I speak woman

No. I don't.  Many men would absolutely LOVE  if they could understand exactly how to effectively speak to women.

If I could truly speak to every woman out there, millions of dollars would easily turn into billions, then I'd be right back under a million (just a joke)

Women have been instrumental to the success of everything in modern commerce civilization.  I remember when I sold cell phones and having to speak with couples to persuade them to buy.  Even if the man was in fact the person with money, the woman was almost always the decision maker.  It's no coincidence when you look at stats that women hold major responsibility in purchasing consumer products. According to stats from She-conomy.com,

Women account for 85% of all purchases including:

• 91% percent of new homes
• 92% Vacations
• 89% Bank Accounts
• 93% Food

• Affluent working women with family incomes of $75,000 or more are growing in number, and 94.3 percent access the Internet during an average month. About half are now considered heavy users of the Internet, while heavy use of radio, television, newspapers and direct mail has declined within this group. – Ten Marketing Trends to Watch, Kim T. Gordon, Entrepreneur.com

One of my favorite examples of a brand that has success toward women purchasers is Old Spice.




Old spice has always historically had ads emphasizing boys becoming men.  A lot of testosterone can be found in those ads emphasizing "manly men."  The one consistent message in their ads is the conversation they have with women on buying their men's toiletries.  In 2003, they used a good looking, very in shape man to represent what most men want to be and women would prefer to be with.  It became a huge success and something relate able to both genders.  They spoke woman and it helped their efforts to re-brand successfully into a young 12-24 year old market for young men.

Most of the best advice comes from women.  But as men in marketing, not all of us understand the language that is "woman."  It's more than just listening; It requires dedication to story telling and removing generalizations.  before I leave this post, I'd like to post one of my favorite ads that highlights this theme.




Beyonce was right in her song "Who runs the world"