Synopses & Reviews
"Mary Lou Quinlans Just Ask a Woman is a fascinating and important study not only for marketers, advertisers, and brand managers, but for the general public. The big message of this book is: Understand the woman you want to reach or she will align herself with someone who does. Here is a terrific guide to achieving that understanding that should be required reading for any business manager."
Sharon P. Smith, Dean, School of Business Fordham University
In Just Ask a Woman, top marketing consultant Mary Lou Quinlan shows marketers and business leaders how to tap into Americas most powerful consumers: women. Although they comprise just over half of the U.S. population, women buy or influence the purchase of eighty-five percent of all products and services sold nationwide. Yet, far too often, products marketed specifically to women fail to address their needs or connect with them on an emotional and motivational level. Just Ask a Woman will tell you why.
The founder and CEO of the premier consultancy dedicated to womens marketing, Quinlan has personally interviewed 3,000 womenuncovering profound and enlightening truths that cant be learned from traditional research. Shell tell you why focus groups dont work, and help you learn new ways to listen to women, understand their needs, and meet their expectations for customer service. She explores topics such as how women judge brands and advertising, how they make decisions, and how stress affects their consumer behavior.
In Just Ask a Woman, marketers, brand managers, and advertisersand anyone selling to womenwill find actionable answers to difficult questions and real-world strategies that workfrom a woman who has walked in a marketers shoes.
Throughout this book, youll read the stories of women consumers in their own words. Then Quinlan translates those opinions and concerns into ideas marketers can use. Youll also read the stories of nineteen CEOs and marketing executives, many of them arguably among the most successful marketers to women today. They share their struggles and the lessons they learned that led to marketplace success with women.
Just Ask a Woman is your chance to get to know your most important customerpersonally. The days of marketing products TO women are over. These are the days of marketing WITH womentreating them as business partners and listening to them throughout every step of the marketing process. So, if you really want to succeed with the most powerful consumer group in the world, all you have to do is ask.
Synopsis
"Are You Talking to Me?" is a guide for marketers, advertisers, and brand managers on how to tap into female consumers' needs, written by the founder of a consultancy dedicated to marketing to women, Mary Lou Quinlan. She explores topics such as why women buy what they do, what makes them like or dislike a company, how they make decisions, how their preferences change with age, and how to sell to a woman without "selling" her. Because women make up to 85 percent of all buying decisions, brand managers and advertisers must understand them&151; this book lets them do that.
Synopsis
An enlightening blueprint of the secrets of reaching female consumers from the expertJust Ask a Woman is a powerful book about how to tap into female consumers' needs. Mary Quinlan, the founder of the premiere consultancy dedicated to marketing to women, has personally interviewed 3,000 women in the course of her research for Just Ask a Woman. Women are the decision-makers in an estimated eighty-five percent of household buying decisions, and yet far too often, products marketed specifically to them fail to connect with their needs. Here, Quinlan explores topics such as how women judge brands and advertising, how they make decisions, the effects of stress on their consumer behavior, and their increasing demands for service and communication. Quinlan rejects the traditional focus group approach in favor of highly energized and intimate talk sessions where women reveal their deeper feelings about products and services. In Just Ask a Woman marketers, brand managers, and advertisers will find a revelatory resource filled with ideas and action steps for building your brand with women-from a woman who has walked in a marketer's shoes.
Mary Lou Quinlan (New York, NY) is the founder and CEO of Just Ask a Woman, a marketing consultancy dedicated to building business with women. Just Ask a Woman is a division of bcom3, a $15 billion global communications firm whose clients include Citigroup/Women & Co., Lifetime, Saks, Hearst Magazines, Toys "R" Us, and Time Inc. Known as a brand-turnaround expert, she has helped to remake brands like Avon and Continental Airlines. Quinlan has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Fast Company and Advertising Age and appeared on ABC, CNN, CNBC, Lifetime LIVE, Fox and nationally syndicated news shows. Her articles have been published in Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and More, among others.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-252) and index.
