With the costs of living rising all the time, it may be possible to save money and increase your family's health at the same time by growing vegetables in your backyard.
It's a good idea to choose your favorite vegetables to grow and plan beds for early, middle of the season and late varieties.
Most vegetables require at least 6 hours of sunlight per day, some need 8. Some quick growers like lettuce and radish can be grown between the rows of plants that take longer to mature, like beet or corn, thus making full use of the area available Konferenztisch Glas Rund.
Throughout dry periods, vegetable gardens need extra watering. Most vegetables benefit from an inch or more of water each week, especially when they are fruiting.
During the growing season watch for insect pests. If you discover a bug problem early it will be much easier, but be careful to not use pesticides once the vegetable are close to being picked unless it becomes an absolute necessity. Organic gardening is one healthy and environment-friendly option. Once you have reaped your crop, put the vegetable waste into your compost pile so that it can be recycled for next spring.
It is important to protect your vegetable garden from wild animals looking for a tasty treat. Make sure your garden is surrounded by a fence that will keep out dogs, rabbits, and other animals. The harm done by wandering animals during one season can equal the cost of a fence. A fence also can serve as a frame for peas, beans, tomatoes, and other crops that need support.
Protection is needed in order for your vegetable garden to yield a bountiful harvest. Hard work will pay dividends if necessary precautions have been made.
Minggu, 05 Maret 2017
Beat the Summer Heat with Crock Pot Cooking
When the weather outside warms up, the kitchen can be a terrible place to be. There are many things you can do however, when it comes to cooking a nice home made meal that doesn't require traditional stove top or oven cooking. Learn to utilize some of the lesser heat producing equipment in your kitchen, such as the crock pot, in order to truly beat the summer heat and keep your cool while preparing a nice hot meal for friends and family.
So, how does crock pot cooking really help beat the heat? Simply put, the crock pot in and of itself puts off far less heat when cooking than an oven or stove top. This is the first and possibly the best reason to utilize the crock pot in your summer meal planning. You should also consider the fact that by not heating the house by using your stove top or oven you are also preventing your air conditioning (or other cooling methods) from working overtime in order to compensate for the additional heat that other cooking methods introduce.
This makes crock pot cooking a win-win situation as the costs involved in operating a crock pot are far less than the costs involved in operating a stove or oven in general. Whether electric or gas, your stove and oven are often serious energy hogs. Add to that the fact that you are not raising the temperature in your home by traditional means of cooking and you are using even less electricity Konferenztisch Glas Rund.
Unfortunately for most, the general consensus has been that crock pots were meant for comfort foods and hearty winter meals. The truth is that the crock pot should be one of your best loved and most often utilized cooking methods if you can manage it. When it comes to cooking with a crock pot, the options are almost limitless. Almost anything that can be baked can be made in the crock pot and many, many more wonderful and enticing meals and treats as well.
Benefits of Crock Pot Cooking
In addition to the cost benefits mentioned above when it comes to crock pot cooking there are many other benefits that are well worth mentioning. First of all, the bulk of the work involved in crock pot cooking takes place early in the day when you are refreshed rather than at the end of a hectic work or play day. This means that you are less likely to forget an ingredient or make other mistakes that often occur as we hurriedly prepare a dinner when we are exhausted from the activities of our day.
Second, many great crock pot recipes include the vegetables that insure we are getting the nutrients we need. So often, when preparing a meal at the last minute, vegetables and other side dishes are left out in favor of expedience. Crock pot cooking in many instances is a meal in one dish.
Another great reason to use a crock pot for your summertime cooking is the ease of clean up. Unlike pots and pans, most crock pot meals are made in one dish. This means that there will not be mountains of dishes to be either hand washed or loaded into the dishwasher (or if you are like me-both) afterwards. You can spend less time cleaning just as you spent less time slaving over a hot stove. Oh wait! Make that no time slaving over a hot stove. Once clean up is complete you can get back to enjoying the sun set, chasing the lightening bugs with your little ones, or waiting for the first star.
While there will never be a one size fits all best cooking method, crock pot cooking comes very close. If you have a crock pot collecting dust somewhere in the back of your pantry it is time to get it out, dust if off, and dig up some great summertime crock pot cooking recipes.
