How Men Learn About Marketing to Women
Brands are facing a gender-fraught crossroads and it may well be a little uncomfortable there. Should they focus in on women and forget about men, or vice versa? Are men really starting to shop more like women? What the heck does that mean?
Well… it IS complicated, but as is so often the case, raising bad examples - with as little judgment as possible (there is no "bad guy" in this picture) - are a wonderful way to present opportunities for improving customer experience across the board.
Here’s what I see at this crossroads: a lot of men - marketers, retail sales associates or male-oriented industries altogether - really should be getting better at selling to women, but seem to still be having trouble. At the same time certain segments of the men’s market may be buying a bit more like women in certain consumer good categories, and they may not be getting the service or attention they’d prefer either.
Like I said - kind of a weird time for gender in marketing.
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A recent Consumerist post included a letter from a woman had written to Apple regarding a recent, not good, experience she’d had in one of their stores. Here’s just a tidbit from it ("Bill" is the name of the Apple store "genius" she spoke with):
Well, first of all, Bill DID NOT LOOK AT ME. He did not greet me. He
greeted my husband, introduced himself, and shook his hand… and
completely ignored me. He didn’t ask my name, what we were there to
buy, or who the new computer was for. He did not make eye contact. He
simply behaved as though I were not there, and steered my husband
through the crowded store — ignoring me and leaving me behind.
For all the guys reading this (and it is worth reading that whole letter on the Consumerist blog for the full effect), how would you feel if your wife or, say, newly career-aged daughter was in the letter-writer’s shoes? Peeved, I’m sure. Does this motivate you to learn more about marketing to women for your own brand? Would this example be helpful for training the men on your team?
There are plenty more stories where that came from, and I am 99.9% sure you can’t say: "but that would NEVER happen in my store/industry/situation." This state of prolific bad examples is NOT because the men in your organization are intentional with their bad service or misunderstanding of how women buy. Rather, it simply reflects that those men probably aren’t comfortable or experienced enough with it. Pointing to cross-industry bad examples, and relating them to someone’s own mom, sister or daughter can be an incredible training tool.
Now - from the male consumer angle: recent news in Advertising Age covered a Harris Interactive study which found that men like to shop for clothes and such (there’s a clever graphic with the piece by Beth Snyder Bulik that gets into some of the key findings, so take a look). While I don’t see a lot of the local Vermont men fitting the male shopper profile described, the larger story here is that - sure enough - some number of men are out there buying apparel and skincare (at least "shower gel" as per the story), so you can tell change is afoot.
It may not necessarily be the case that all men are going to start shopping in malls like maniacs, but that perhaps urban, trend-leading men more than non-urban men are already shopping a bit "like women." Thus, training may actually be necessary for female sales associates to get more comfortable with how to address and help men buy. Role reversal strikes when you least expect it.
Let’s say a man and woman walk into a store together to buy the man some clothes, and the female salesperson assumes she needs to talk around the guy and direct questions to the gal: "does your boyfriend like this sort of pocket on his jeans?" ARGH. The man is standing right there and being ignored, based on the assumption that his "woman" dresses him or helps him pick out his purchases. Can you feel that Apple stores customer’s pain now? I thought so.
The lesson that filters up as you compare and contrast the case study with the research on male shoppers is bigger picture: In more traditional, male-oriented realms, keep on learning what you can about how to better serve women, because those lessons will also translate into how you can serve men better, as they now enter uncomfortable, traditionally female-oriented territory like clothing stores and skincare counters.
Don’t discount what you’ve already learned in your long marketing career, guys - it all adds up! It pays to do your homework and to serve the highest customer standards (which can in a lot of cases, but not all, be women), because men with much higher standards are coming soon to a mall near you. Use this cultural transition time wisely.
