4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Winning the gender marketing war., 2005-04-14
This book could change the way you think about marketing.For some reason when i think marketing i think men, not any more. This book has some valuable insights into who spends the cash and what on, and most importantly how to get your hands on some of that money.
5 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Unprofessional Mudslinging, 2005-03-31
The book was somewhat useful, but her unprofessional pinching, whenever she could fit it in, littering her otherwise helpful work with jabs against males, left me nauseated after every reading.
Following are just a few examples:
page 23 "You realize what this means--rather than women being "Adam's rib," men are actually the derivative model!"
page 26 "Men have no such luck (or no such constraint, depending on how you look at it)..."
page 63 "Married women have a chronic condition (if you'll excuse the analogy)"
page 122 "[Women] don't buy into the competitive "game" that prevails when men are expressing divergent opinions, and because women are less likely to interrupt, hold the floor, or insist on their opinions, they simply won't volunteer as much information."
page 135 "Although I'm sure it's not true in every category, I think it's safe to say that in most categories, women are more pragmatic than men. With less interest in the one-upsmanship of novelty, less interest in the inner workings of tech-mech products, and more time pressures than men, women just want products to work easily and reliably."
page 185 "After the meeting, she said to him, 'I was interested to note that you're meeting and greeting--just not with any of the women.' His response? 'Oh, were there women there?' She laughed and said, 'Sure there were. There were 15 or 20 of them.' Apparently, something in his internal software was registering the women in the room as 'background noise.'"
page 199 "Women are marksmen, not cowboys." (women are markspeople, if anything; not marksmen; but how is that a comparison anyway? marksmen and cowboys, marksmen and cowboys.)
page 193 "A guy will talk about how good he is as a way of proving he can do a great job: 'Half of my clients are worth over a million dollars,' he'll say. Or, 'I doubled his return in six months.' They talk about achievements, drop names, and let you know where they stand in the company hierarchy. I call these 'credibility displays,' because they remind me a little of a peacock who's very proud of his tail feathers. Don't get me wrong--this is the right thing to do in male gender culture." (please tell me I'm the only man who finds this patronizing)
Do read the book though, if you can stomach all the carp. It will prove enlightening every few dozen pages.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
How to Succeed in the World's Largest Market Segment, 2004-06-22
In this uniquely informative volume, Barletta answers three separate but related questions: What makes women a worthwhile market? Why market differently to women? and How do we get beyond gender generalities to actionable tactics? In her Introduction, she lists "Eight Myths of Marketing to Women" which, during the course of her book's narrative, she convincingly repudiates. For example, #5: With women, marketing is all about relationships. "While it's true that women put more emphasis on relationships -- personal and corporate -- than men do, their purchase decisions and response to communications are affected by far more than `relationships.' From word meaning to word-of-mouth referrals, product priorities to Internet usage patterns, women differ from men in many, many marketing dimensions. And, to overlook their complexities would be to undermine the effectiveness of your company's programs." According to Barletta, there are four components of the women's market: earning power ("What's in her wallet?"), high-net worth women ("the ultimate asset-holders"), consumer spending power (the "household chief purchasing officer"), and women in business ("controlling the company checkbook"). A majority of consumers in the U.S. are women. Research indicates that online spending will increase 26% this year to $96 billion. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the economy and women influence 95% and make 85% of all consumer buying decisions; moreover, the majority of corporate purchasing agents and managers are women. Female entrepreneurs account for 70% of new business start-ups. If you are still unconvinced of the upside potential of marketing to women, consider these facts:
* Between 1970 and 1990, the number of women living alone doubled from 7.3 million to 15.3 million and this pattern has continued.
* At least 55% of those online each day are women.
* By the year 2010, women will control 60% of wealth in the U.S.
* College students were responsible for $210 billion in sales in 2002 and 58% of them were female.
* Women purchase more than 50% of the cars and own more than 46% of the homes in the U.S.
* More than half of all business travelers are women.
In Part II of her book, Barletta introduces and then explains what she calls the GenderTrends™Marketing Model, a systematic and simple tool to help her readers understand, reach, and increase their share of the world's largest market -- women. The model is designed to achieve three objectives:
1. "Structure the complexities of the gender differences into an organized view of female [in italics] gender culture."
2. "Show you how gender culture interacts with each of the 12 [in italics] marketing elements [end italics] in the marketing mix."
3. "Apply the resulting insights to the four stages of the consumer's [in italics] purchase path." FYI, the four are activation through market entry, nomination of purchase options to consider, investigation and decision with regard to nominees, and finally, succession (i.e. repeat business and, hopefully, evangelistic loyalty).
Few books fully deliver on the promises stated or implied in their subtitle. Barletta's book is the commendable exception. She offers a wealth of information and an abundance of wisdom which will help decision-makers in literally any organization (regardless of size or nature) to understand, reach, and increase their share of "the world's largest market segment." This book provides just about everything you need to do precisely that. What are you waiting for?
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Insightful!, 2004-06-16
As a consumer group, women represent an enormous opportunity, but chances are your company is missing out on them. Author Martha Barletta says most marketers fail to capitalize on this lucrative market. They don't realize its potential or understand fundamental gender differences. As a result, their marketing fails to communicate with women, let alone persuade them. Barletta, a consultant specializing in marketing to women consumers, offers a book heavy on theory and long on detail. Except for a few examples of how ads are executed, the book lacks case studies that would bring these theories to life. Still, Barletta provides good advice on practical applications of these ideas about gender culture. She sheds light on the myths and realities of marketing to women, and provides essays by female experts in the field. What a pity that it all reads like a textbook. Given that, we target this rather educational tome as more appropriate for people who study marketing than for people who do marketing, although thoughtful marketers might still want to take a look
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Good information but it could be more professional., 2004-04-17
First off, I'm a guy. I found this book had a lot of information that I never knew before. I asked a few women I knew and was suprised that their responses were identical to the information in the book. For example what they liked to see in advertisements and what they said their aspirations were, were identical to what was said in the book. Some of it made no sense to me but it made perfect sense to the women I asked.
I have to say I'm disappointed with the minor male bashing in the book. Some of her male point of views are a bit extreme, for example: "Men, on the other hand, are more likely to hold the view that people are important, but no more important or interesting than current events or new ideas in computer animation, or something more material like cars or cameras." I value my relationships and found this a bit extreme. Do all women think this?
I took off one star for her point of view on men, but other than that this is a good book. If you are marketing to women, this book will give you insight on the subject.