One of the greatest secrets to successful solo small business seems to escape many entrepreneurs. If you are one that can't see the handwriting on the wall, I hope you'll take a lesson from this post.
Here is the secret: women drive most of the purchasing decisions these days, both online and off-line.
Now if you're a small business owner and are paying attention to the profiles of your buying customers, you will have recognized this trend a few years ago. But it's still surprising to me that so many web site owners never seem to cater to ladies in their business or at their web site.
There are more women online than men these days and the difference continues to widen. Not only that, but extensive research suggests that women have a major influence in what has traditionally been considered male purchasing arenas, like car sales, recreational equipment, home and garden supplies, computer equipment, etc.
Of course, women dominate the buying decisions of domestic consumer supplies like food, house wares, fashions and clothing, school supplies, crafts, and health-related goods (prescriptions and medicines, exercise equipment, pharmacy supplies, etc.)
If you are not considering the influence women have on the economy today and on the products and services you sell, you are not being as precise and targeted in your marketing as you could be.
The place to begin recognizing the influence women hold on your business is in your customer database. Research, query, track, and test all you can so that you will understand what proportion of your customers and prospects are women. If you can further segregate buying patterns of specific products or services by sex, you will have the ammunition you need to begin focusing your marketing in the right places.
Your web copy, ad copy, the products you offer, and especially the marketing you do are all affected and influenced by the gender you target. Don't assume that you know who the majority of your prospects are - that assumption is probably wrong!
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