I read "Why she buys" by Bridget Brennan a while ago. The book was published in 2009- aeons ago by internet standards. And there was one thing that surprised me:

Many of her suggestions to attract female consumers are now standard in marketing- no matter your gender.

What hasn't changed: 

Globally, women spend more time on social media than men do. They form the majority of Facebook users and update their status more often.

Women are behind 80% of buying decisions in the USA alone.

They also routinely recommend products to friends and ask for opinions from other people.

So from a marketing perspective, it makes sense to focus on them.

Here are some of Brennan's tips that I now see in every marketing strategy worth its salt:

1. If you are a charity, help customers look like heroes. We all want to feel good and be appreciated by others, so offer them a status update or something similar to show they have supported you.

2. People won't talk a lot about a specific product, but they will about a cause. Engage women in conversations around a topic or issue that your brand should be associated with.

3. Affirmation is a woman's game- see Oprah. Women like to be helpful and like helpful slogans. Men usually don't get together to talk; they do things. That's why they can't relate to Oprah and the idea of revealing your inner thoughts and vulnerabilities to an audience. (That's an interesting point- a glance at social media will tell you that affirmations are extremely popular among female entrepreneurs but notably absent in content aimed at male freelancers.)

4. Women are the gold standard of design. They do a lot of things, so they don't have time to deal with complicated technology. They want a device to work right away and intuitive design. (Apple understood that very well- but we can see that men prefer this kind of design too.)

5. Lead with the emotional, close the deal with the rational. (That is old marketing advice, but Brennan backs it up with the statement that women need help to justify purchases for themselves more than men do.)

6. Overcommunicate after the sale, make your customers feel comfortable about sending you precious financial information. Include a "share" mechanism because- see point 3. (The average company now sends a text, an email, another reminder and a dove when I order something.)

That means: the content and marketing strategies we use today are based mainly on the female perspective.

What are your thoughts on this topic? What, in your opinion, has led to this change?