Women in Marketing Campaigns
If you are attempting to accelerate growth within your marketing campaigns, it is essential to target specific audiences, one of which is women. Women drive up to 80 percent of consumer purchasing decisions, making them a primary audience that a marketing team should aim to appeal towards.
Marketing campaigns often are considered a reflection of societal perceptions on gender roles. As society has evolved, companies have shifted towards more inclusivity in their messaging, a practice that has a large influence on the success of a company, due to the widening of the target audience.
Given the shift in consumer dynamics, women have grown to represent a highly-influential and powerful consumer group, making women-based marketing a source of strategic advantage in the marketplace. By creating meaningful connections with female consumers, companies can see exponential growth within their own marketing campaigns.
History of Female-Based Marketing Campaigns
Marketing campaigns have evolved in a similar way to society, shifting with the reflections on how society viewed social groups. For women, this has meant that they have been subject to stereotypes that diminish identity and reinforce negative viewpoints. As society has shifted to be more inclusive, it has become essential for companies to evolve in the same way.
While the early 19th century included lots of stereotypical representations of women working in a domestic role, such views have shifted towards viewing men and women on an even field. This includes eliminating traditional stereotypes and replacing them with more inclusive and empowering messaging.
Examples of Women-Based Marketing
Beauty brands such as Revlon and L’Oréal have revolutionized women-based marketing campaigns, starting as early as the 1950s. In 1952, Revlon released a campaign called “Fire and Ice”, which promoted a collection of lipstick and nail care items.
This was one of the first advertisements that featured a woman and also targeted women as a main audience. It also introduced the idea of self-autonomy for women, offering the idea that women will wear makeup for themselves rather than male counterparts.
L’Oréal did something similar in 1971, by creating a campaign focused on female self-confidence, titled “Because We’re Worth It”. The brand used this new message as a way to unite consumers around the brand, attempting to be one of the first inclusive companies.
This catchphrase has provided the company with universal outreach, attempting to empower women of all ages and backgrounds to believe in themselves. Since then, brands have followed this, attempting to incorporate marketing that is gender-inclusive.
While marketing techniques throughout history have often viewed women as an afterthought, recent evidence has shown that in order to succeed, they must appeal towards women. Women have become a major factor in the success of companies, meaning it has become essential to incorporate steps that engage and appeal to a female audience.
Tips for Engaging a Female Audience
1. Optimize Digital and Social Media Strategies
Social and digital media have become essential tools to a successful marketing plan, due to the widespread audience that is available. As of January 2024, social media was used more by women than men, through a wide range of social media apps.
Apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest have more female users compared to male counterparts. People often focus on social media as a source of recommendation, interaction, and inspiration. If a company optimizes digital strategies on such platforms, they can create a brand identity that everyone can identify, and potentially seek out.
The Influence of ‘Influencers’
Social and digital media offer plenty of different options for companies to utilize. Companies such as Glossier and Fenty Beauty have utilized interactive experiences and user-generated content to garner a female-based audience. In recent years, companies have also utilized the use of “influencers” who have large audiences, in order to appeal to the authenticity and reliability that people often want.
Recent studies have shown that people often are more influenced by “influencers”, rather than traditional celebrity endorsements that have been historically used. Tools such as collaborations, Instagram Stories, and other tools offered by social media apps help broaden the audience of a marketing plan.
2. Focus on Value-Based Marketing
As a company, aligning with social causes and strong values have become a unique marketing strategy, finding niche audiences that will support the brand. People, regardless of gender, tend to support brands that support social causes that align with their personal beliefs. Women specifically are 92 percent more likely to purchase from brands that support social causes and inclusivity.
Studies have also shown that consumers are much more likely to have loyalty to a brand that holds firm social values, regardless of backlash. Similar studies have also shown that a large majority of women want to support companies that empower and support women, through campaigns and marketing actions.
Modern audiences expect companies to expand outside of the marketplace, building an identity within social issues that align with company ideals. A brand’s values can be communicated through partnerships, messaging, and inclusive campaigning.
Using this evidence, it is clear that companies that express inclusivity and social issues that support women, will likely see more loyalty from women in sales. Several companies have been able to incorporate such information into their own marketing techniques.
Examples in the Marketplace
Ben and Jerry’s, a famous ice cream manufacturer in the United States, is a prime example of a brand that integrates social cause marketing into their business strategy. The management has incorporated activism into the brand identity, making products, messaging, and corporate policies that align with their social causes of choice.
While this company has faced backlash due to their strong beliefs, they have remained strong within their ideas, remaining vocal despite the risk of revenue loss. They have also partnered with outside organizations that align with their views, preventing any possibility of being viewed as a follower of performance activism.
