Background Reading
You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation
by Deborah TannenMen have a more asymmetrical, positioning approach to communication, while women have a more symmetrical, connecting approach. This is a classic worth revisiting frequently.
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
by Daniel H. PinkR-directed thinking (often referred to as the more feminine type of thinking) is starting to get its gender-neutral due, and people who can think more holistically are seeing the rewards in this new conceptual age.
The Story Factor (2nd Revised Edition)
by Annette SimmonsStorytelling is key to reaching women and Simmons does a great job telling readers how to do it better. Need I say more?
The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap
by Susan PinkerA fascinating examination of how sex differences play out over the life span. One interesting quote: "For most women it's less a question of who's able to win. It's whether competing feels good and is worth the cost."
Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow
by Chip ConleyI'm a big psychology buff, so this application of Maslow's hierarchy of needs to the business realm fascinated (and resonated) with me. As Conley mentions, psychology in business has long been about "fixing it," but that won't necessarily "offer the opportunity for transformation to a more optimal state of being or productivity." Everyone can learn from this discussion.
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things
by Donald A. NormanNorman's work offers insights and ideas for how you can make your products better connection emotionally - it starts in the design process. Norman is one of my interviews in my eBook: 9 Minds On Marketing.
Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community
by Robert D. PutnamPeople have lost community offline, found it - in spades - online, and are now finding their way back to it, on the more local scale. There are significant marketplace implications for it all.
The Paradox of Choice
by Schwartz, BarryToo much choice can be overwhelming. Read this book whenever you feel like expanding your product line without substantial reason.
What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live
by Celinda Lake and Kellyanne ConwayPollster research that describes the top trends for women (singular sensations being #1) in the early twenty-first century.
Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes
by Katya AndresenAndresen writes that causes can learn from traditional marketers, but after reading this, I'd argue that traditional marketers can learn from the causes profiled. An interview with Andresen is included in my eBook, 9 Minds On Marketing.
The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage
by James H. GilmoreThe progression of economic value has gone from one of extracting commodities to making goods to delivering services and now, staging experiences. Read this for clues about how to reach this level with your products/services. Also, I interviewed Pine and Gilmore for my eBook: 9 Minds On Marketing.
Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After
by Bella DePauloSingles, men and women, are key to today's economy. DePaulo has a take no prisoners approach to a societal reality many brands have been ignoring for too long.
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image
by Leonard Shlain"The triumphant march of literacy that began five thousand years ago conquered right-brain values, and, with them, the Goddess. Patriarchy and misogyny have been the inevitable result." Mind-expanding look at men, women and words.
Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships
by Daniel GolemanSome would say women have more social intelligence, but no matter - there is a lot riding on how people use it - and Goleman's book is fascinating.
Rules of the Red Rubber Ball: Find and Sustain Your Life's Work
by Kevin CarrollCarroll's life/work lessons have marketing strategy implications as well. Don't force things, but follow the perhaps subtle clues along the way.
Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World
by Diane MacEachernBig Green Purse is not a marketing guide, but an example of the filter through which women are starting to look at your products. Read it and change your ways.
In Women We Trust: A cultural shift to the softer side of business
by Mary Clare HuntThe shift is happening, and it is affecting all aspects of business. Mary's take is worth a read.
The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness (P.S.)
by Virginia Postrel"If the goal is happiness rather than expert-determined 'efficiency,' form is itself a function." Postrel helps us all step back and think differently about aesthetic value.
The Future of Men: The Rise of the Ubersexual and What He Means for Marketing Today
by Salzman, Matathia and O\'ReillyThe future of men is that they are more likely to fold their feminine brain traits into their buying and living decisions.
The Power of the Purse: How Smart Businesses Are Adapting to the World's Most Important Consumers-Women
by Fara WarnerCase studies that include Nikegoddess.com and the DeBeers right-hand ring efforts offer proof of the evolving ways of marketing to women.
The Female Brain
by Louann BrizendineA brain scientist presents her view of what's different between men and women, and where/how those differences might come into play.
The Soccer Mom Myth
by Michele Miller and Holly BuchananWisdom from two well-regarded marketing to women voices, with special attention on "personas" that help brands sort their markets into more powerful segments.
BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer -- The Baby-Boomer Woman
by Mary Brown and Carol OrsbornIt's a hot topic - and the case studies and examples presented in BOOM can offer up insights to get you started.
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Background Reading
-
Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow
by Chip ConleyI'm a big psychology buff, so this application of Maslow's hierarchy of needs to the business realm fascinated (and resonated) with me. As Conley mentions, psychology in business has long been about "fixing it," but that won't necessarily "offer the opportunity for transformation to a more optimal state of being or productivity." Everyone can learn from this discussion.
-
The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap
by Susan PinkerA fascinating examination of how sex differences play out over the life span. One interesting quote: "For most women it's less a question of who's able to win. It's whether competing feels good and is worth the cost."
-
Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes
by Katya AndresenAndresen writes that causes can learn from traditional marketers, but after reading this, I'd argue that traditional marketers can learn from the causes profiled. An interview with Andresen is included in my eBook, 9 Minds On Marketing.
-
You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation
by Deborah TannenMen have a more asymmetrical, positioning approach to communication, while women have a more symmetrical, connecting approach. This is a classic worth revisiting frequently.
-
BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer -- The Baby-Boomer Woman
by Mary Brown and Carol OrsbornIt's a hot topic - and the case studies and examples presented in BOOM can offer up insights to get you started.
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'Learned On Women' Featured in Alltop:
