To Market to Women, Focus on Connections

Women spend four out of every five consumer dollars, so for travel agents understanding how to market to women is essential.

One effective tactic is to emphasize the connections that travel can lead to or strengthen. “Rather than emphasize the fun and activities, emphasize family bonding and couples bonding,” advised Marti Barletta, an expert on the buying power of women.

“Ads that are effective with women show how travel binds people together,” said Barletta, who is founder, president and CEO of the TrendSight Group. “They show that empty nesters can reconnect like newlyweds or some other meaningful change.”

Powerful messaging
It’s a tactic that travel suppliers uses in their multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns. The cruise industry in particular, is expert at creating messages about subtle transformations that travel can bring.

“There’s no reason why agents can’t use those same strategies in their own outreach and marketing to women,” said Barletta, who has authored two books on the subject of women buyers.

One of her books, Prime Time Women, focuses on the formidable clout of baby boomer women in their 50s and 60s. The third edition of her other work, Marketing to Women, is due out in mid-2014.

Digital revolution
In the six years since the last edition of Marketing to Women was published, the landscape has changed considerably, said Barletta.

“The good news is that companies are paying more attention to women than ever before, but they’re doing it in different ways. One of the biggest changes is that the digital world is everywhere now,” said Barletta.

Smartphones, tablets and mobile devices are an integral part of life for most consumers. But, men and women utilize digital information differently.

“Statistics show that women are online more than men, and they do more online shopping than men. When you consider that women are responsible for four out of five consumer dollars spent, a digital strategy is crucial,” said Barletta.

Creating the shortlist
Another factor to keep in mind when marketing to women is what Barletta calls the decision shortlist.

“When you ask a consumer who makes the decisions in the family, they will usually say it’s a joint process. But women are the ones that do the initial research and bring the finalists to the table. They create the shortlist,” said Barletta.

For travel agents, it’s crucial to present prospective female clients with information they can use during their initial research.   

“What travel agents need to recognize is that the shortlist is a very important part of the process. Unless you can give them information that makes it to their shortlist of three possible travel options, you’re not in the game,” said Barletta.

Trusting opinions
It’s a given that women today will do research before making a purchase, said Barletta. And that goes for buying a car, computer or organic baby food.

Women also tend to trust the opinion of others much more than men do.

“Men think their opinion is right. Women think, ’I’m a smart person but I’ve never done that or been there before so I need to seek out the right opinions,’” said Barletta.

That willingness to trust the opinion of others is good news for agents. But agents need to earn the trust of women clients by demonstrating their expertise and making a connection with them.

“Women will show loyalty to a professional who has helped them and who nurtures the relationship. That means maintaining that connection, even after they’ve returned from a trip. Call them, drop them a postcard, stay in touch. These are extremely important things for travel agents to do,” said Barletta.