Blind Spots: How to uncover and attract the fastest emerging economy
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley November 11, 2017
Author RJ Brideson

Distributor: Wiley
ISBN: 978-0-7303-4540-4
Publisher: Wiley
Release Date: October 2017
Website: http://au.wiley.com
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Marketing is something that is a regular component of modern day life. The products we purchase, the places we choose to go, and the way we live, is all based on marketing. The better you can spruik a product the better your bottom line is going to be.
But never forget we as a consumer public have, over many years, been groomed very carefully to shop, purchase and present in a certain, tried and true manner which believe it or not, is based traditionally on the male perspective, with the overall image always viewed on how the male sees his everyday world.
There is now a school of thought, and indeed facts and figures which can and definitely will put up a very strong argument that this is view of marketing and sales is changing, is almost obsolete, therefore must change to be able to keep pace with the requirements of modern day living; the faster pace of life, and the very real truth that women are the new face of the company profit margins.
Smart companies and firms, businesses small and large, should they wish to continue to grow, and indeed remain in the marketplace, need to start reviewing their customer based gender-smart marketing practices.
RJ Brideson makes a very clear, although somewhat repetitive point, but perhaps that is the point with marketing, that business needs to start onward thinking to better understand that over the next decade, women will be responsible for more than 75 percent of the discretionary spend world-wide.
As a business owner or CEO, she says, ignore this at your peril, as this discretionary spend will collectively be worth more than a trillion dollar opportunity worldwide. If you think smart and are prepared to look at the new marketplace, the people who are doing the spending and why, you are more than ready to increase and improve your business bottom line.
So how does culture change without having to go through the horrors of feminising, bullying, negative input and downright refusal to make the necessary changes required to create healthy business practice into the next decade.
Blind Spots offers a fresh approach to this challenge, discussing areas such as how to ditch outdated stereotypes, use a bi focal approach to marketing where both male and female requirements are considered, and takes a fresh new look at just who is today’s and tomorrow’s marketplace.
For businesses such as Unilever, they researched their Dove range of products aimed directly at the female marketplace, representing real women. They have taken a brave new step in the presentation of their range of products, by undertaking serious studies addressing the way women view themselves, reassessing their methodology, asking questions and listening to the answers without gender bias. By doing so their sales figures, tracked from the in inaugural year of $2.5 billion, to garnering results which saw figures increase to $4 billion.
Nike is another such group, who realised that women also played sport, wore their brands and set about taking women’s spending power seriously. They also analysed what it was that women wanted; shoes that were designed for female feet, not the larger male foot structure, clothing that made them feel great about themselves, not a smaller copy of the more masculine styles and colours, with the end result, a seriously good increase in their annual profit and still growing.
Femvertising will no longer cut it in the ever changing, totally unorthodox markets of the present and future. If you are serious about surviving and having thriving business going forward into what is an uncertain marketing future, perhaps it is time to remove the blinkers, and accept that women, most of whom do the shopping for just about every household product, whether they are a part of a family unit or a single woman, have an educated input into how they shop, when they shop, what they expect and how they best multitask and use their time, deserve to be heard.
Should you consider taking this unorthodox step, of moving away from the traditionally male infused world of marketing, you and your business will be well placed to build a loyal client base, made up of women, who will happily enjoy becoming one of your loyal customers, adding to the health of your bottom line, because you have listened, replied in a manner that will make her life considerably easier and for this you will be rewarded with loyalty.
Not rocket science you may say, just feminism gone mad, well really! Then why are you not seriously taking a look at tomorrow’s marketplace! You should be!