So, how does crock pot cooking really help beat the heat? Simply put, the crock pot in and of itself puts off far less heat when cooking than an oven or stove top. This is the first and possibly the best reason to utilize the crock pot in your summer meal planning. You should also consider the fact that by not heating the house by using your stove top or oven you are also preventing your air conditioning (or other cooling methods) from working overtime in order to compensate for the additional heat that other cooking methods introduce.
This makes crock pot cooking a win-win situation as the costs involved in operating a crock pot are far less than the costs involved in operating a stove or oven in general. Whether electric or gas, your stove and oven are often serious energy hogs. Add to that the fact that you are not raising the temperature in your home by traditional means of cooking and you are using even less electricity Konferenztisch Glas Rund.
Unfortunately for most, the general consensus has been that crock pots were meant for comfort foods and hearty winter meals. The truth is that the crock pot should be one of your best loved and most often utilized cooking methods if you can manage it. When it comes to cooking with a crock pot, the options are almost limitless. Almost anything that can be baked can be made in the crock pot and many, many more wonderful and enticing meals and treats as well.
Benefits of Crock Pot Cooking
In addition to the cost benefits mentioned above when it comes to crock pot cooking there are many other benefits that are well worth mentioning. First of all, the bulk of the work involved in crock pot cooking takes place early in the day when you are refreshed rather than at the end of a hectic work or play day. This means that you are less likely to forget an ingredient or make other mistakes that often occur as we hurriedly prepare a dinner when we are exhausted from the activities of our day.
Second, many great crock pot recipes include the vegetables that insure we are getting the nutrients we need. So often, when preparing a meal at the last minute, vegetables and other side dishes are left out in favor of expedience. Crock pot cooking in many instances is a meal in one dish.
Another great reason to use a crock pot for your summertime cooking is the ease of clean up. Unlike pots and pans, most crock pot meals are made in one dish. This means that there will not be mountains of dishes to be either hand washed or loaded into the dishwasher (or if you are like me-both) afterwards. You can spend less time cleaning just as you spent less time slaving over a hot stove. Oh wait! Make that no time slaving over a hot stove. Once clean up is complete you can get back to enjoying the sun set, chasing the lightening bugs with your little ones, or waiting for the first star.
While there will never be a one size fits all best cooking method, crock pot cooking comes very close. If you have a crock pot collecting dust somewhere in the back of your pantry it is time to get it out, dust if off, and dig up some great summertime crock pot cooking recipes.
Kamis, 02 Maret 2017
A great range of garden furniture including tables, chairs at a sensible price!
Your garden should reflect the personality and your individual style. It should be decorated and designed in ways that you, like and enjoy. Garden tables and chairs provide you an excellent place to watch your garden beauty.
Fornisca offers a complete range of garden furniture to suit your style of living. Place one of these garden tables & chairs in the middle of your garden, on your porch or patio, beneath a tree, or anywhere else in your landscape. These Garden tables offer you so much more than just a place to sit: they offer you additional beauty for your garden.
We have a huge collection of beautiful tables to match your taste. We offer:
* Coffee tables for Garden
* Folding Circular Table
* Lister Fairford table
* Square dining table
These are some of the tables offered by Fornisca. To view the complete range of beautiful and durable garden tables, visit Konferenztisch Glas Oval.
Fornisca offers a complete range of garden furniture to suit your style of living. Place one of these garden tables & chairs in the middle of your garden, on your porch or patio, beneath a tree, or anywhere else in your landscape. These Garden tables offer you so much more than just a place to sit: they offer you additional beauty for your garden.
We have a huge collection of beautiful tables to match your taste. We offer:
* Coffee tables for Garden
* Folding Circular Table
* Lister Fairford table
* Square dining table
These are some of the tables offered by Fornisca. To view the complete range of beautiful and durable garden tables, visit Konferenztisch Glas Oval.
Rabu, 01 Maret 2017
3 Benefits of Owning a Patio Awning
More and more of us each year try harder and harder to enjoy the
outdoors and the warm days of summer without having to leave our
own backyard. Back yard pools are becoming more popular as
prices become more affordable. Even gazebos and sunroofs are
increasing in popularity. These are all great ideas to enjoy
your backyard. One idea that now is also becoming main stream
in household owners is the patio awning. Below are the 3 top
benefits of owning a patio awning.