Despite backlash for their strong stances, the company’s annual revenue totals around $750 million dollars. This approach has led Ben and Jerry’s to build strong consumer trust and brand loyalty, proof that businesses can drive profit by engaging with causes that align with their personal beliefs, along with the beliefs of their audience.
Specifically with women, Nike has done something similar, by sponsoring various US nonprofits to provide equal sporting opportunities for women and girls. They launched their “Made to Play” commitment, which is meant to power the future of youth sport, especially for girls.
These success stories are proof that companies need to appeal to women in order to see success. As the dominant audience within the economy, finding ways to engage and appeal to women is essential to find success. Given the link between firm social causes and brand loyalty, it is necessary for brands to establish their values as an addition to their identity.
3. Utilize Data-Driven Insights
Utilizing data has become a great tool for finding what is working for a company versus ideas that have not been successful. But, data can also be used to find effective strategies for engaging women in marketing campaigns.
Women drive close to 85 percent of consumer purchasing decisions, making it crucial for brands to study effective ways to appeal to them. There has been a rise in many different data-tracking sites, allowing for companies to get a deeper insight into consumer statistics.
Some sites include Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics. These platforms would allow for a company to monitor user behavior on a site, with analyzing tools that can determine demographics and performance. Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also offer similar tools within their own database.
Using these tools can help brands optimize content strategies, specifically those marketed towards female audiences. By using data analytics, companies can determine which marketing techniques perform best among female audiences, therefore driving sales from the targeted audience.
By utilizing these insights that are readily available, brands and companies can create more relevant, inclusive, and impactful marketing strategies that encourage engagement and long-term brand loyalty.
4. Highlights Gender-Inclusive Messaging
Gender-inclusive messaging in marketing has become more popular for reaching diverse and unique audiences, while fostering brand loyalty. While history has shown marketing to use outdated stereotypes, marketing has shifted to include more authentic representations.
Studies have shown that when companies focus on authenticity and adequate representation, they can drive up to a 25 percent higher brand impact. When people see advertisements that are marketing towards them, they are much more likely to be drawn towards the brand.
Examples of Gender-Inclusive Messaging Success
Unilever, one of the most successful companies in the marketplace today, took action towards including more gender-inclusive practices in their company. In 2020, they launched the “Unstereotype Alliance”, which aimed to eliminate the gender-based stereotypes in advertising.
They embraced similar ideas into their own marketing, being one of the first companies to achieve gender balance across their management levels. In 2010, 38 percent of the management was female, a number that drastically increased to 50 percent through their emphasis for more female voices in the field.
Always, a famous female-based company, launched a campaign called “#LikeAGirl” in 2014, which aimed to empower women and embrace body positivity. Given the success of these companies, many others have adopted such practices, widening their audience to be inclusive of everyone.
5. Build Community and Engagement
Building community and engagement is a key strategy for brands looking to create long-lasting connections with female consumers. Traditional marketing techniques no longer have the same appeal as they used to, meaning companies need to adapt to be more modern.
Some examples of modern techniques include social media groups, brand ambassador programs, loyalty rewards, and much more. Personalization in marketing is a unique tool to leverage consumers towards your brand.
Establishing authenticity and community within a company can be done by encouraging consumer conversation, sharing real stories, and responding to feedback from consumers. Many companies have also incorporated interactive programs such as virtual events in order to make consumers feel like participants rather than buyers.
Women are more likely to support brands that create a sense of community, as it provides a platform for shared experiences, peer recommendations, and meaningful interactions. If a company makes an effort to engage the audience and seem “down-to-earth”, people are much more likely to want to purchase from them.
When companies view consumers as an individual entity rather than revenue or profit, people are much more likely to reciprocate and purchase from the company. By prioritizing engagement and relationship-building over transactional marketing, brands can establish a loyal following and turn customers into lifelong consumers.
Why Incorporate These Tips?
Recent history has shown the influence of women in marketing, as one of the largest audiences that is readily available. It is necessary for companies to commit to gender equality, both with the messaging that they are producing and the values that they incorporate into their own management.
With the progress that is currently taking place, it will take until 2158 until the world reaches full gender equality. By focusing on female-based marketing, companies can take decisive steps in the right direction, hoping to break down the barriers that women face on a regular basis.
While there have been monumental steps in the right direction, such as the evolution away from misogynistic stereotypes towards women, there is still significant progress to be made. It is vital that all companies Accelerate Action by acknowledging and incorporating marketing strategies that positively impact the advancement of women.
Salesera has taken various steps to incorporate marketing strategies that positively impact women. As a marketing firm that works directly with businesses, Salesera has helped businesses incorporate marketing techniques into their own plans, some of which include taking active steps towards gender equality.
Contact Salesera today to find ways to support women in marketing and enhance your brand’s identity and reputation.
written by Ella Wong
