The Snake Knew His Target Audience

Out to create a little trouble? Out to sell a product? Want to distribute product information? Decided that sampling is the better way to gain trial and purchase?

Yes, I bet that was what the snake was thinking in the Garden of Eve when he saw Eve coming his way. He got his target market right. He got the first sale. And Mankind lost the Garden of Eden and it has been the world of commerce ever since.

So why is taking marketers so long to wake up and the smell the primroses?

According to Martha Barletta, author of Marketing To Women, women control or influence 80% of all purchases of both consumer and business goods and services. They have joint or sole ownership of 87% of homes and buy 61% of major home-improvement products. They account for 66% of all home computer purchases and 80% of all health care services. They carry 76 million credit cards, and they start 70% of all new businesses.

Now I hate to be a snake in the grass, but I don't think I would waste a lot of my time talking to men if I was trying to figure out how to move major product purchases.

Particularly in healthcare. Not only do women consume a significant amount of health-related goods and services, they are also the gatekeeping purchasers for their male "wards" and for the seniors above them and the children below them.

When I was recently looking at the 50+ market, it hit me like a pan in the face. Forget about men. For anything, spend a lot of time with women, understand their frustrations, their hopes, their needs, their dreams. Isn't that how good relationships grow?

Tailor your products to those desires. And get them talking about it.

If you don't understand the woman consumer first, nothing else matters. It's not sociological. It's not anthropological. It's biblical.