If a marketer has determined that their specific target segment is
composed of women, there are specific strategies and alterations they can make
to make their campaigns more effective. One
specific area is in language. Women and
men communicate differently and use different language to express the same
thing. One specific book on this topic
is ‘You just don’t understand’
Just as a marketing attempting to target a younger, hip, faddish demographic
might attempt to use current colloquialisms and phrases, so too should general
marketers understand basic differences in advertising to men and women. Another relevant book is
An online marketer would be wise to understand the differences in
marketing to different sexes and to employ these in their marketing
strategies.
One related area to this is stereotyping of women in online advertising. One website makes reference to various tests
that marketers can subject their campaigns to in order to determine whether
their adds are stereotypical or not. For
example, In order to pass “the Buchanan test”,
a commercial must present women who are outside of the home, in a role
other than mother, and who are not doing yoga.
It seems that these three images are so prevalent in our society today
that they are closely ingrained in our marketing of products.
A more important question to digital marketers is whether stereotyping
has any effect on the effectiveness of a campaign, and whether a targeted
female demographic reacts differently to stereotyped marketing or
non-stereotyped marketing.
Where do we draw the line between segmentation and stereotyping. "Stereotyping is the general assumption that, based on your experiences and interactions with one person or a small group, all others sharing similar traits are virtually identical in thoughts, values and behaviors." Stereotyping typically carries a negative connotation, as it's important to give individuals the opportunity to show their personal qualities and unique identities when building relationships. The main problem with stereotyping is that it may cause you to judge someone unfairly, based on previous experiences with others. "Market segmentation involves breaking up a larger target market into smaller, more homogeneous groups." Because it is for marketing purposes, there is not as many negative connotations. Market segments allow for targeted messages that are more relevant and more likely to reach an audience that will respond positively to your content. It can be a fine line, but most marketers are doing it the right way...
ReplyDelete