Real You: Target. Define. Assess. Repeat.

Posted on | August 15, 2008 |

By Kaira Sturdivant Rouda

By the middle of this century, women will control two-thirds of the wealth in the United States. Comprising more than half of the population and controlling 85 percent of consumer purchases (even higher in some categories), women are, most likely, your customers. Just as you are savvy, creative and intuitive, so are they. If you and your brand aren’t in sync, these customers know you’re faking it.

Of course, if your business’ target audience is men, or an even mix of men and women, you’ll need to accommodate men’s needs and wants. Studies show though, that if you satisfy a male consumer, you may not even come close to satisfying the female consumer. Satisfy the woman’s expectations, and the male customers will be happy, too. When I speak to our company’s agents and broker/owners, I refer to our customers as she or her and by now, they’re used to it. I do it purposely, and to make a point. Single women comprise 22 percent of the homebuying market (according to the National Association of Realtors®), a number that continues to rise. In fact, after married couples, single women are the largest percentage of homebuyers. When I remind our agents at Real Living—60 percent of whom are women—they nod in acknowledgment. It’s not that we don’t welcome and support male homebuyers. Of course we do. The point is when we’re marketing, we are marketing to our best customers, the majority of our customers: women.

Here are a few instances where women make the majority of purchases. They:

• Make more than 50 percent of all auto purchases and influence 85
• Account for 66 percent of all home computer purchases
• Purchase 81 percent of riding lawn mowers
• Make 80 percent of healthcare decisions and account for 67 percent of spending
• Hold 89 percent of all bank accounts and carry 76 million credit cards (8 million more than men)

If you’re a woman, it may seem easy to think you can make sure your business speaks to women. But customizing your business’s product or service is essential today, and that means defining your exact customers within a broad target market such as women. Women, as a group, aren’t a niche or target audience. We are 52 percent of the population, and that is, after all, a majority. But we cannot be lumped together that broadly in the era of customization. Because, as you and I both know, all women are not the same. Micromarketing, customization and niche marketing are the future. So if your audience is women, you better define her a bit more clearly to reach her heart and meet her needs.

Even once you’ve defined your market, you need to constantly change and update your customer segments and profiles. Change is the fact of life today. Your customers, no matter who they are, demand constant improvement, and they want to help you create it. You should be continually assessing, evaluating, testing the waters, changing, and genuinely asking your customers to participate every step of the way. Whether you’re a solopreneur or part of a marketing team—formalized or not—you must remain nimble, flexible, visionary and innovative to keep up with customer needs and desires.

For more on target marketing, check out Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. And stay turned for next week’s Real You column.

Kaira Sturdivant Rouda is the creator of Real Living, the first women-focused real estate brand. She has more than 20 years of experience marketing to women and is the author of Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. To learn more, visit www.RealYouIncorporated.com and join the community.

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