Chapter 3: Now You Don t (See her ) - The Transparent Approach to Marketing to Women

While visible marketing certainly tells women that a specific product or service is for them (often to mixed reviews), transparently connecting with women requires a much more sophisticated method built on in-depth knowledge of your market, innovative solutions to the specific challenges of your customers and inspired choices reflecting those women's preferences. It takes more work, but transparency attracts your market, builds brand loyalty and increases sales in a way that a visible campaign can't.

Transparent marketing requires companies to go beyond making obvious and stereotype-driven changes, to truly tailoring their brands for specific markets. These programs fit women's lifestyles and reflect women's priorities in subtle and surprising ways. When you have obviously gathered information about your key women customers, and learned how and why they buy products or services like yours, women will see the relevance of your brand.

The Tale of the Tailored Suit

Have you ever chosen a business suit off the rack and felt that the fit was just somehow off? You'll recognize the experience: The label read your size , but the shoulders drooped slightly, the hips flared unattractively and the back was too full, making you look ten pounds heavier. Initially you might have thought, "I look like a cow in a suit," or just conclude that you should never shop right after lunch . But, if you were lucky (or at Nordstrom!), a sales associate quickly came to the rescue and sent in a tailor who started pinning and tucking. Within moments, the nips and tucks made you look sleeker, slimmer and more professional in that suit. The changes made the suit fit your shape like a glove, and that retailer (and that tailor) became your new best friend.

Why go into this suit story? Because, transparently reaching women is the equivalent of delivering an inspired, custom-tailored product and marketing strategy instead of a visible, off-the-rack, "for women" marketing campaign.

Believe us, women notice and invest in brands that take the time to take their measurements correctly and learn how they live and how they use the product. Custom-tailored, transparently fitted campaigns are the path to long- term brand loyalty and multiple purchases.