During last year’s M2W®-The Marketing To Women Conference, Bridget Brennan, CEO of Female Factor and author of Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World’s Most Powerful Consumers, made a startling statement: “Women all over the world are spending more of their lives being single.” We decided to catch up with Bridget and ask her a little more about the power of single women and why today’s brands need to pay special attention to this growing trend.

Q: Why are women spending more of their lives single?
Bridget Brennan: There are three major trends driving this:
 
1. Delayed Marriages: All over the industrialized world, women are getting married later in life. Women are staying single longer (in the US, the average woman marries at age 25, though in big cities this number is even higher) and have more of their own disposable income than ever before. Education is what’s driving this trend: women are going to school and then working for a few years before they get married. From homes to fine furniture, single women are no longer waiting for Prince Charming to buy nice things. Single women, for example, buy 20 percent of all new homes. This is creating a new dynamic between the sexes: especially since the majority of young women in major American cities like New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago earn more money than their male counterparts.
 
2. Separation and Divorce: Globally, divorce rates have increased around the world. In the U.S., nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. Women have historically been plunged into a lower standard of living after divorce, as a result of losing their husbands’ income and benefits. While this is still true, the picture is improving, driven in part by the fact that so many married women now earn their paychecks and are gainfully employed at the time of divorce. Widespread divorce has created a new, distinct period of singlehood in many women’s lives. A woman who finds herself single at 45 may find herself partaking in an entirely different set of entertainment, food and clothing options – to name just a few – than she would if she were married. The positive aspects of this reality should be reflected in the images, marketing messages, and sales language used by any organization.
 
3. Longer Lifespans: Women live an average of five to ten years longer than men, making them the majority of older people, many of whom are single. However, look at enough advertising briefs and you might think that everyone older than fifty-four is dead, or at least very broke. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The older population has been steadily increasing its numbers and will continue to do so for decades. By 2050, for the first time in human history, the global elderly will outnumber children, with women as a majority. Women in particular often look at the “empty nest” period as a time of rebirth. For many of them, it’s the first time in their lives they don’t have to put themselves last, behind the kids. Financially speaking, people over 50 have the greatest assets and highest net worth of any group in the U.S. – yet they are still largely ignored by businesses.

Q: What do you feel are some of the biggest stereotypes marketers have regarding this group of women?
BB: Many industries assume that single women are always strapped for cash. Too many salespeople haven’t accepted the idea that single women can and do buy big-ticket items like cars and houses, so they often don’t take this opportunity seriously. Or, worse, they try to take advantage of what seems like a vulnerability. Single women still feel they must resort to the age-old trick of bringing a male friend or relative along with them for high-cost purchases, to guard against being taken advantage of. Industries ranging from luxury goods to automobiles to housing must get wise to the power of the single female consumer. Not only should she be taken seriously, she should be catered to seriously. Just because she’s wearing a ponytail doesn’t mean she’s not earning a big, fat paycheck.

Q: What are your top 3 tips for brands looking to target single women?
BB: Product design is a major opportunity.  With food, for example, single women often look for smaller portions, like half-bottles of wine.  Where are the half-loaves of bread and other perishable items in smaller portions?  Food is just the beginning.  I’ve worked with a major homebuilder, Ryland Homes, that actually redesigned its floor plans based on the needs and wants of single women. The company created better lighting around entry-ways, provided electronic garage doors as a standard feature, and built master bedrooms as “retreats.”
 
Second, don’t rely exclusively on the traditional imagery of wife + husband + kids in images and photographs.  Record numbers of women are now childless, and 27 percent of all American households are run by single women. The image of the nuclear family so commonly shown in advertising doesn’t reflect the reality. While that image is still aspirational for many people, if you add pictures of single women into the mix, it’s like putting out a subtle welcome mat.
 
Third, focus on sales training. Train salespeople to take single women seriously, especially when it comes to big-ticket items like housing, furniture, financial products and cars.   The fastest way to kill a sale is to ask a single woman where her Dad or husband is.

Patti Minglin is the editor of M2W® E-ssentials, www.m2w.biz.  Based in Chicago, Minglin can be reached at 630.209.2524 or pminglin@comcast.net.