Freud famously wondered “What does a woman want?” and he never figured it out! What women watch on YouTube though, goes well beyond the domains of beauty and child rearing. In honour of Women’s Month this August, we take a closer look at video marketing trends to reach this targeted group of potential clients.
What Are Women Watching And What Marketing Impacts Their Decision-making?
According to the Director of YouTube ads marketing, three trends are clear:
- a noteworthy increase in watch-time of business-centered content
- learning outside of work through how-to videos
- and content that empowers
Women Watch Entrepreneurial And Business-centered Videos
Female watch time for content identified with private business news and business benefits dramatically increases year on year according to YouTube. They are using new media such as online video to learn and develop in their professions.
Women Watch How-to Videos
When they are not focused on improving their careers with online video, women are more prone to focus on how-to videos than beauty videos. We cannot sum it up better than the owner of Prescott True Value Hardware: “Men want to buy the product and leave. Women want to know ‘how will it work?”
Women Watch Videos That Empower Them
See the top 10 empowering promo videos on You tube’s Empowering Ads Leaderboard, featuring the best performers. The topics promoted range from the shopping trends that inspire today’s consumers to travel marketers’ strategies.
Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, says women between the ages of 18-34 are twice as likely to think highly of a brand that made an empowering ad and nearly 80% are more likely to share, comment, and subscribe after watching.
Women are expected to control more and more of the consumer spending over the next decade, which begs the question: why are businesses overlooking the power of the gender of the potential buyer? It is probably a stronger factor than age, income or race. If you can crack the female code and capture market share through the lens of effective video marketing, the competitive advantage can be yours.
Strategies To Reach Women With Your Video
Let’s be clear, there is no one-size-fits-all video marketing strategy to reach women. Your product or service must be positioned uniquely to the specific women in your target market without pre-conceived stereotyped notions. Take note of demographic differences such as age, education level, income, ethnic and geographic factors. As with all video marketing efforts, trying to be all things to all women in one video, could leave you reaching no woman at all.
Cause Marketing
Link your product or service to a cause that potential female clients may care about. According to the Ernst and Young ‘Groundbreakers’ report, women reinvest 90% of their income into their families and communities. “By fostering this emotional connection, you can instill a feeling that by purchasing from you, your customer is actively taking part in helping your company do good in their community and world. This is compelling evidence that a certain segment of women cares about spending money with companies that share their values.”
Speak Their Language
If you are video marketing to an older or younger demographic, be sure to speak their lingo. The biggest mistake is to target moms and use a 23-year-old graduate to appeal.
Be Truthful
Don’t fill your video with promises and hype. Tell your female viewers what your product does, what your service delivers and why it is worth buying or acquiring – because they truly work or are truly worth the service.
Show Personality
Women often buy personality over product. They are more likely to buy from you if you a have good reputation, friendly service, inviting atmosphere, pleasant visual appeal. Women, more so than men, buy the experience, so sell the personality of the business in your video. Also share your path to sustainable business practices if possible – women form a big part of the growing sustainable consumer market.
Nurture the relationship
Women take a winding, holistic approach to a financial decision, says Kirsten Osolind from Re:Inventing Marketing. Your potential female client will need peace of mind and feeling secure before making the buying decision. Your video content should make women feel comfortable to take their time to make decisions – build their trust and don’t rush them. Research has shown that women respond well to a “plot and storyline”. So, take them on a clear journey with your message.
Save Them Time
Women have many irons in the fire at one time and are bombarded with millions of marketing messages a day. Break through the clutter and show how to solve a potential problem – don’t just tell. Be concise and benefit-oriented.
Once you have identified the pain point you want to address in your video, leave out the frills and euphemisms, get to the point of the solution.
Example of bad execution:
- Search terms – “YouTube statistics – female viewers”.
- Results served by Google Video – “YouTube stats and other stuff.”
- Content of this video – a female sharing 17 minutes of why she is doing the video.
- Result – frustration, irritation, never going back to this “brand”.
Appeal To The Need To Do Better
Jane McEtyre from McEntyre Public Relations says women instinctively want to do better: look better, be a better wife or mother, better student, better friend, better organised, better informed, better at her job. Therefore, your video content should appeal to this instinct – if you can show her that your product or service will make her life better or easier, you may just become her partner for life. Craft your product or service video to result in a message that says: “I’m better for it”.
Women Share
As the CPO – Chief Purchasing Officer – of many households, women often turn to friends for advice about brands and products and happily share information on a good deal or experience.
Put together your marketing videos using the right mix of people that your target female audience will likely respond to – don’t make the mistake of thinking that all women are the same.
You cannot just take your traditional marketing material and add the colour pink. At the end of the day, it’s not the product or service, but how the content of the video message is portrayed that distinguishes a campaign as targeting women.
Never discount women’s roles as strong brand influencers either. Just remember that they overwhelmingly prefer a personal component in their online activities. Develop a way to combine the two and you will have created a promising video marketing strategy.