Sunday, September 6, 2009

The New "Multi Minded" Women

"Forget multi tasking - women like Varma - are 'multi minding', a newly coined phrase that describes the process of simultaneously thinking about various concepts."
Gogoi in Business Week - online


Pallavi Gogoi
, for Business Week, wrote that "multitasking is passe and that multi minding- not tasking but MINDING - is the new process that today's women use to manage the complex aspects of mixing family, career, and decisions about self and the ability to switch from concept to concept without missing a beat".

Women now account for $3.3 trillion dollars in consumer spending (that's three times our current national debt!!!) and are responsible for 85% of ALL purchase decisions. They also take 50% of all business trips.

Women also account for 1 in 10 motorcycle riders and make up 1 in 8 Harley Davidson purchases. Are we breaking down the old stereotypes? We're talking purchasing power and decision making!

The Business Week reporter continues: "Today's woman may be appearing to relax in front of late night television, or reading a magazine at a pediatrician's office or tackling a complicated analytical project at work, but she could just as easily be thinking about the other dimensions of her life like her 401k program; plotting a garden, clipping coupons, working on an analytical problem and also thinking about a neck massage."

As Tom Peters and Marti Belleta say in their book "Re - Imagine!", "...we must wake up and smell the truth; women are the primary purchasers of...damn near everything."

So what is the secret ingredient that will motivate women to buy your product? There is no silver bullet or a one stop answer about how to more effectively engage women. But one hint to this answer is to read a great book called "Too Busy To Shop", marketing to multi minding women by Kelley Murray Skoloda.

You can choose to dwell on old stereotypes about today's women or you can choose to honestly try to connect and engage this powerful economic force that influences birthday party decisions, youth bowling, mixed league bowling,food purchases and even bar sales. Read the Book!

p.s. Hint, hint, hint: Think connection, networking, social networks and social issue marketing.