The net is abuzz with talk from a CNN article stating "Many would take Internet over sex." Isn't that interesting?As far as I can tell, these kinds of survey's are totally unreliable.
Like focus groups, the participants are just as likely to reply with answers they think you want, as they are to be truthful. But, it makes for a catchy blog title, dontcha think? (maybe it's true, tho... maybe we would all give up sex... I'm just thinking people are playing with us - what do you think?)Let's look at some stats and information that will be useful in your daily marketing to women online focus - going into 2009.
Marketing News, from the AMA, has a very short piece on "Affluent Women" showing that this group of buyers is more likely to use Word of Mouth, than their sisters. Calling them "Marketing Multipliers," the article notes that they share "very similar demographic characteristics with other affluent women...but their behaviors differ in many ways."
Such as: they are "more than three times as likely to consider being an authority on trends" and they are "twice as likely" to publish personal web pages or blogs. If you're into luxury goods, make friends with the Marketing Multipliers. Following that good news, Jeff Vandam from THE NEW YORK TIMES says, "Blogs Find Favor as Buying Guides."
This should be old news by now, but let's discuss, anyway.Vandam states that "the increase in blog readership from 2004 to 2008 was 300 percent." Whoohoo! We bloggers like stats like that! And, unlike the stat about giving up sex, I can relate to it because I'm connected to that world and I know bloggers who have tens of thousands of dedicated readers. It's called "trusting people like me" which goes back to the Edleman Trust Barometer - altho the stats in Steve Rubel's post back in April '08 say people don't trust bloggers.
This updated news as reported by the New York Times (from a Jupiter Research study) seems to show that more and more people are participating in social media, especially blogs, today. Why not? I hope you trust me. I work hard to earn that trust. I have a select group of news sites and bloggers and Twitterers that I trust - too. Why? Because I feel the connection to the person, not the newspaper or magazine or website. And, if I have a question, I know I can actually reach out to the real person.
Trust begins at home, I guess.Building trust should be the number one activity on your marketing list, going forward. It isn't enough to connect, it isn't enough to engage, it isn't enough to join - you must learn how to build trust. Shirley Chisholm, the first African American elected to Congress, put it well. She said, " From what we get, we can make a living. What we give, however, makes a life."Make someone's life today.
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