Advocacy the key to good marketing

"Women have consumer and spending power over 96 per cent of decisions and the biggest influence on the decision making of the next generation coming through," marketing and digital strategy specialist and chief executive of Bendalls Group, Fi Bendall, said.

"Home Depot arrange drills in their US store to appeal to women's decision making, not men."  

Surprisingly, few companies understand how to market specifically to women. Humble, honest, contextually relevant communication, and unpaid advocacy from someone active within the target female network, is what is needed, she said.

Companies also forget that 76 per cent of decisions by both women and men are made by our irrational brains. "Give me a 'wow, I wasn't expecting that' moment, and I'll tell everyone," she said. "That's what the Virgin brand was built on. They satisfied the 1 to 5 per cent who weren't happy with British Airways.  

"It's all common sense, but people don't articulate it. They fall back on these old fashioned methods of communication."

Those methods are generally stereotypical and focused on demographics: where you live and what you earn. "In the days of social media, that doesn't say anything. It's a flawed system."

Rather, communication within the female market is driven by trusted "advocates" in networks such as the 1.4 million strong organisation, The Female Social Network.

"It's a whole different marketing platform that women rely on, which is each other. Un-incentivised advocacy is what marketing has become, but businesses don't know how to activate that."

Bendalls Group uses psychometric testing to identify the 6 per cent of the population who are suitable advocates. "Advocates generally speaking are a bit pidgeon chested, they like the road less travelled, they are information hungry, they will be in to social causes," she said.

Critically, they gain trust within the network not because of having a large social media following, but because they participate in conversations and events online as well as offline:  "67 per cent of influence comes from offline and I'm saying that as someone who's worked in digital her whole career."  

Westpac chief marketing officer Martine Jager said even companies who think they are marketing to women, often miss the mark. "Women have a different language, there is a different way of talking to them.

Female empowerment advertising campaigns such as Proctor & Gamble's 'Like a Girl' campaign or Dove's 'Speak Beautiful' marketing are pushing the way beyond advertising to examine the whole business through the female lens, she said.

"The banking sector has also traditionally been very male dominated which has meant we haven't always embodied a female perspective, whether this be through strategy or marketing creative," Ms Jager said.

Increasing female leadership within the business itself, and focusing on women and their perspectives within the teams running the marketing campaigns does increase opportunity for women to influence the strategic direction of the business, and the products and services provided.

"Avoiding tokenism comes back to creating a highly engaged and passionate team, led by leaders who really believe in their cause," Ms Jager said.