The facts are amazing: Even though women still earn less money than their male counterparts (78 cents for every dollar a man gets), women make more than 80 percent of the buying decisions in all homes. No wonder advertisers strive to capture the attention of females—especially in the indoor tanning industry, where a large demographic of tanners are women. But what complicates matters for marketers is how women shop. Unlike men, women research items more extensively and are less likely to be influenced by ads. This means marketers must fine-tune their advertising messages and be seen in marketing venues that women deem credible in order to earn their business.
Today, companies are paying more attention to the style and form of their products in an effort to appeal to women, and marketers are shifting away from only running television ads in favor of promotional efforts in other venues women trust (such as reviews in women's magazines and spots on TV shows like Oprah and ExtremeMakeover: Home Edition). But for those who don’t have the budget to buy big-time commercial spots such as those, you need to be creative about advertising to women.
The following is from an article in Advertising Age magazine, in which columnist Mike Vorhaus asked women of all ages to identify their favorite leisure activity from a list of activities. What he found impacts all advertisers who have a product that targets women—or who simply want to get a piece of the buying power that women possess.
Trends: General
According to Vorhaus's research, women ranked watching television as their No. 1 leisure activity (23 percent), followed by using the Internet (16 percent) and playing free Internet-based games (10 percent). Reading magazines (one of the top advertising mediums used by many marketers targeting females) only ranked in at 4 percent. So if you're an advertiser trying to reach women, you need to consider supplementing your television, radio, and print ads with new advertising vehicles, such as online advertising and product placements opportunities, and perhaps even a banner ad on a free gaming Web site.
Women not only tend to watch more television than men, they also watch more daytime TV, which can be very cost-efficient for advertisers. During this time period, ad rates are lower in comparison to evening “primetime” spots. Additionally, some networks offer "female cluster" advertising packages, meaning your ad runs on multiple networks that are geared toward women, such as Oxygen, WE, Style, etc. This is a very targeted and cost-efficient media vehicle for reaching females and one you need to consider employing in your TV media buys.
Trends: Teens
Teenage girls learn the power they have when it comes to spending money from their mothers, which is why many marketers want to reach this prime market and hopes to develop lifelong customers. For teen girls, using the Internet and talking on a home or cell phone tie for the No. 1 leisure activity (19 percent). Rounding out the top three are listening to music (17 percent) and watching TV (11 percent). For this group, reading magazines and newspapers only came in at 1 percent, and playing free Web-based games or console video games (something teen boys rank extremely high) came in at 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
