Must Market

As an Ecommerce Director our sales were dependent on word-of-mouth advertising, the best advertising you can't buy :). Realizing that women were much more likely to generate word-of-mouth we created personas and campaigns designed to begin meme creation among women. 

That last sentence sounds a lot tidier than life actually was since if my team and I could understand how to "meme create" without fail we would all be retired and living next to an ocean with expensive cars in the garage (or broke and The Story of Cancer Trust would be fully funded :). 

The truth is you stumble along and do the best you can to learn faster and faster and do more and more. Our testing revealed differences between men and women in:

* Call To Action triggers.

* Language.

* Importance of reviews.

* Cause marketing.

Faith Popcorn famously said people JOIN brands they don't buy them and we saw the truth of her idea in our feminine marketing results. Now there is a study showing what we saw in our numbers. Women are more active on social networks and beginning to express their more networked profiles by buying cool gadgets (territory usually thought of as male). 

The limitations of stereotypes in today's marketing are HUGE. Don't assume anything, but create different strings focused on gender differences and see what your A/B or MVT tests show. Bet you see distinct differences to. 

NOTE: I write this post sitting across from a group of six women who look like they meet regularly and know each other well. For most of my men friends starting a Saturday with a long conversation with six friends is the third circle of Hell (lol).