What Harley Can Teach Everyone About Marketing to Women
With a recent story by Clifford Krauss(reg. required) in the New York Times, the motorcycle manufacturer has certainly gotten its due recognition for serving its own women’s market very well – but what can you learn from the folks at Harley-Davidson? Especially if you are in a male-dominated industry, the thing to pay most attention to is that the famed motorcycle brand has so far chosen NOT to make a product "just" for women. Rather, they are updating models and making changes that may serve women while also still serving men (who perhaps didn’t think to ask…).
The Harley executives interviewed for Krauss’s piece say they are not planning to build a less powerful bike especially for women. Their claim: that women can now operate any of their motorcycles. How great is that?
For instance, the Sportster 883 model was originally designed to be lower to the ground than other models, which drew a lot of interest from women. When the company realized there was excess vibration and that some customers preferred to ride even closer to the ground, they put rubber engine mounts on all Sportster models and lowered the seat more.
Now – were women driving these changes? Perhaps. Will only women benefit or be attracted to such developments? Probably not. So, by not touting "women’s model.. over here," but just making the changes that core customers demand – Harley-Davidson is serving women without alienating men. Two for the price of one.
Their marketing approach, otherwise, does "call out" women – to be sure. This makes sense because the industry had been so male-dominated previously and women who had been excluded from the motorcycling industry in years past may need to be invited to pay attention to the brand. Once Harley has a woman’s attention via promo/marketing/merchandise however, she can then find the right bike for her particular body/riding needs from there. No "woman" about it.
For marketing (as opposed to product development) in particular, the storytelling in the "women riders" portion of their site does a fantastic job showing this specific group of customers how riding fits into such a wide variety of lives. These personal snapshots give women a sense that there are others just like them who have taken up the activity and love it. I bet Harley could actually do a non-women-specific story section, as
well, and get just as positive a response from both men and women.
Anyway -
Harley-Davidson’s prospective female riders find common ground with men and women who feel "born to be wild" in general, AND they have something to talk about, right away, with other like-minded women who want to build community over the shared interest.
So, what did my mini-summer school marketing to women session teach you?
1) No unnecessary "girly-fication" of products (and then you’ll more likely get two customers for the price of one).
2) Whether marketing to men or women, consider storytelling. Even though men and women like to think they are rational with their purchases, EVERYONE responds to the above, beyond and around emotional richness of personal, relate-able stories.
Harley-Davidson has clearly put a lot of effort into learning about
their customers and training their staff (as per the article’s mention
of women’s market sales training specialist, Delia Passi) to better reach women as they want to be reached. Perhaps their success is motivation enough for you to do the same.
