with Andrea Learned
Thursday, May 1, 2008, 7:30 – 9:00 a.m., Capitol Plaza, Montpelier
Marketing opens the door for interaction and connection with your customers, and delivering a relevant and compelling message is key. Since women make or influence 80% or more of the purchasing decisions for consumer packaged goods and many, many other products and services, a company must focus all the more on them. Women are not looking for pastel colors or flowers, but they do seek products with function, purpose and relevance in their ever-evolving lives. The idea is to be guided by the women in your market rather than by any stereotype of what “all women everywhere” tend to like, want, or need. It is a matter of marketing WITH women as opposed to marketing TO them. Learning to market transparently, the guiding concept in Learned’s book Don’t Think Pink, helps companies to understand and serve their very unique female customers in ways that will be less likely to alienate men along the way. In most cases, a few small steps using existing resources in new ways can mean all the difference in reaching women more effectively.
Through her writing, speaking, and blogging, Andrea Learned has established herself as one of the world's leading authorities on marketing to women. She is the coauthor of Don't Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy—And How to Increase Your Share of This Crucial Market, the author of the widely recognized web log Learned on Women (http://blog.learnedonwomen.com), and a regular contributor to The Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com). In the past few years, Andrea has spoken to media and business audiences from Dubai to San Francisco, and has been interviewed by a wide variety of business press, including AdWeek, The Los Angeles Times and The Montreal Gazette. Her latest research delves more deeply into the gender trap of cultural myths and stereotypes that influence the business realm.
Northfield Savings Bank is a proud partner of the Vermont Business Center.
