• June – It’s a Milestone Month

• TrendSight in the News

• Fun Facts

• Eye On: Minute Clinic

• About TrendSight

Chances are you’ve been invited to celebrate a graduation, wedding or shower this month. These celebrations and other life transitions, including moving, starting a business or becoming a parent, generate a flood of activities and errands that impact women more than men. Why? Because the woman is the one who plans and manages the event and, as the household’s Chief Purchasing Officer (CPO) she’s also deciding how and where to procure the goods and services to ensure the convenience and comfort of everyone involved. No matter what her role –hostess, helper or gift bearing guest- milestone marketing is a sure way to connect with women.

Life is filled with these events and there are lots of opportunities for marketers to tap into them. First, identify the milestone events that tie in with your business. Some, like weddings, birthdays and graduations, are naturals for retailers, caterers, florists and the like. Others are waiting in the wings for you to coax them into action.

For example, brides are thinking about much more than cake, dresses and honeymoons. According to a 2001 study by Roper Starch and Modern Bride magazine, “engaged women 20-29 years old display the buying habits of affluent forty-somethings.” Relative to single women in the same age range, they are much more likely to open a new bank account, buy furniture and consumer electronics and purchase property insurance. Yet if you look in bridal media, all you see are ads for the traditional categories. That gap represents a tremendous opening for the first marketers in the banking, furniture, consumer electronics and insurance industries to recognize this high-purchase prospect opportunity and pounce on it. Similarly, we know that new babies need clothes and toys, but it turns out that in addition to a good night’s sleep, their parents also need new cars. A whopping 40% of all parents buy new cars after the birth of a child (Madison Direct Marketing, April 2003 Survey).

Be sure to tie your message to the milestone and take advantage of special interest and event-specific media opportunities that target women who are making a transition or participating in a celebration. Anytime or anyplace a woman is gathering information is a great chance to offer her information about your product or service.

And remember, as you are handing out brochures at the next bridal or baby expo, anything you do to make things easier and more fun for your female customer will benefit you as well. She’ll associate your brand with her happy memories and become a loyal customer who is sure to share her positive thoughts with friends and family.

Our eyes are on the women's market.
Are yours?

• More women than men wish on falling stars (60% vs. 24%), according to a recent survey. Those of you in the falling star industry might benefit from a new marketing to women strategy.

• More women than men eat when they are under stress (36% vs. 19%) (International Communications Research)

• 61% of people employed outside the home check their personal e-mail from work. Women are twice as likely as men to feel guilty about doing it (27% vs. 13%), but that still doesn't stop them.

< Minnesota based MinuteClinic^TM isn’t just marketing to women, they're changing the whole medical service model to accomodate women's busy lives. Acknowledging that women are time-starved, they’ve created a whole new concept -- “mini-medical” offices, located in retail stores and office complexes that are open seven days a week, and even offering evening hours! It’s the perfect answer for professionals and working parents who cannot afford extended time away from the office.

In addition to offering care for non-emergency ailments including strep throat, ear and sinus infections, the clinics also offer back-to school vaccinations, flu shots and screenings for thyroid, glucose, etc. What’s more, the locations are “on the way” and, what’s good news for consumers is also good news for the stores that host them. MinuteClinic^TM is adding sales to their bottom lines; to date, 55% of customers buy general merchandise; 40% buy OTC drugs; and, 95% fill their prescriptions while visiting MinuteClinics^TM that are located in retail stores.

They are tapping into one of the most powerful means of reaching women – word of mouth -- - 50% of new customers come from satisfied referrals. To quote the CEO, Linda Hall Whitman: “This really is viral (pardon the pun!) marketing at its best.” The fast, friendly, inexpensive, and high quality service certainly speaks for itself. But MinuteClinic^TM has also employed a wonderful “surprise & delight” tactic -- each customer gets a hand-written Get Well card within a week after the MinuteClinic^TM visit.

And, their creative executions recognize that even milestone minutes can be marred by the unexpected ear infection. In the image above, looks like the young bride is experiencing some heart palpitations - literally!

Finally, I just have to mention their slogan because it’s fun: “You’re Sick, We’re Quick^TM.” We’re hoping there’s a MinuteClinic^TM in our neighborhood soon

Imagine my surprise and delight when I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on the first day of the Marketing to Women Conference. In an article on women's professional golf, I was asked about the difficulty senior women golf tour was having attracting media exposure, viewership and sponsors.

“Changing that mentality is easier said than done,” says Marti Barletta, owner of a Chicago-based consulting firm, and author of "Marketing to Women." She says a lot of unsuccessful efforts have been made in the past decade to convince the male-dominated golf world that 40-plus women are a lucrative target. "The golf industry is oblivious to women golfers as a property in general," Ms. Barletta says.

“As for attracting sponsors, Ms. Barletta says that stereotypes about older women being frugal, unadventurous consumers get in the way. "We're not talking about youth and beauty, or who can have babies; we're talking about who can buy cars -- and that's the mature market," Ms. Barletta says, "Marketers are very far from understanding that."

Click here to read the full article.

While I like seeing my name in print, I especially like it when I'm quoted on issues that matter to me.

BusinessWeek Online was also kind enough to seek me out in an article about a new women's magazine, Pink. In discussing the growing percentage of women holding corporate executive positions today, I offered this:

“Indeed, among married couples in America, some 30% of the wives are bringing home more money than their male counterparts,” according to Marti Barletta, author of Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach, and Increase Your Share of the Largest Market Segment.

I was happy to contribute, once again, to an important discussion. Click here to read the full article.

And the word is spreading down under as well. I was able to provide some information for an article in Australian Marketing Magazine written by Tami Dower, with whom I chatted about matters near and dear to my heart.

“Women are the chief purchasing officer in virtually every category – big ticket purchases as well as routine, every day items. So the bottom line is, regardless of who earns the money, generally the woman of the house spends not only her own pay cheque (sic), but most of her husband's as well.”

PrimeTime Women^TM, one of my favorite topics, are in the press, too, and I was able to contribute to that chat in a big way in a St. Louis Post article on the subject.

“Their children are gone, they're still working and, in some cases, they're receiving inheritances from parents. All those income streams give baby boomers a pool of discretionary income larger than any generation before, said Marti Barletta, author of "Marketing to Women" and chief executive of TrendSight Group, a marketing firm in suburban Chicago.

“And because they feel younger and fitter than their mothers did at the same age, they want to spend some of that extra cash to dress better,” Barletta said. She calls them PrimeTime Women^TM.

"Baby boomer women are the No. 1, big-money opportunity for any industry but particularly for the apparel industry because so little is being done to create the kind of clothes they're looking for," Barletta said. "The concentration of spending power among PrimeTime Women^TM is the most powerful in the mass market."

Click here to read the full article.

I know you know this, and I'm not including my quotes so much for your knowledge benefit, but rather to illustrate how and where the word we already know is getting out there.