Tapping into the ‘modern female market’

Author and gender intelligence pioneer Bec Brideson on why the fastest emerging economy is significant for brokers.

Tapping into the ‘modern female market’
Author and gender intelligence pioneer Bec Brideson on why the fastest emerging economy is significant for brokers.    
     
What is your new book about and why should brokers be interested?
Blind Spots is about assessing your current culture around women and illuminating the places that may need enlightenment. For example: are you gender-literate, do you understand the financial upside of exploring gender or do you “homogenise” gender and therefore miss out on market share opportunity? It explores why women may currently ignore your brand – and looks at ways that women can fall in love and have a lasting and enduring relationship with your business.

Blind Spots investigates the myths around gender in business and teaches businesses how to appreciate the need to introduce a “female lens” into operations. Finally, it looks at how women mean millions in profits, are the short cut to growth and guides you through a process to examine your own business, or place you work and decide if you are seeing the full picture and maximising profits. Brokers will enjoy seeing the future economic force of the female economy that women are driving globally. If they believe “money talks”, they will wonder why they have been blind to this opportunity until now.

What is ‘femvertising’ and what are the reasons it is falling short?
A common misconception is that “femvertising” may be the panacea to marketing’s masculine world. The genesis of the term is a logical joining of the words “feminist” as in recognizing the difference and striving for equality and “advertising” as in promoting brands. Marketers then find and focus on an issue that women feel passionate about and align their brand to the cause promoting the message to the world often gaining traction with a #hashtag. A great example is #likeagirl and #sharetheload

“Femvertising” can get people making “battle of the sexes” assumptions or reacting in defensive ways but Blind Spots takes the dentist-chair fright out of gender and looks at gender practically – it’s not a topic to leave in HR’s tray. The upside of the female-economy is a disruptive force in business when you understand how much more effectively your business can leverage and celebrate the differences between genders.

With the broking industry still a male dominated one but with a female-led consumer base (as women usually have the final say around home-buying), how can they tap into the ‘modern female market’?
Blind Spots shows business how they can be making more profit from better connecting with the female audience – making more money by understanding the way the female economy operates. It straightens out the confusion and myths about gender in business and shares secrets to help people in business dealing with women – as well as leaders, organisations and marketers – as to how you create a female-lensed business culture.

It looks at how women are responsible for making the economic decisions in the home – it’s about understanding and meeting the needs of women. It’s about building a functional and healthy relationship with modern women by understanding their preferred ways of communicating and engaging and meeting them on their terms. Insights that will draw women to your female-lensed business include:
- the time poverty equation
- the convenience working around her needs factor – enquiries, methods of communication
- the language and sales styles
- decoding what matters most to her and adapting the business style to suit her 

Why is the female economy the fastest emerging economy and what are the potential consequences for industries such as broking if they fail to harness it?
By 2028 Ernst & Young have predicted women will be responsible for 75% of discretionary spend. They are often the “Minister” for Sport, Education, Tourism, Health and Finance. They are the people controlling the ins and outs of the home and the business and brands that exist in the ecosystem within it. Women control $28 trillion of the global consumer economy – they are big business.

Women are time poor – in Australia 64% of women report time poverty as a major stressor. We are in the top ten most – stressed in the world according to Boston Consulting Group ‘Women Want More’ research from 2013. Mums have just 17 minutes me-time a day. Understanding this equation and finding a way to deliver your service in a unique way that gives her time back is going to give you a big advantage. While brokers may fear the disruption of digital and their replacement by efficient advice-giving robots, creating authentic human relationships may be a necessary point of differentiation for brokers hoping to create sustainable futures.

This is just one way you can use a “female lens” on what has been traditionally a very masculine or traditional-lensed business model. We live in an era of digital innovation and when you couple these breakthroughs with gender insights – the disruption of the female dollar is exponential. 
 
Bec Brideson is helping businesses and brands drive exponential growth with a market opportunity estimated to be worth $28T. Through her work in gender-intelligence and innovation in ‘womenomics’ her first book BLIND SPOTS: How to uncover and attract the fastest emerging economy has just been published through Wiley. Her new lens on business has seen her speak both locally and globally on the subject. To find out more about Bec and how she can help you turn a pressing issue into a profitable outcome, visit her at becbrideson.com