Marketing Business Support To Women Sarah McPherson Prowess

About Prowess A network of organisations and individuals who support the growth of women’s business ownership – raising awareness, sharing best practice, advocacy and information Over 280 members Facilitating 100,000 women in enterprise development Supporting 10,000 new businesses Which contribute £1.5 billion (2.2 billion Euros) to the economy Delivering a nationally recognised quality standard for excellence in women friendly business support

How do our members approach female entrepreneurs? Outreach Marketing materials Media – TV, radio, local press Word of Mouth Displays in supermarkets Talks and presentations Networking

Prowess Research Findings Survey groups of 200 women and 200 men (all with some interest in self employment) Quantitative CATI research with open-ended questions to provide qualitative insight Clear findings for gender and age preferences Some clear areas of commonality Consistent need for clear and understandable communications

Male and female responses to statements around being self employed

Women’s responses to business support course titles (by age)

Women’s responses to business support activities (by age)

Male and female responses to business support activities

Prowess Research Findings - Women The key things for women are: Fit in around family life Convenient for them Ability to enjoy the day/course Personal to them Not appealing to women are: Making money Being big and different Being entrepreneurial

Prowess Research Findings - men The key things for men are: Working for myself Running my own business Being my own boss Not appealing to men are: Being an entrepreneur Working freelance Having a business based at home Running a business with social aims

Enterprising Women Research Findings 30% response rate from cohort of 1,686 (i.e. views of over 500 business women in the East of England) Research undertaken late summer 2007 Qualitative and quantitative research Women-specific support important to over 98% 99.8% would recommend service to others

Enterprising Women Research Findings - Motivation

A word about word of mouth…. Word of mouth can be the most effective referral route for many women Research has shown that if women like a product or service they will recommend it to others 17 times Men will generally recommend 3 times [Source: Re-think Pink gender marketing conference 2005]

Good practice, bad practice Some examples of UK marketing output Keep message simple Use case studies/quotes from women Address barriers in primary literature Provide an option for action Follow up and monitor what works

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