Gender Marketing: How to Develop an Inclusive Strategy that Works

A well-crafted gender marketing strategy goes beyond blue-for-boys and pink-for-girls. It taps into the real needs, behaviors, and values of different gender identities. Whether you’re creating a product or writing an ad, how you understand gender can make or break your brand message.

In this article, you’ll learn the breakdown of how to adopt a gender marketing strategy that’s smart, sensitive, and successful in today’s diverse marketplace. So let’s start understanding gender marketing and the process of adopting a gender marketing strategy.

What is Gender Marketing?

Marketing campaigns are crafted with messages and assumptions about male and female customers. Gender marketing, gender advertising or gender-based marketing is about dividing and targeting the audience based on their gender.

The Process of Adopting a Gender Marketing Strategy

1. Product Design and Policy

If you want to adopt a gender marketing strategy you should do in the initial stage of designing the product or policy.

You as a company should decide the target group. At this stage, your company should know the demands specific to individual consumers within this group.

This can be decided through several factors;

• It not only includes age, group, and social status but also what marketing technique is appropriate.
• Such as whether the use of gender marketing is an option or not.
• You should be aware if your customer group is mostly women, men or both.

With this background, you can decide if all members of your target group require your product in the same way.

Or do the needs depend on their gender? For instance, facial products such as facial creams or face wash are packed in light colors for women are in dark colors for men. So, you can decide if your product is gender-neutral or not.

2. Sales Environment

Despite product policy and design sales, the environment is important and can be tailored as per the customer’s gender. Below are some tips for you to guide your sales environment.

• Generally, women are more likely to pay attention to cleanliness, order and perfection. Therefore, an environment with warm lights, and colorful walls are considered suitable for women customers.
• Men are interested in quick buying and purchasing. Their sales environment should be simple with rapid checkout options.
• While developing an online store companies should focus on web design, colors, text, product, and presentation.
• Research depicts that men are good at processing videos about products or services. Whereas, women prefer static images.
• Men prefer product descriptions that are to the point and brief with important properties, facts and figures.
• Women on the other hand tend to be more informed. Hence, they are generally willing to read longer descriptive texts.

3. Communication

Communication done through promotions, advertisements or internal external messaging is the key to success.

It covers a broad spectrum that includes but is not limited to communication through social media platforms, television commercials, and emails.

Adopting a gender marketing strategy through these channels can increase the ratio of potential new customers.

One example is adopting personalized and tailored emails – making them an ideal resource for gender marketing.

4. Personnel

Your staff and employees interacting on behalf of your company should be trained and well aware of gender interests and requirements.

These people play an important role in customer care. Gender marketing at this stage means adopting a gender-specific sales strategy.

At the same time adjusting and adopting gender-neutral approaches for those who do not respond to stereotypical gender identities and gender roles.

Examples of Gender Based Marketing

1. Nike “Dream Crazier”

When one of the world’s top footwear brand Nike, began losing their market share they shifted their marketing campaign from product-oriented to consumer-oriented.

Instead of only targeting male customers they expanded their market reach and included women in their advertising strategy.

They introduced a powerful gender-based marketing campaign “Dream Crazier”. The campaign aimed at empowering women in sports by challenging stereotypes that women face in sports.

Nike’s advertising strategy promoted gender equality. It targeted a specific segment of the society by breaking socio-cultural barriers.

It did not increase its sales but the campaign was acclaimed around the world for its positive portrayal of female athletes. 

2. Gillette Venus

The Gillette Company shifted to gender-based marketing after they witnessed a decline in their sales. In 2001, they launched Gillette Venus – a razor specifically designed to target a female audience.

Two different product lines were launched and tailored to target different genders. The products for men were displayed as sporty, whereas female razors were featured with skin-friendly properties.

Gillette even launched a whole new website that was designed to accommodate their female customers.

Even though the company tried to embrace gender equality by adopting gender-based marketing strategies their products reinforce gender stereotypes.

Do’s and Don’ts of Gender Marketing?

When adopting Gender marketing, usually pink color is usually associated with women, or light color packaging is chosen for women and girls.

Similarly, blue color is considered for men and boys, or dark color packaging is the choice. But the question arises do these stereotypes actually work in today’s world?

The marketing strategy by the Nike brand promoted gender equality by portraying women’s empowerment.

Whereas, the Gillette brand advertised women with conventional ideology. i.e., women’s razor was portrayed as taking care of their bodies. On the contrary, men’s razor was depicted as efficient.

Successful Gender-Based Marketing Tips

Adopting gender-based marketing can be tricky. A wrong assumption or idea can cause backlash and destroy the company’s reputation.

For successful implementation of gender-based marketing, you as a company should follow the following tips.

1. Designing products that reinforce gender stereotypes can be a bad option. Customer needs and satisfaction should be focused on instead of colors, curves, and edges.
2. Products should show relevance and uniqueness to their customers. Instead of giving the impression that all men and women are the same, adopt strategies that promote diversity.
3. Associating a product with one gender would be a big mistake. There are products that are traditionally advertised for men, but women also use them and vice versa. For example, make-up, bikes, and razors. Keep that in mind!
4. People are now more open to gender-neutral, non-binary, or gender-inclusive ideas. Hence, focusing too much on gender characteristics might have a negative impact on customers.

Final Thoughts

With a shift in lifestyles and changing gender roles, everything is in a state of constant change. People are now more aware and concerned about issues related to gender and gender equality.

To successfully implement gender marketing campaigns, companies and brands must recognize social patterns and changes in attitudes.

Also, it isn’t necessary to advertise every product through gender-based marketing. Mostly, products are gender-neutral. Such as food items, cleaning products, stationery items, etc.  Before adopting gender-based marketing, companies should be aware if their product requires gender-based marketing or not.

Your company might face negative feedback if your product is advertised as an overwhelmingly feminine or masculine item. The typical portrayal of male and female might lose its appeal to the opposite sex. Therefore, successful implementation requires great knowledge and understanding of society and culture.