February 8, 2010
women are now calling the shots at gapingvoid
I remember reading one of Tom Peter’s books about five years ago, when this sentence popped right out at me:
“Make appealing to women your Marketing No. 1 priority.”
It seemed like a very bold statement to me at the time, though Tom’s rationale was rock-solid. Not only do women account for over half of the nation’s GDP, their power over what is spent in the household is vastly greater than their menfolk’s.
Sure, it’s a no-brainer. Did I pay any attention at the time? Of course not. I’m a Man. And men are stupid.
Fast-forward half a decade and slowly I’m wising up, for three main reasons:
1. My women print customers skew just under 50%.
2. Though the remaining small majority of my print customers are male, before they buy from me, it seems 90% have to get their wives’ or girlfriends’ permission first. Especially for the large, more expensive prints to be hung in the home.
3. The online conversation I’m having– in the blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc, is skewing increasingly female, especially on Facebook. I’d say 60% overall, maybe more.
In short, women are now calling the shots on gapingvoid. All in all, I think it’s a VERY positive development. What about your gig?
[UPDATE:] Elizabeth made a great comment below:
Not surprised – there’s a bunch of us women who love smart, moving, funny, irreverent stuff about changing the world while making money, that’s romantic-yet-realistic.
And the thing is, we women talk. We connect. We nurture relationships. We are awesome at social media b/c it is extension of what we natural do IRL.
Yes, Elizabeth, and those are EXACTLY the kinds of customers I want and need. Like I said, it’s a no-brainer. Rock on.
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Well, what did you expect? You do clever work, which can be used as a decoration, about relationships.
Cleverness, decoration and relationships? Women are carefully trained to be experts at all three of those!
Not to mention the fur balls. (Even with all the neutering.) Sigh.
I’d expect no less quite frankly. Women seem really good at catching a wave before men, although I’d be damned if I know how we do it.
I’ve always had many more women than men following my various endeavours which is bizarre as I believe that sisterhood does not exist. Is it because I speak like a sailor and let that seep into what I write? I guess I’ll never know and that’s better that way.
Not surprised — there’s a bunch of us women who love smart, moving, funny, irreverent stuff about changing the world while making money, that’s romantic-yet-realistic.
And the thing is, we women talk. We connect. We nurture relationships. We are awesome at social media b/c it is extension of what we natural do IRL.
So yeah. Duh.
Funny– all five comments from y’all came from women. Thanks, Ladies
good point…ladies like smart words:) Its more than 8 months that I’m following your cartoons and just love them. didn’t like the email idea at first but I think is working well for you.way to go Hugh
I think we’ve been calling the shots for a while, actually.
I think you might be right on that one, Laren
Hi, Gap!
I´ve been following your blog for more then an year, and yes, I love the irreverent stuff you draw! Also follow you on twitter.
Wish it could be easier to get them here in Brazil! You rock!
Well, fuck me running, I have to do better.
Welcome Hugh!
I am a woman and in last 3 years I have been a mum of 2 children as well. Social networks have changed my way of being a mum: connecting with incredible people, sharing experiences, discovering different ways to face daily problems…
I cannot imagine my life and my family without all this precious stuff. This is the era of “social parenting”.
Hugh
I love your cartoons in general, but hate the one at the top of this post. As a woman who loves cats, I don’t think that way. I don’t know any woman who has cats because she can’t get sex. It’s a stereotype men think about women. ‘Oh she has cats because she can’t get any.’ The guys who think that are delusional.
Theresa, I saw it as a metaphor for women outnumbering men. Maybe I’m just not reading it right. I tend to oversimplify things.
I like your work very much, Mr.MacLeod. You make me laugh, and you make me think, both of which rank high w/me. Best, M.
Hugh, i believe most men would be afraid to post on a topic like this.
If you study the history of women and spending trends you will notice that women have always been the dominate spenders, before women independence they spent the majority of the man’s pay checks on the house, the car, the remodeling, the stove, the washer/dryer combo, the bedroom set, the bed, the couch, the dining room table, i would bet money that the woman was the driving force in each discussion, because in most cases the men decide if it works why fix it, and when translated to art, less men will look at a bare wall and decide that it needs art covering it.
Theresa art is interpretive, to many cats not enough cock can also mean: to many women not enough men , as in the ratio of people who buy his paintings, mind you im sure Hugh doesn’t really care in the % so much as the number of people buying his stuff increases, in a perfect world we would all have 6.7 trillion people buying from us 50% men 50% women.
Tom Peters verbally slapped me into this reality too. He wrote about Faith Popcorn, whose book EVEolution rocks. Popcorn’s Truth #1: “Connecting your female customers to each other, connects them to your brand.” Reminds me of gapingvoid and Herd.
Did you read the Harvard Business Review’s article, “The Female Economy?” It says, “in aggregate, women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined.”
Looks like you’re onto something here.
It’s the old joke. The man may be the head of the household but the woman is the neck; she can turn the head any way she chooses.
Of course it’s the women making the spending decisions.
When I first started I was encouraged to do the completely overdone sexually explicit pin up style to get more “street cred”…but I didn’t want to paint women the way men wanted me to paint women, I wanted to do it my way.
(even if I do like the look of electrical tape over the nipples)
But to your point, the recognition of my art/brand and thereby, the growth of my business is attributed to two things…tons of hard work AND lots of loyal, vocal women as my customers who enjoy what I do.
None of us can create a style that resonates with everyone, but when you find a group of like-minded women who connect with your work, it can make all the difference in the world.
Hey Sugarluxe, I think your stuff rocks. I’m glad you ignored the street credders…
Oh great.…now I just love you more Hugh!
Marketing is overrated! It’s flattery that will get you everywhere.
Off to visit your shop
Voidalicious!
Some alternatives:
Voiderinas
Voidgrrls
Voimen
Voidiks
Svoidsters
Vomenoids
Vloidies
Reading this post reminded me how women call the shots at comedy clubs too: Whenever a couple is on a date at the club, the guy always makes sure his girl is laughing first before he laughs; he doesn’t want to get in trouble for laughing at something “inappropriate”.
Hehe, that’s because women have always called the shots (sometimes stealthily).
Good to hear you heard her roar.
Hugh! You came to me via Elizebeth PW (in fact I just mentioned it on my blog) and your book is my new “OMG this is it” thing for me RIGHT NOW. Thanks for sharing your badass self. I aspire! M