B2B marketing to Gen X women?
Here's why you should NOT follow the big brands' lead
I’ve already done a deep dive into how consumer brands market their wares to midlife women. Mostly, it’s not appetising.
So how can B2Bs say things differently in their messaging? And why should you even try?
Why would B2Bs pinpoint midlife women buyers?
Smart marketers are beginning to realise that, where the big consumer brands have gone already, B2Bs will surely follow.
So here’s what many consumer brands already recognise about this group.
Midlife women are the most under-served and misunderstood big buyers in the market. Gen X women’s purchasing power is vast. If you’re a midlife woman yourself, just ask yourself this question – in your household, who’s the primary shopper?
Fiftysomething women make up a significant proportion of the UK population.
This vast marketing opportunity has set off a cringeworthy midlife goldrush led by consumer brands.
Brands are not just talking to midlife women so they can meet their inclusion and age-diversity targets. Although, let’s be cynical. Appealing to an older female demographic is diversity-signalling to the younger market as well.
That’s why L’Oreal Paris reworded their well-known slogan to create a timely nod to the collective good - Because we are all worth it.
Meanwhile Gilette started promoting shaving products with a sniff of the suffragettes in the messaging –
No retouching. No restrictions. No one way to have beautiful skin or to show it off. Venus stands with all women who right the rules. #MySkinMyWay (Gilette Venus)
Signalling aside, it makes economic sense to target midlife women. Their spending power and influence means women make key decisions about high-ticket consumer expenditure, from holidays to furniture.
That’s why, if I was an in-house B2B marketing strategist, I’d ask myself this question - is our business overlooking the decision-making power of Gen X women as B2B buyers, in the way consumer brands did for years?
Tired, patronising, you-go-girl consumer messaging gives B2Bs an opportunity to do things differently.
Yes, follow the strategic lead of the big brands by profiling midlife women as key buyers. But please don’t follow the average consumer brand’s messaging.
Here’s why …
Midlife women feel patronised by brands
Midlifers feel it in their bones when messaging resonates (and when it alienates or patronises them).
A recent report uncovered the gulf in the way that menopausal women specifically are represented in advertising.
Almost half (46%) of women who are going through or have been through the menopause believe that women are not represented fairly or authentically by advertising, while 44% feel patronised by advertising, and almost a quarter (24%) are simply indifferent to it. (Women’s Worth study by UM London and Karen Fraser, as quoted in Campaign)
Patronised and indifferent. If our goal is human-to-human marketing, that’s a troubling verdict on the current state of play.
That’s why I believe all copywriting aimed at Gen X women is ripe for a reckoning.
Consumer brand copywriters targeting midlife women have a tricky job. Particularly if they work in ‘appearance-first’ niches like fashion or skincare. They tread a fine line between writing about arguably superficial products and creating messaging that relates to the deeper, life-affirming emotional triggers to buy.
This is an easier balance to negotiate for an EdTech business, for example. Yet I’ve still to find one that speaks directly to midlife women, despite the massive influence these women have across the generations AND the learning projects they embark on themselves around milestone moments. It’s not just the fashion and beauty industry with work to do.
B2Bs have an opportunity to avoid that vulture-circling vibe the big brands exude, and talk to their key buyers human-to-human.
Patronised and indifferent? It’s obvious why …
We’ve established that Gen X women are some of the biggest spenders - in fact, women over 45 account for 50.3% of all consumer spending.
Yet this age profile is consistently under-represented in advertising - just 12% of UK ads feature an over-50 in a leading role.
Meantime, plenty of consumer brands promote messaging that blatantly contradicts their business values.
Consumer brands poke at midlife pain points like an open sore, while professing to be champions of ageless solidarity. Exhibit A: the ticking clock. I found variations on this theme in lots of midlife messaging.
Is your neck ageing faster than your face?
This question was tucked away in a spitefully-worded product description (from a skincare brand with a headline value proclaiming that “beauty should make you feel good”).
Human to human, can you imagine asking this patronising question face-to-face?
Examples like this show that ALL messages matter, from overlooked product descriptions to attention-grabbing headlines. And they should align with, not undermine, the brand’s core messaging.
B2Bs: listen more than you talk
You might not be a big fan of demographics. In many ways, they represent a dated approach to customer profiling. Yet age-agnostic marketing has yet to go mainstream. This approach places age further down the list of factors that shape messaging. Instead, age-agnostic marketing focuses on behaviour, preferences and values shared across the generations. No more assumptions about lifestyle based solely on age. This type of messaging focuses instead on psychographics and emotional triggers to buy.
This approach makes sense for B2Bs too, because midlife women (as buyers or employees) have got plenty of other stuff going on, beyond fretting about Turkey Neck or your Menopause Policy (important as it is).
The best marketing to Gen X women, whether consumer or B2B, recognises that age is not our entire identity. Not even close.
Midlife women don’t think, act and work as one homogenous, sweaty unit. Hormone balance is not our only preoccupation, either at home or at work.
As consumers and business buyers, we might have more in common with your 30 year-old niece. We could be childfree, a mum, a gran, a caregiver. We could be chairing the board, career-restarters or lifelong learners. As consumers, we might be adding to our tattoo collection or accompanying our kids to Harry Styles concerts (and paying for the tickets too). Thankfully we’re increasingly likely to drive business buying decisions too.
If you represent a business with midlife women in its marketing sights, consider this when it comes to your messaging –
Are you really listening to midlife women or just talking at them?
Are Gen X women represented on your marketing team?
As a copywriter, I know how easy it is to get caught up in wordplay or buyer pain points, and forget that copy is just a type of conversation, human-to-human. That’s why it’s common for messaging to rely on stale assumptions and stereotypes.
So when your B2B messaging starts to take shape, it makes sense to do a human-to-human sense-check. Would you actually say that in conversation to a colleague? Or have you written the B2B equivalent of that big brand question - is your neck ageing faster than your face?
Get your hands on my Knowledge Vault on Marketing to Gen X women (free)
My Knowledge Vault lists articles, organisations, books, podcasts, Substacks and other useful resources around the topic of marketing to Gen X women.
I’ve tagged all the articles by topic, so you can narrow down your reading list to the most relevant info on Gen X marketing strategies. Article tags include advertising, branding, recruitment, inclusion, language, guidelines, trends and stats.
Here’s a glimpse inside.
Get access to my Knowledge Vault on marketing to midlife women by clicking here. It’s totally free and you don’t need to give me your email address.
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