Four Ways Design Can Help You Market to Women
In an age of increased gender fluidity, blurred gender roles, and
"femvertising," it can be a minefield to market specifically to
women—especially young women. Some interesting takeaways firsthand when working
on a contraceptives project aimed at that target audience. Here are some
lessons that were learned.
Marketers
talk of Millennials—a group ranging from Malala Yousafzai to Miley Cyrus—and
how they are a tricky group to target, especially when a gender-specific
product is at the heart of the sell. After all, many young women don't want to
be targeted by gender at all.
However,
there are ways around those obstacles; they just require a more sensitive and thorough
methodology to discover exactly who your audience is and what they will respond
positively to. The best approach is to "walk in their shoes" before
offering any solutions.
Essentially,
by understanding your audience and connecting on a deep level, you'll benefit
from using a more human-centered design approach. Then, based on your findings,
you can start to capture the right attitude for the subject you're tackling,
and you can plan everything from tone of voice to the overall message.
While
working on a campaign aimed at connecting with hard-to-crack young women, four
ways were learned to engage and get a positive message across to that group.
These
four methods can be used across that demographic more generally.
1. Use design-research tools
Focus
groups can quickly uncover consumers' reactions to an ad or product you might
want to trial, but people may not be comfortable airing their emotions or
needs—particularly on sensitive issues—in that type of environment.
Thinking
beyond the traditional focus group is a positive start in tackling sensitive
issues, and it's a method that can be applied to any campaign. For example,
when working on the contraceptives campaign, women were asked to draw how they
felt about their current birth control. That alternative method of research led
to some very informative pictures, and it helped the women open up and engage
more in a fun, relaxed way.
So, too,
did asking the women to write break-up letters to their current birth control,
explaining why they were done; that naturally led to a rich pool of insights on
how they felt—and, essentially, what they would prefer.
Ultimately,
a more sensitive, nuanced approach can reveal valuable insights and point you
in the right direction to ensure your message hits home.
What's
more, unlike marketing research—which tends to present consumers with
ready-formed (and possibly biased) concepts and ideas—those tools, which are
used frequently by designers, cut out assumptions. That means they can help
marketers make more authentic observations, which lead to more valuable
insights.
A similar
design-led approach could work for personal finance brands, for example,
looking to help Millennials and/or couples work through their financial
challenges and goals to eventually decide on the best loan or savings account.
In short,
more information on your audience can only help to reach them better.
2. Don't create, co-create
The role
of co-creation should not be underestimated. To get to the core of an audience,
it's essential that you create a dialogue with them, which ultimately allows
that audience to open up enough to be honest and authentic in their dialogue
and become part of the creation. Young people particularly value transparency
and trust.
A good
example is the line, "His ninja sperm can't touch this!" which came
up in research on the contraceptives campaign. Although it wasn't used
verbatim, it did help the team understand and focus the language, imagery, and
tone of voice of the campaign to make sure it resonated with the audience.
Whether you are Urban Outfitters or Oreos,
co-creation is an increasingly vital tool for brands targeting young women (or
all young people) who, thanks to the growth of social media, want and expect a
much greater say in a brand's story. That approach generally results in
increased brand engagement and trust.
3. Consider context to increase relevance
Young
people today are savvier about marketing than any previous generation. If they
like a campaign, they'll engage; but if they don't, they won't. As a result,
you must understand the context of the audience and grasp the issues they face
in their lives—something designers always consider in their work.
For
example, we discovered that young people don't want to be merely bombarded with
stats or medicalized language. They also do not want to see fear tactics that
try to scare them into taking contraceptives. They revealed to us that those
approaches only alienate and confuse them. And that can lead to an overall
negative brand effect and association.
Ultimately,
we must understand who the audience is and the issues that concern them.
Whether
it's cultural or political, context nearly always requires brands to be brave.
Get it right, and the rewards are brand relevancy and standing out from the
crowd.
4. Use physical objects to help dispel myths
A
design-led approach is a good way to dispel myths around brands, products, or
both. For example, does leaving a tooth in a glass of Coca-Cola overnight
dissolve the tooth? (Before you Google it... no, it doesn't.)
Our
research revealed that misinformation had led to myths around contraceptive
products, such as those having to do with size, as well as culturally ingrained
fears, such as the government's supposedly tracking the devices. It really
helped our audience to physically hold products and to see for themselves.
As the
age-old adage goes, showing is better than telling. Imagine a health food
company that actually showed people the impact that sugar or fat can have on
the body. And think about laws that stipulate that graphic anti-smoking photos
must be displayed on tobacco products. They do that because showing ultimately
has a strong impact.
A
conventional view is that design and marketing are mutually exclusive. However,
an approach that blends thorough, innovative research and smart design can
result in marketing that's relevant and has an "attitude" that's bang-on.
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If you need help with your email, web site, video, or other presentation to promote your company, product, or service, please give me a call at 440-519-1500 or email me at john@x2media.us.
X2Media can help you target your content and get your message to the audience in a way that it not only seen and heard, but remembered.
Until next month. . . .remember. "you don't get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression."
Always make it a good one!!
From X2Media I would like to thank you for your time.
John E. Hornyak
X2Media, LLC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you need help with your email, web site, video, or other presentation to promote your company, product, or service, please give me a call at 440-519-1500 or email me at john@x2media.us.
X2Media can help you target your content and get your message to the audience in a way that it not only seen and heard, but remembered.
Until next month. . . .remember. "you don't get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression."
Always make it a good one!!
From X2Media I would like to thank you for your time.
John E. Hornyak
X2Media, LLC
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