What do women want? That’s the proverbial question.
Men, and some brands, believe that women are complex in their needs and wants. They believe that they need to embark on earth shattering endeavours to connect with women.
Discovery Networks (client), the media company that brings channels such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC to TV viewers, commissioned a comprehensive study aptly labelled SHE to explore everything from relationships to family and work to uncover women’s routes to happiness.
The basis of the report is an on-line survey of 5,500 women aged 20-49 in 11 countries across Europe, Russia and South Africa. The survey explored topics as diverse as the ideal partner, attitudes to work and women in power, as well as money and the division of domestic responsibilities.
Five themes were identified through the research: Happiness is an Attitude; A Partner in Life; Beauty Inside and Out; It’s We, Not Me and Social Status.
What the findings of the report reveal is that women across the world are not that different in their needs. So while marketers and communications consultants still need to ensure their messaging and offering is locally relevant, there are still common threads that run throughout.
According to the SHE report, the single biggest contributor to women’s happiness is not a relationship, children, work or money. What makes the most difference to women’s happiness, is in fact their attitude to life.
With the advent of blogging, different women – from moms and music lovers to fashionistas – have discovered a powerful platform to explore and develop their interests and share them with other like-minded people. Basically, a place where they can express their attitudes in various spheres of life.
I remember seeing a TV advert several years back where a woman was talking about having her own blog and at the time, I thought to myself, ‘why on earth would anyone, especially women, want to bear all their intimate feelings, ideas and concerns in life on such a public platform? This surely will never fly!”
Blogs have become a great tool for brands to connect with female consumers. Through social media platforms, what women or any type of consumer wants, can be demystified just by exercising something as simple as social listening. Let your consumers do the talking and you’ll figure out how to become relevant to them.
To all South African women, hope you had a great Women’s Month!
