Marketing to Women (and Men) in the Conceptual Age
We live in a time of commoditization, where logic/linear thinking doesn’t necessarily help us differentiate or guide our decisions like it used to. This is no surprise.
In his already-classic book, A Whole New Mind (Riverhead Books, 2005), Daniel Pink addresses this as he writes of a new conceptual age. To simplify his words to the extreme — he points out that in the previous “information age,” logic (and B School) were emphasized. Today, a more holistic way of thinking/processing information (and perhaps an MFA) should be encouraged (in fact, right-brainers will “rule the future” — as Pink’s subtitle puts it).
Especially as consumers, we are looking for more of that which is above, beyond and around those straight, linear facts to help us make purchase decisions. We still need the logic, certainly, but with so many choices we are now freed up to prioritize the non-rational, more emotional side of things. For instance, since all cars in a given price range have the same basic features, there need to be a few more emotional, “other” reasons that sway a buyer in the direction of one brand over another. That might be a storyline in an ad campaign, the way the salesperson treats the buyer or what friends have previously said about the car, for example.
From my “learned on women” perspective, the conceptual age may be another, less gender-ized way, to package the idea of marketing to women, and I’m all for it. As experts in my realm have long been encouraging: to be successful in business you need to be able to think more like a woman. Women make or influence the majority (80 percent or more) of consumer purchases in the U.S., so businesses and marketers have to take a more typically female, holistic approach — including storytelling, design and empathy (among other conceptual age “senses” that Pink highlights). That approach, whether you call it marketing to women or conceptual age marketing, will be the best way to reach the bulk of consumers who all now have much higher standards and expectations.
To be clear: everyone, whether in a business role or as a consumer, has female and male brain traits they can tap. (Take this fascinating “brain sex ID” evaluation to see where you lie on the female to male brain trait continuum.) The marketplace we all want to reach is full of both women, who may use their female traits more naturally, and men, who are now much more likely to be embracing their “conceptual-age awareness” (which happens to be a lot like using their female brain traits). Especially as we face the truth that products and services must compete more often on what is beyond the facts/features, men and women alike are going to expect more meaning from the goods they buy.
The more we all use our holistic brain traits (call them what you will), as business people and consumers, the more exciting and productive this conceptual age can be.