Protection
The number one benefit of owning a patio awning is protection. Many properties have patio doors leading onto the patio or deck. Unfortunately, this area by most property owners is not being used to its full advantage. Basically, the area is useless when it rains or if the sun and its harmful rays are not your cup of tea. Having a patio awning will eliminate both of these issues and provide you with more enjoyable usage of your patio or deck. With the shelter that the awning provides, you may sit outside and still enjoy the fresh air and sounds of the outdoors with out getting wet or worrying about harmful UV rays from the sun. Also, any patio furniture you own is now protected from these weather conditions.
More Living Area
With the added protection as mentioned previously, you now have just expanded your living area. You may now be outside and enjoy a nice dinner and entertain your guests without the worry of a rain shower. Your guests will enjoy the comfort of being shaded from the sun and take in the beauty of your backyard. The awning will basically give you a second dining room as well as living room and you will be able to enjoy all your meals outside under the protective awning canvas.
Price
A benefit of the patio awning is that you do not need to break the bank to own one. As opposed to getting a pool or gazebo to add value and cosmetics to your house, choosing an awning can be the logical choice if you are on a tight budget. There are many companies that offer pre-made awnings that come in different sizes, fabrics, and colors that will probably more than suit your needs. A simple investment in owning a patio awning can make a great difference in how you spend your days and evenings in your backyard.
Source: davincigrouplk.com
Protection
The number one benefit of owning a patio awning is protection. Many properties have patio doors leading onto the patio or deck. Unfortunately, this area by most property owners is not being used to its full advantage. Basically, the area is useless when it rains or if the sun and its harmful rays are not your cup of tea. Having a patio awning will eliminate both of these issues and provide you with more enjoyable usage of your patio or deck. With the shelter that the awning provides, you may sit outside and still enjoy the fresh air and sounds of the outdoors with out getting wet or worrying about harmful UV rays from the sun. Also, any patio furniture you own is now protected from these weather conditions.
More Living Area
With the added protection as mentioned previously, you now have just expanded your living area. You may now be outside and enjoy a nice dinner and entertain your guests without the worry of a rain shower. Your guests will enjoy the comfort of being shaded from the sun and take in the beauty of your backyard. The awning will basically give you a second dining room as well as living room and you will be able to enjoy all your meals outside under the protective awning canvas.
Price
A benefit of the patio awning is that you do not need to break the bank to own one. As opposed to getting a pool or gazebo to add value and cosmetics to your house, choosing an awning can be the logical choice if you are on a tight budget. There are many companies that offer pre-made awnings that come in different sizes, fabrics, and colors that will probably more than suit your needs. A simple investment in owning a patio awning can make a great difference in how you spend your days and evenings in your backyard.
Source: davincigrouplk.com
Buzz Marketing: Marketing to non-marketable customer
When Dietrich Mateschitz formulated the drink “Red Bull” in 1987 for Australian market, bars initially refused to stock it, seeing it as more of a medicinal drink than a mixer. However snowboarders and clubbers soon recognized. The boost it gave them. They started to bring it with them to non – alcohol bars and pubs.
Red Bull has mastered the buzz marketing. In the 8 sales area in US, the representative scouts for the hot spot. They distributed their branded refrigerator and some goodies to the bars and clubs. If other conventional establishments ask for Red Bull, they refuse them to retain the credibility and uniqueness of their community and clubbers. To connect this community, Red Bull use to organize a two – week annual music festival.
Red Bull first marketing technique was to distribute and target the teenagers and college goers. They went where these guys goes. Then Red Bull went around the cities full of Red Bull cars and distributed the drinks to anybody who need energy- Free, the construction workers, Athletes all.
Coke and Pepsi recognized a new segmentation of their market and tried to capture it with big marketing budget. They created energy drinks. But after millions of write off they are distance number 3 and 4. Red Bull is still the king of energy drink with 65% of market and that is with the fraction of their spending.
Five years back on internet, Google started it operation in the dorm of two Stanford guys (You do not need to know there name, I guess) they created a system for search and marketed it on net with minimal of advertising. End result, after 3 years they become numro uno no in search – marketing in the presence of heavy spenders like Yahoo, overture etc
That the power of Buzz marketing. Gone are the days when you write a Cheque for your ad agency and agency will do the marketing. According to Philip Kotler, advertising is a lazy way of marketing and branding. You outsource almost everything, even your brand’s undergarments. Traditional marketer thinks that job is over. But buzz marketing is an engaging art of marketing. It is a hard way to market a product and services. Most of marketers do not like it. Because they like their comfortable air-condition rooms.