Synopsis
Praise for JUST ASK A WOMAN
"Just when you think you know it all, Mary Lou Quinlan helps you with your thinking in a new and wonderful way. If you want to capture a larger piece of your market, read this book."
Gordon Bethune, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Continental Airlines, Inc.
"Mary Lous fascinating book delving into the commonsense insights of women toward products both mundane and high tech is a watershed event. Mary Lou shows that women are both procedural and disciplined (many even use an informal board of directors to confirm their own opinions), and marketers who dont take them seriously do so at their own peril."
Rance Crain, Editor-in-Chief, Advertising Age
"A deeply insightful and actionable articulation of how women live today, their deepest feelings and hopes and desires. Theres a depth of understanding here that clearly reveals the enormous experience that Quinlan has had in marketing and advertising."
John Pepper, Chairman, Executive Committee of the Board
Procter & Gamble
"Think you know how to make women buy your product? Think again. Mary Lou Quinlan surprises and delights with insight into what it takes to sell almost anything to any woman."
Melanie Wells, Senior Editor, Forbes
"Mary Lou Quinlan harnesses her decades of experience to provide powerful insights into how to not only ask a woman but also to listen to her. Highly readable, this book speaks cogently to practicing and aspiring marketers about tapping into the minds and pocketbooks of women. Quinlan provides a guide to smarter and better marketing."
Stephen A. Greyser, Professor of Marketing and Communications Emeritus
Harvard Business School
Synopsis
An enlightening blueprint of the secrets of reaching female consumers from the expert
Just Ask a Woman is a powerful book about how to tap into female consumers' needs. Mary Quinlan, the founder of the premiere consultancy dedicated to marketing to women, has personally interviewed 3,000 women in the course of her research for Just Ask a Woman. Women are the decision-makers in an estimated eighty-five percent of household buying decisions, and yet far too often, products marketed specifically to them fail to connect with their needs. Here, Quinlan explores topics such as how women judge brands and advertising, how they make decisions, the effects of stress on their consumer behavior, and their increasing demands for service and communication. Quinlan rejects the traditional focus group approach in favor of highly energized and intimate talk sessions where women reveal their deeper feelings about products and services. In Just Ask a Woman marketers, brand managers, and advertisers will find a revelatory resource filled with ideas and action steps for building your brand with women-from a woman who has walked in a marketer's shoes.
Mary Lou Quinlan (New York, NY) is the founder and CEO of Just Ask a Woman, a marketing consultancy dedicated to building business with women. Just Ask a Woman is a division of bcom3, a $15 billion global communications firm whose clients include Citigroup/Women & Co., Lifetime, Saks, Hearst Magazines, Toys R Us, and Time Inc. Known as a brand-turnaround expert, she has helped to remake brands like Avon and Continental Airlines. Quinlan has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Fast Company and AdvertisingAge and appeared on ABC, CNN, CNBC, Lifetime LIVE, Fox and nationally syndicated news shows. Her articles have been published in Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and More, among others.
About the Author
MARY LOU QUINLAN is the founder and CEO of Just Ask a Woman, a New Yorkbased marketing consultancy dedicated to building business with women for clients including CitiGroup, Johnson & Johnson, General Motors, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Her twenty-five-year marketing career led to her reputation as a brand turnaround expert, from director of sales motivation and advertising for Avon, to CEO of N. W. Ayer Advertising. She speaks frequently on womens issues, has written for Redbook, MORE, and Marie Claire, and has been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek, as well as on CNBC and the Lifetime Network.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
Chapter One: A Checkup for Marketers: Listening or Not?
Chapter Two: Self-Induced Stress.
Chapter Three: Deliberate Decision Making.
Chapter Fou: The Vigilante Shopper.
Chapter Five: The Tug-of-War with the Mirror.
Chapter Six: Intimate with Technology.
Chapter Seven: Demanding Respect.
Chapter Eight: Craving Comfort.
Chapter Nine: A Listening Action Plan for Marketers.
Research Notes.
Notes.
Index.