As the classic urban housewife, you are exposed to a plethora of marketing ploys every single day; marketing ploys designed to get you to buy all the latest products for your children, your husband, and your happy home in general. Moreover, if you are like most women in the UK, many of those marketing ploys never make it past the first level of your consciousness. The secret to reaching you, according to Marketing magazine, is to be informative and honest.
Marketing‘s Mhairi McEwan recently wrote a piece explaining that the secret to reaching women is the fact that there really is none. Like any demographic group, it is simply a matter of getting to know women in the target audience so as to be able to reach them where they are. Moreover, for most women, regardless of age or social status, presenting a message with honesty and useful information is the key.
To illustrate this point, we will use the example of tobacco cigarettes and their electronic counterparts. It’s a great example because it’s easy to contrast the past practices of Big Tobacco as compared to those of the electronic cigarette companies of the 21st-century. What’s more, there are still plenty of housewives in the UK who continue to use tobacco.
The Reality of the Housewife
What do many of the past marketing efforts aimed at women have in common? They painted a picture of glamour and high society, lifting it up as the standard to which all women should rise. However, that is not reality. The reality of the housewife is one that involves the daily grind of household duties, sick children, bills to pay and, at the end of the day, still being there for her husband. It is tough work.
Back in the old days, tobacco companies would try to sell their products to women by making them believe the key to happiness was a cigarette, a smile and the approval of society in general. Yet the newest industry kids on the block, today’s electronic cigarette companies, have learned that is not the way to effectively engage women.
They understand that their female customers need to see the electronic cigarette and vaping as part of their real, everyday lives. That’s why most of their marketing efforts are designed to extol the virtues of vaping as an alternative to smoking. It is not about creating a false image that vaping will make you happy.
Women Love Information
The other thing companies are slowly coming to grips with is the fact that women love information – and lots of it. The average urban housewife wants to know as much about a product or service as possible before deciding which way to go. The more information, the better.
Where the electronic cigarette is concerned, smoking housewives are really interested in knowing whether vaping is better for them and their children than smoking. What they are finding difficult is trying to decide who is correct in the ongoing debate among the medical community. The e-cigarette company that effectively reaches a female audience is one that uses verifiable, clinical evidence as a means of helping those potential customers settle that question once and for all.
Marketing magazine takes the idea of presenting information one step further by suggesting marketers should not be patronising. They say that women have money to spend and can be very loyal customers if they are treated properly. We could not agree more. One thing we absolutely hate is to be patronised as though we are incapable of making wise decisions on behalf of our families and ourselves. We are obviously not.
Women everywhere are smart enough to look for more information about electronic cigarettes on their own. They are smart enough to be able to read the results of clinical studies when they are made available. They are also smart enough to know when an e-cigarette company is being patronising and pandering.
To urban housewives everywhere we say this: you are who you are; do not let marketers try to convince you otherwise. As for those marketers in question, they would do well to heed the advice proffered by Marketing magazine. Provide your female audience with honest and non-patronising information. If you can back that up with a quality product that meets or exceeds the expectations of your customers, you will ultimately prevail.