Women are brand loyalists. Your product or service must
address their complex, multiple lives as home managers,
home-workers, entrepreneurs, caretakers of elderly parents, and
professionals. Build a lasting, meaningful relationship with your
female customer. EVEolutionize your business before it’s too late!

Understand the eight truths about marketing to women:

1. Connecting your female consumers to each other connects them to
your brand.
Women need a “backyard fence” to talk to each other. If your brand
is marketed in such a way that it connects women to each other as
a community, a group, sisters, mothers and daughters and friends,
they will embrace your brand into their everyday lives.

The web communities such as iVillage, women.com, and oxygen.com
are just a few of the examples of women being linked together.
Through EVEolution, and with the help of Faith Popcorn’s consultancy
firm, BrainReserve, Snackwell’s launched a program of Mother-Daughter
workshops across the US. It bonded mothers and daughters, reinforced
the idea of eating healthy, while nurturing a positive self-image
and attitude about food to pre-teen girls.

2. If you’re marketing to one of her lives, you’re missing all the
others.
From home office services, to cameras keeping an eye on her kids at
daycare, if your brand markets to her merged professional and
personal lives, then you will win her heart. Women need assistance
in running all the facets of their lives. Appeal to her need for
convenience. Give her a solution for her perennial problem of what
to fix for dinner tonight. Supply her with support for dog-walking,
childcare, telecommuting. Deliver her dry cleaning, diapers, and
pizza, run her errands, so she can find more time to just relax at
home with her kids. Acknowledge that she thinks about her family
while she is at work, and provide her with a service that gives her
peace of mind.

3. If she has to ask, it’s too late.
Anticipate her needs. Women are the same whether it’s personal or
work. If her husband doesn’t anticipate what she needs, she may be
disappointed in him. If an employer doesn’t anticipate she needs a
nursery near the office, and fairer compensation, she may consider
another EVEolutionized company that offers more mother-friendly
perks.

How to become more Anticipatory than merely Reactive:
Women must be in on the planning every step of the way.
Talk to consumers in ways that inspire innovative thinking.

4. Market to her peripheral vision and she will see you in a whole
new light.
Women are attentive to the small details men miss. They will go out
and shop for that suit they saw on Diane Sawyer last night while
watching the news. Starbucks is one company that is EVEolved all
around. The female customer can enjoy her coffee in a bright, clean
place with a well-stocked restroom (a must if you want to attract
women) and she can purchase the in-house music on CD or a cookie for
her toddler in tow. Work on the subtle details surrounding your
brand, the store music, the way your menu is designed, the uniforms
of your waitresses or sales representatives. She will more likely
notice these things than if you assault her with aggressive
advertising or bothersome phone calls. .

5. Walk, run, go to her, secure her loyalty forever.
The Avon lady was just the first step. She was born in an age when
women stayed at home because they were mainly housewives. Today,
women don’t want to make that extra trip to the grocery or salon
because they are simply exhausted. If you can provide her quality
service at home, at the times when she is at home, your brand
will be indispensable. Why not supply her groceries on a monthly
basis? Go to her, because frankly, she doesn’t have the time to
go looking for you.

6. This generation of women consumers will lead you to the next.
Practice the brand-me-down approach. The detergent a woman uses
is most likely the brand her mother always used. Household names
are what they are because women run the household. In Asian markets
where family ties are strong, the brand-me-down approach will
definitely sell. Attaching a brand to the name Mother will have a
strong
identification with quality and trust. Hold mother’s day events or
family day events and strengthen your commitment to her.

7. Co-parenting is the best way to raise a brand.
Ask her how she feels, what colors she prefers, how does she think
she can be served best? When was the last time you asked her for
feedback and actually responded by redesigning your product?

8. Everything matters – you can’t hide behind your logo.
Women look for integrity in a brand. From the way you treat your
employees, your CEO’s personal life, to issues like animal testing,
environmentally sound practices, and raw materials sourcing. You
need to walk your talk and back up your claim. Women don’t simply
look for value in a brand. They look for Values.

By: Regine P. Azurin and Yvette Pantilla
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