Marketing to women is fun, creative, exciting, inspirational, and down-right complicated at times. No one lays it out better than Mary Lou Quinlan in her new book entitled “What She’s Not Telling You – Why Women Hide the Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About It”. For this book, Quinlan teamed up with a few colleagues from Just Ask a Woman to analyze the “Half Truths” and the “Whole Truths”. In other words, what women say they will do and admit to, compared to what they actually believe, do, and buy. The real bread and butter of this book is the valuable insight it gives to marketers on how to really reach women by understanding the motivation behind these half truths and whole truths.

The book explains that women tend to disclose half truths while hiding whole truths. Quinlan gives us a number of every day examples to illustrate: women say they “exercise” or “don’t smoke” or “only have a bite to eat”, when the whole truth is that they may “exercise only occasionally” or “don’t smoke when people are around” or ” only have a bite to eat until they get home“. Initially, I thought the book was going to come across accusatory – surely I don’t tell half truths! But it’s truly eye-opening. We’re all guilty of these half truths. It’s not lying; it’s simply revealing only a portion of the whole truth – the portion we want to admit to.

So, why do we shy away from the whole truth?? Quinlan’s book breaks it down into 5 key motivators that drive these “Half Truths”, and she sums them up with the acronym GAMES:

Good Intentions
Approval Seeking
Martyrdom
Ego Protection
Secret Keeping

The book breaks each of these down and thoroughly explains them. This information is invaluable to marketers so we can better focus on what women mean, rather than what they say. When we conduct focus groups, surveys, or any other kind of market research, it’s important that we can accurately analyze the results that we work so hard to gather. After all, when companies base brand strategies, advertising campaigns, and marketing dollars on these results, we want to make sure we have all of the pieces of the puzzle. Quinlan’s book gives us just that – more pieces to the puzzle. The reviews are in and they’re rave! If you’re still not sold, read the first chapter online and see if you’re hooked. Or check out Mary Lou Qinlan’s interview with CBS to hear the author’s thoughts on her book.

Posted by Melissa, Marketing Associate

The holiday season has come and gone and we’ve jumped into a new year whether we were ready to say good-bye to 2009 or not. The dust has barely settled from the ball dropping in Times Square, but we’re already flying through January, which means one thing – Valentines Day is just around the corner! If you used up all of your creative gift ideas at Christmas, do not worry, we have so many Valentines-themed items to choose from. Whether you are putting together a sweet company event, memorable gift with purchase, designing a signature private label item, or planning a promotional give away, we have a plethora of stylish and innovative private label merchandise for Valentine’s Day. Not that we don’t all love another box of chocolates, but why not make an impression this year and go with something fresh and original?

Hearts, the language of Amore:

Nothing says Happy Valentine’s Day like the perfect heart-shaped item, for example, promotional stress relievers, key chains, mirror compacts, and more. We have an entire section on our website dedicated to unique heart-shaped items where you can design a stylish imprint or company logo.

Red and Pink and Red All Over:

Customers often come to us with a particular color in mind. Our job is to find the perfect item for their event, gift, give away, etc. in that exact color. As you can imagine, Valentine’s Day is no exception, and red and pink are in high demand! Our site allows you to search by individual color, so tracking down the perfect pink promotional item is just a click away. Here are a few of our favorite promotional products in red and pink:

Outside the Box:

Or, if you want to step a little further outside of the box, there are many fun ideas available with jewels, animal prints, and funky designs.

So, if you are looking for the perfect item for a Valentine’s Day inspired corporate gift, marketing event, gift with purchase, promotional give away, or private label piece, go with something fresh and original this year. Be unique and innovative and steer clear of the typical Valentine’s Day items that everyone has seen before. Be bold and thoughtful – find an item that will make a statement and be truly treasured.

Posted by Melissa, Marketing Associate

In our company, we spend all day analyzing the age old question, “What do women want”. So my interest was peaked when I read that Marie Claire and Unity Marketing teamed up to analyze the 21st century woman – what engages her, entices her to shop, and wins her loyalty – published by Global Cosmetics Industry (GCI) Magazine.

It’s no secret that we are more independent and empowered than ever before. In this increasing wave of personal power, strength, and a new definition of “femininity,” marketers are challenged more than ever before to figure out what the modern woman wants and why she shops the way she does.

GCI explains that today’s female consumer has 5 top priorities:

• Emotional Health and Family: A whopping 88% of women rated this as their top priority, while 61% admitted that their greatest challenge is finding time to unwind, relax, and take a load off.

Here are a few of our favs to help you relax after a long day.

• Career and Finances: Number two is bigger than ever before – we are motivated and we are highly ambitious. (Thank you, Hillary and Oprah!) Constantly striving to achieve financial independence, career satisfaction, and freedom when we retire.

Keep your cash and cards safe.

• Society and Politics: 80% of women give back, either financially or with a time commitment, to charities in their communities. As though we didn’t have enough commitments, we are driven to make the world a better place and we resonate with brands that are aligned with these values.

Environmentally friendly products are not only socially responsible but also bring good karma.

• Health and Wellness: Sadly, nearly 50% of women will sacrifice sleep to make time for everything that needs to get done in the day, which is why we need products and services that will make health and wellness flexible and easily accessible amidst the chaos of our busy lives.

It’s more fun to go to the gym when you have a cute tote to haul around.

• Fashion and Beauty: A constant in our lives, no matter what decade or century. Nothing excites us more than a beautiful print, a stylish accessory, or a unique design.

Our specialty!  And there are so many to choose from!

The results of this study are probably not surprising to you, but so often we still see companies and organizations in such a hurry that they lose out on this great opportunity to reach women effectively. After all, if this is a new marketing challenge for many companies, you have the opportunity to get ahead of the game by finding truly innovative promotional products that tug at the heart, are fashionable and fun, and promote health, beauty, and emotional well-being.

So, what do women want? Thanks to GCI and Marie Claire, we have a much better idea! Now it’s our job, as marketers, to be thoughtful and conscious when selecting the right products to allure women. We know your time is valuable, you’ve got a presentation in the morning, soccer practice at 3, a million emails in your inbox to go through, and a fundraiser to plan. That’s why we’ve compiled our Director’s Picks, which are the top 100 picks for the 21st century woman, to save you precious time. Marketing to 21st century women is fun – just think about the feeling you got the last time you received that amazing, thoughtful gift, or when you found that print you just couldn’t take your eyes off of. That’s what marketing to the 21st century woman is all about.

Posted by Melissa, Marketing Associate