Technology Brands Reach Out to Women
Tech brands are beginning to realize what I have known all along. Women like to talk about brands and often. Women at NBCU, NBC Universal’s female-targeted ad sales, marketing and research initiative, introduced the Brand Power Index, a measure of the brands that are most important to women. Of the seven product categories represented in the top 25, tech companies made up 28%.
I always knew that women loved to tell others what to buy, but now there is a study to back that up. The results of the Word of Mouth study conducted by Women at NBCU and Keller Faye showed that women also talk about brands about 92 times each week. You might be thinking that talking doesn't equal sales, but 62% of women felt what they heard from others was credible and believable and 51% would purchase something based on a conversation.
So, why is it that tech companies have traditionally marketed their products to men? These statistics clearly show that women have a lot of influence in the decision of consumer electronics in the home.
• Women influenced $90 billion-worth of consumer electronic purchases in 2007 (Consumer Electronics Association, 2007)
• 66% of PCs are purchased by women (compiled by Marketing to Women Conference, 2009)
• 51% are Moms (Mindshare: Ogilvy & Mather)
There are some tech companies that do get it. AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) is focusing some of its marketing efforts towards women. As an AMD Mom, I recently attended the AMD Mom Summit in Austin, TX (disclosures: trip paid for by AMD). AMD is not only interested in marketing to women, but also wants to hear from women about their experiences with buying computers and improve on it. It's about time the process of buying a new computer is simplified.
I attended BlogHer, the world’s largest conference for women in social media, the last 2 years. In 2009, there were maybe a handful of tech companies. This year, I met with AOL, Yahoo!, Ubisoft, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Firefox, BitDefender, Audiovox, Altec Lansing, Comcast, Fujifilm, JVC, LG and a few more sponsored parties off-site.
It is clear that technology brands are reaching out to women because women influence a large percentage of the consumer technology products. Our opinion of a brand influences others to take action.
Is your technology brand reaching out to women? You should be!
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