Word Of Mouth Marketing To Women

The Power of Her Inflluence

She cleans house, she cooks and she care-takes when family members are sick. She shuttles her children to activities that she hopes will open new worlds of excitement and knowledge and maybe even instill a passion for art, music or sports. She does this out of love and she does it so that her children will learn through her example how to be good parents when they grow up. Her example is important to all of society's future and now research is beginning to look at just how influential her actions can be in modeling healthy behavior.

MBA Grad Schools and Moms

What happens when you add disposable diapers and baby sized university T-shirts to a MBA Admissions Director's arsenal of recruitment tools? An increased awareness that more moms are going to grad school and to woo them you might just need to serve them better. In the 9/20/06  Wall Street Journal article titled Parental Guidance, one of Columbia University's MBA admissions directors, Linda Meehan states that "there are definitely more married women with children and more getting pregnant while in the MBA program." 

Word-of-Mouth Plus Experiential - A Marriage Made in Retail Heaven

Estee Lauder is stepping out of the traditional cosmetic industry marketing box and launching its first on -line ad campaign. What makes their approach so Word-of-Mouth (WOM) Worthy? Here are just a few of the things they are doing that gives them my Win-HerTM award for this week.

Overstock - Treating Cause as a Revenue Line

This morning I fell down the "web rabbit hole", you know that place where one link leads to another and before you know it hours have gone by, but at the bottom of this mornings fall I found a great story that I want to share with you. For my female readers who know and shop TJ Max or DSW shoes, you may also know Overstock.com. With time at a premium, all it takes is a click of the mouse, and we bargain hungry females can shop on Overstock and find many ways to make our hard earned dollars stretch. But that is not why I am writing this posting. I recently read "Targeting Your Business To Women", authored by the CEO of Overstock, Patrick Byrne. Because Patrick is obviously a man, I wanted to read what he had learned about reaching women.

Bikini's and Dinner............

I have to vent a little this morning and give my Lose-HerTM award to Riese Organization and its newest entree into the restaurant business - Hawaiian Tropic Zone. Why? a restaurant themed on Bikini Clad waitresses and nightly beauty pageants. What is so frustrating about this is that they are doing a lot right to capture the women's market - smaller portions, sharing meal options without any up-charge and lean menu selections - something all women and men for that matter need and want.

Listening - One Customer At A Time!

Karen Neuburger - her pajama's are synonymous with comfort and now, she is transforming KN, Ltd. into a lifestyle company. But how do you translate values and ideas embodied in a signature line of PJ's into body products, bedding and kitchenware? And how do you assure that comfortable living is evidenced in a wide variety of products made by many specialty manufacturers? Lisa Bazinet, KN's, VP of Marketing knows how  - "We ask, what is the motivation behind the product? Is it a genuine interest in the customer? If yes, then it is a good fit."

Why the loyalty to Martha and Oprah?

"What is it about Martha Stewart and Oprah that makes women so crazy over them?"

That's a question I was asked last night while addressing students in the Masters of Marketing Communication program at St. Thomas, one of our local universities. The question came from a man in his 40's who honestly couldn't understand why women acted that way - kinda crazy. He stumbled as he searched for a "correct" way to comment about the audience's seemingly blind loyalty. But the way he asked it, made it sound like having millions of fans who evangelized everything you did, was a bad thing. The unspoken part of the question, I believe was this, "I just don't understand what all the excitement is about. Oh yeah, I get - getting excited about getting free car, but why the loyal following?"

Its chocolate time, anytime at ethel's!

Chocolate, the mere mention of it brings back memories...drinking hot cocoa and warming myself in front of a bonfire in my home town's ice skating park and that special box of chocolate I received from my first sweetheart on my first Valentine's Day dance. Whether you're a toddler, a teen, a young mom or grandparent, chocolate stirs memories and feelings like no other food on earth. 

Why Women Use Email Differently

While preparing for a presentation at recently I came upon some very interesting studies regarding women and email usage. The recently released Pew Internet & American Life Project report, found that "women are enthusiastic on-line communicators" - we concur - women's use of the Internet will continue to dominate.

Community Banking Redefined From Her Perspective

What happens when a community bank turns its vision outward...beyond its four walls to the community it serves? It becomes a catalyst for growth and volunteerism, a community center for activities, a financial education center and even a place to get a good cup of coffee and chocolate!