If you as a founder don’t think that appealing to women should be a part of your marketing strategy, you are wrong, and will lose. If you’re needing some tips to jumpstart your strategy and attract female consumers, take this advice from these female startups founders.
The Emotional Sell
Purchasing products from a brand you trust can be more of an emotional buy, and trust is one of the key factors to attracting the female shopper. If they know a product is good enough for their family and children, they will share that information with friends. Natalie Kaminski, CEO and cofounder of goBaby.co, an on-demand rental marketplace for baby gear that helps reduce stress of traveling with little kids, is hyper-focused on gaining the trust of mothers. Safety is also an important aspect to convey in your messaging when you’re trying to gain the trust of women. Building trust also means establishing yourself as an expert in the marketplace. Maxeme Tuchman, CEO and cofounder of Caribu.co, an app that allows you to video call and have story time with your children together from anywhere in the world, targeted her company’s efforts on gaining referrals from women customers.
Tasteful Humor
If you’ve ever chuckled after watching an ad from larger brands such as, Dollar Shave Club, Geico or Doritos, the intentional use of humor is used to attract people to their product and absorb information about products or services in a short amount of time. Most importantly, humor can get customers talking about your product or service. Julia Rose, CEO and cofounder of Vagine.co, a Kegel trainer and mobile app that helps women strengthen their pelvic floor, uses tasteful humor to open an uncomfortable topic about incontinence and sexual dysfunction which can be embarrassing to discuss. For example, the company’s hashtag is #freetheV.
Spending Power
Whether it’s a male-focused product or not, the woman is going to have an opinion and most likely be the one purchasing the service or item. Recent statistics show that women “purchase over 50 percent of traditional male products, including automobiles, home improvement products, and consumer electronics,” according to GirlPowerMarketing.
Connect With Your Customers
Connecting with your customer via social media, forums or advertising is the norm these days, but there’s nothing as strong as building a community around your brand. Rose has purposefully targeted her customers by holding local events focused on women’s health.
Gain a Stronger Perspective
Just because you’re a woman, doesn’t mean you know everything about attracting female customers. A company can have the best marketing message, tactile strategy, and more, for their product, but it’s important to gain a deeper understanding of the target market. All founders agreed that by adding female mentors or board members to the mix helped them gain a stronger perspective of their potential customers to attract more business. Mentors can be instrumental in building the best quality product and messaging as a company grows and help you power through the ebb and flow of the startup journey.
Final Thoughts
Our founders offered some additional advice to companies on how to attract female customers.
Women are great at smelling BS, so be as true to your mission as possible. – RoseEngaging people throughout the development of your product is key to building a successful company. – KaminskiIt is important to make the education and purchase experience as easy as possible. – RoseThere’s so much noise telling women it’s hard to be a female in tech. Focus on all the people and organizations that see it as a benefit. Grow your business, and don’t sweat the haters and naysayers. – Tuchman
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