Marketing to Women, “It’s More Than Making It Pink”:

Most promotional marketing campaigns involving branded promotional products tend to be either gender-neutral or lean more towards the male segment of the population. Of course, this greatly varies based on who is doing the promoting, and the targeted audience being marketed to, but the overall trend points in this direction. This is because most marketing programs tend to “play it safe”, and in doing so, lose out on the tremendous potential of also appealing strongly to the female demographic.

To give an idea of the importance of the female gender with regards to marketing, we refer to a recent article published in BusinessWeek. It cites a study that found women make more than 80% of all buying decisions in all homes nationally. Add that to the fact that in the U.S. women’s purchasing power has consistently grown over the last few decades, and you have a very compelling case to directing much of your marketing efforts towards the female demographic.

It’s more than making it pink:

Women, like men, have a diverse array of wants, needs, and tastes. To properly appeal to their individual desires, you need to correctly analyze the proper market segment or segments you are aiming for. Simply said, offering gender-neutral products in a variety of “feminine” colors isn’t generally considered an effective tactic to appeal to women. There are a lot of variables to take into consideration when strategizing how to appeal to this audience. The example below will illustrate some things you should consider when designing a promotional program directed towards women.

Fit, size, color, design, placement.

Our organization designs and sells music festival specific merchandise at several large music festivals throughout the year. We cater to various demographics based on the type of music (ie: country, hard rock, classic rock) and the region of the country the festival takes place in. However, the driving force for our success in this realm is that we make a concerted effort to design garments (both gender-neutral men’s sized t-shirts and a broad mix of ladies tees and tanks that appeal to everyone from kids to grandmas) that cater to women, who make up, on average, 60% of the festival population.

When we design products for festivals, we take into account a variety of factors, especially for women’s apparel. Fit, for example, is one of the most important. Women are generally much more conscious of garment fit than men, and this becomes a major decision in deciding which garments they purchase. We make it a point to accommodate a wide array of different body shapes and sizes with garments that will provide a flattering cut when worn.

Color is also very important to consider. Just keep in mind that, while it is important to keep color selection in the forefront of your mind when designing female-targeted and gender-neutral promotional items, this should not be your primary tool in appealing to women. Color should be carefully coordinated with the design to achieve a pleasing overall effect that will translate well to multiple sizes. One also must pay special attention to ensure they do not alienate potential buyers by choosing colors that are too obscure.

Women look at garments as a whole, while men tend look directly at the imprint. For this reason, you need to make extra sure that the design as well as its placement balance well on the garment. You also have to ensure that the artwork does not look clumsy when placed on a larger or smaller garment size or when it is placed on another color garment. Each garment design has to work well in all its translations.

The above example is only a very small peek into some of the considerations when designing gender-specific items targeted at women, but can serve as some good general guidelines for promotional items (specifically clothing). Powertex has access to thousands of promotional items, both apparel items and hard goods, suitable for promoting your brand to women, and we can help you with practical advice on how to cost-effectively implement your next female-oriented marketing program. To learn more on how you can more effectively market to women , contact Powertex today at: Phone (800) 588-7111 Email: customerservice@powertexgroup.com.


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