Her Money 2.0

Business guru Tom Peters has been calling it “Opportunity No. 1” for well over a decade. The conservative but highly respected business publication, The Economist, states that “the future of the world economy lies increasingly in female hands”. Surveys suggest that women make perhaps 80% of consumer buying decisions--from health care and homes to furniture and food. And yet, credit union marketers seem to be consumed primarily with Generation X and Y along with "social media" (not that there's anything wrong with that!). The rush to lower the average member age has created a sense of urgency that, at times, seems to dominate the attention of the credit union leadership to the exclusion of many other attractive opportunities. In practical terms, the accelerating power of Generation W is increasingly gaining traction. Single women have been buying nearly one out of every four homes sold for several years now (National Association of Realtors Study)! Divorce and the fact that women outlive men by several years are starting to cause a shift in the focus of investment planning. A Growing number of big banks and investment companies are stepping up their efforts to serve women saving for retirement. Even the carmakers are finally grasping the fact that women buy over 50% of the vehicles on their own, influence as much as 85% of the car choices and have veto power over 95% of the car buying decisions (Ford research).

There is a decade of strong research to support serving women as a primary marketing strategy but, for the most part, credit unions have chosen to ignore it. And credit unions are not alone; indeed, some of the marketers for major consumer brands still tend to hover around the 18 to 34 demographic, But that is beginning to change. We also believe that there has been a subtle but powerful level of denial because focusing on women dramatically disturbs a comfort level that many marketers have with youth. And in many cases “gender issues” tend to bring a level of discomfort for some members of credit union leadership. Candidly, we concur with Lisa Johnson (ReachWomen.com) who believes there is a “big umbrella of fear that committing to reaching women is going to require them to do a pink campaign".

We believe that serving women may very well be a gateway to the highly coveted young adult group. Filene gets it; in fact, the core research for Filene’s i3 iNFORM team revealed that young women were the obvious path to young adults”. The business plan for that project stated that “clearly, developing and implementing a focused approach to the needs and priorities of young women consumers will fill a gap in the marketplace and address the needs of an attractive segment (young adults)”. And even though the results of several specific marketing tactics from a recent i3 project centered serving women were disappointing, the fact remains the realities of the power of the women’s market cannot be disputed. This is not a niche market. And it’s not a market for “big play” solutions. And it’s about money! The product, called Her Money, addresses four critical areas of women’s lives; her home, her auto, her investments and her business. Her Money will be developed around social media principals including a blogging platform, podcasts, web video, and interactive features. The use of social media will help credit unions connect and build relationships with their women members. We’ve initially identify two distinct member bases to target, healthcare and educational based credit unions. They both have high levels of women members, as well as high levels of women senior managers.

Stay tuned…this is the beginning of Her Money 2.0.