10 Tips for Marketing to Women

7) Leverage your fans

Still not sure if you're making the right impression?

Invite your 10 best clients to send in feedback, advises Thomas P. Marshall, a certified Guerilla Marketing Coach and founder of G Marketing Inc. (gmofva.com) "Get them in a casual environment and they'll tell you what they are thinking. I encourage all my clients to do that."

Before fashion designer Anya Ponorovskaya creates a new collection, she makes samples and has customers at her Manhattan store try them on and tell her what they think of the new design.

"Listen to your customers," she says. "You can have a great idea, but your customer can help you tweak something that's selling well and turn it into something that will blow out of the store. It took my lowering the hem of one dress by one inch to have it move that much faster."

8) Don't be afraid to use technology

Women are more tech savvy than you give them credit for. In fact, all the experts I talked to say women do more research on a product or a service before purchasing it than men do.

For one Sales Benchmark client, that led him to hire a largely female work force after he brought his sales force in-house in an effort to cut costs.

"Today, a sales person doesn't need to travel since most of the sales are done virtually," explains Alexander, who is also co-author of Topgrading for Sales: World-class Methods to Interview, Hire and Coach Top Sales Representatives (Portfolio Hardcover). "That made it more attractive to women. Before, 90% of his outside force was men. Now that it's inside, it's 90% women. Women invested in technology skills to make themselves more attractive. As a result, he cut selling costs in half but it had no impact on sales."

9) Provide rich content

Because women do so much research online, make sure your Web site offers information that is useful and informative. But don't simply throw up raw data like spec information. Post testimonials and reviews, advises Marshall. Offer online customer service that is quick and responsive.

10) Find like-minded partners

To further increase awareness about the new business school, Mills College affiliated itself with programs and organizations that shared similar aims and values in increasing the number of women in business. Mills has worked closely with the Financial Women's Association and the Forte Foundation to host events like the Linda Pitts Custard Conference. It also sponsored the San Francisco Business Times' "Top Women in Business" issue.

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