But in real world, you can’t close your eyes and think that your competitor will take pity on you. They are here to eliminate you. Buzz marketing is not a passé’ anymore. It is here and happening.
CEOs, be aware, if your people are saying they need different budget for branding, marketing and sales. Think again, someone is not ready to move his butts.
Red Bull has mastered the buzz marketing. In the 8 sales area in US, the representative scouts for the hot spot. They distributed their branded refrigerator and some goodies to the bars and clubs. If other conventional establishments ask for Red Bull, they refuse them to retain the credibility and uniqueness of their community and clubbers. To connect this community, Red Bull use to organize a two – week annual music festival.
Red Bull first marketing technique was to distribute and target the teenagers and college goers. They went where these guys goes. Then Red Bull went around the cities full of Red Bull cars and distributed the drinks to anybody who need energy- Free, the construction workers, Athletes all.
Coke and Pepsi recognized a new segmentation of their market and tried to capture it with big marketing budget. They created energy drinks. But after millions of write off they are distance number 3 and 4. Red Bull is still the king of energy drink with 65% of market and that is with the fraction of their spending.
Five years back on internet, Google started it operation in the dorm of two Stanford guys (You do not need to know there name, I guess) they created a system for search and marketed it on net with minimal of advertising. End result, after 3 years they become numro uno no in search – marketing in the presence of heavy spenders like Yahoo, overture etc
That the power of Buzz marketing. Gone are the days when you write a Cheque for your ad agency and agency will do the marketing. According to Philip Kotler, advertising is a lazy way of marketing and branding. You outsource almost everything, even your brand’s undergarments. Traditional marketer thinks that job is over. But buzz marketing is an engaging art of marketing. It is a hard way to market a product and services. Most of marketers do not like it. Because they like their comfortable air-condition rooms.
But in real world, you can’t close your eyes and think that your competitor will take pity on you. They are here to eliminate you. Buzz marketing is not a passé’ anymore. It is here and happening.
CEOs, be aware, if your people are saying they need different budget for branding, marketing and sales. Think again, someone is not ready to move his butts.
$100 Per Day With Adsense - Possible ?
These are proven techniques for making Google AdSense, which will work on most blogs and websites. There is no secret system, you just have to think smart and put the time and effort into making things happen. Don't start out on the Google AdSense path and think you are instantly going to be making 1000's of dollars a week. It isn't going to happen.
The most important step to making money from Google AdSense is to increase the volume of traffic to your blog or website. Simple ways of doing this is by distributing your articles to ezine lists, article announcement lists, blog carnivals, social bookmarks sites and yahoo groups. For this to work you need to write at least one new article a day, which needs to be of a good quality and interesting.
Create the ad units so that they blend in with your blog. You will need to go into your Google AdSense control panel and enter the hex colour codes from your website or blog. Make sure the text colour; background colour, and link colours all match your blog.
Don't use borders around the ad unit boxes. Again, you want the boxes to blend, you will have to colour code the borders to match the background so that they become invisible.
Find profitable niche markets, it is important not to choose markets where the cost per click is too low to make it worth your while. I suggest that you do some keyword research and find out roughly what the cost per click is in Ad Words. Usually this will be a good indication as to whether this will be successful.
Keywords are of great importance, you have to make sure that your content is not overstuffed with particular keywords to the point of destroying readability and value. What you need to do is master the art of making sure your articles make liberal use of on-topic keywords, which are likely to generate the most relevant ads. Experts maintain that using keywords with your titles and H1 tags is any excellent way to assist in getting the most relevant possible adds
The most important step to making money from Google AdSense is to increase the volume of traffic to your blog or website. Simple ways of doing this is by distributing your articles to ezine lists, article announcement lists, blog carnivals, social bookmarks sites and yahoo groups. For this to work you need to write at least one new article a day, which needs to be of a good quality and interesting.
Create the ad units so that they blend in with your blog. You will need to go into your Google AdSense control panel and enter the hex colour codes from your website or blog. Make sure the text colour; background colour, and link colours all match your blog.
