Women Know What They Want, So Why Does Marketing Still Get It Wrong?

Women shop for pretty much everything.

Not just clothes, makeup, and skincare. We're buying phones, cars, furniture, tools, vacations, electronics, insurance, groceries, gifts, and whatever else happens to be on the list that week.

So it's a little strange that some advertising still seems stuck on an old idea of what a woman buys.

You know the type. Change the packaging to pink, put a woman smiling next to it, and apparently the job is done.

It isn't.

There Isn't One "Female Shopper"

This is probably where brands get themselves into trouble.

A 22-year-old college student and a 52-year-old business owner are both women. That doesn't mean they're looking for the same products, spending the same amount, or making decisions for the same reasons.

Even women the same age can have completely different lives.

One might spend her extra money on travel. Another is fixing up her house. Someone else loves beauty products, while her friend would rather buy the newest phone.

That's normal.

Women aren't a marketing category with one personality.

We Buy Plenty of Things That Were Once Marketed Mostly to Men

Cars are an easy example.

So are electronics and home improvement products.

For years, advertising in some of these categories often seemed to assume the person making the decision would be a man. That's harder to justify when women are researching, comparing, paying for, and using these products themselves.

Travel is another good example.

Women aren't simply coming along for the trip. Many are deciding where to go, comparing hotels, looking at flights, planning activities, and making the booking.

And plenty are traveling without a partner at all.

The old categories don't fit the way people actually live anymore.

We Can Tell When Something Wasn't Made With Us in Mind

This isn't always about advertising.

Sometimes you can see it in the product itself.

Maybe something is awkward to use. The sizing makes no sense. The instructions don't answer the obvious question. Or the company spends more time telling women how something looks than explaining what it actually does.

Women don't need every product to announce that it was "made for women."

We need products that work.

If it's useful, priced fairly, easy to understand, and does what it says, we're already off to a good start.

Women Over 40 Deserve Better Too

There's another group that advertising has a strange relationship with: women over 40.

They're often shown as if their main concern in life is looking younger.

That's a pretty narrow view of somebody who may be running a business, earning more than she did ten years ago, traveling, raising a family, buying a home, changing careers, or simply enjoying having more freedom to spend money on herself.

Of course beauty matters to some women. There's nothing wrong with that.

But it isn't the entire story.

We Research Before We Buy

Shopping has changed because information is easy to get.

We read reviews while standing in the store. We watch someone use a product before ordering it. We compare prices between websites. We ask friends. We check social media.

Sometimes five minutes of research is enough to change our minds completely.

That means a big advertising campaign can get someone interested, but it can't always carry a bad product.

People talk.

And women definitely tell each other when something is worth the money, or when it isn't.

Just Talk to Women Like People

It really doesn't have to be complicated.

Show different ages, lifestyles, budgets, body types, and interests. Explain what you're selling without talking down to the person reading it. Give useful information. Make a good product. Charge a price that makes sense.

And stop assuming every woman wants the same thing.

That's something we keep in mind at Maesell too.

We sell women's essentials, but "women's essentials" doesn't mean every woman has the same essentials. What one of us can't live without might be something another woman never buys.