Don't use borders around the ad unit boxes. Again, you want the boxes to blend, you will have to colour code the borders to match the background so that they become invisible.
Find profitable niche markets, it is important not to choose markets where the cost per click is too low to make it worth your while. I suggest that you do some keyword research and find out roughly what the cost per click is in Ad Words. Usually this will be a good indication as to whether this will be successful.
Keywords are of great importance, you have to make sure that your content is not overstuffed with particular keywords to the point of destroying readability and value. What you need to do is master the art of making sure your articles make liberal use of on-topic keywords, which are likely to generate the most relevant ads. Experts maintain that using keywords with your titles and H1 tags is any excellent way to assist in getting the most relevant possible adds
How and Why Do Women Buy?
A woman wanted a cell phone that would work anywhere, not rack up high roaming fees, and be "cute," according to Martha Barletta, author of _Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach, and Increase Your Share of the World's Largest Market Segment_.
Her husband researchs various plans and finds the one that most matched her calling and financial criteria.
"What kind of phone comes with it?" the wife asked.
"What difference does that make?!" replied the husband.
His wife looked at the information he'd gathered and discovered that Nokia had a model in "ocean blue," although the nearest store carrying one in that color was an hour's drive away.
She drove.
"The color of the phone is the most important thing?" asked her astounded husband.
No, said Barletta, it wasn't the most important thing, but while this woman was buying, "she wanted what she wanted."
To women, details of beauty, simplicity, and practicality matter. Says Barletta, "A woman might choose a Jeep Cherokee because it's the only one whose hatch she can easily flip open."
Studies have shown, writes Barletta, that the male sees his relationship to others in terms of higher/lower, faster/slower, first/second.
A female sees her relationships in less competitive terms: similar-to/ different-from, know-her/don't-know-her. Thus advertising that says others will be jealous if you own this product works with men but is off-putting to women.
Women, says Barletta, want to be able to say, "Yep, that's my life. If that product works for her, it'll probably work for me."
Thus the power of cultivating the mavens –- the trusted people to whom your market of women turn for advice -- can be the key to increasing your profits.
When you want to learn exactly how to cultivate those mavens, read Malcolm Gladwell's brilliant book on the topic, _The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
More than half the U.S. population is female, and women purchase or influence the purchase of more than 80% of all products and services.
Women are the majority decision-makers today, not only in the traditional areas of fashion, food, and cosmetics but also for such big-ticket buys as automobiles, financial services, home improvement, computer electronics, and travel.
So you might think there would be nothing about the buying habits of women that American businesses don't know.
However, Barletta and Mary Lou Quinlan, author of _Just Ask a Woman: Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How They Buy_, believe that many marketing and sales strategies are more likely to annoy their target audience than to attract them.
"You might feel that you have already evolved into the most politically correct person you can be. Your ads are not offensive your products keep improving, but that's not enough to lure a woman to buy your product rather than a competing brand," warns Mary Lou Quinlan.
Both Quinlan and Barletta point out that women are especially valuable customers. More than men, they typically ask for recommendations from friends and acquaintances before they buy and, if they are happy with a product or service, will recommend it to others. Again, this highlights the powerful influence of mavens on buying decisions.
According to Quinlan and Barletta, women - especially working mothers - lead time-pressured lives and therefore appreciate products that simplify tasks and relieve anxieties.
They prefer product warranties and service guarantees more than extra bells and whistles.
Women don't want to be told a product is "cool"; they want to hear specifics about how it serves their needs and their families' needs.
Both agree that women want marketers to be patient and helpful. "It's frustrating to marketers of high-stakes or big-ticket services such as financial services or cars to be asked to meet with women several times to go through alternatives," writes Quinlan.
But from a woman's point of view, it's necessary: "Women judge the quality of the relationship as well as the quality of a product. They ask a lot of questions and do a lot of listening before they form a trusting relationship to believe what that person is saying about the product," she says.
Quinlan and Barletta reach many of the same conclusions but disagree on some points.
For example, Quinlan says women today – especially working mothers are stressed out.
Barletta believes the opposite: "In fact, women today are proud of how well they cope with stress."
In another point of disagreement, both authors describe a current ad for the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, reaching opposite conclusions as to its effectiveness.
In the ad, writes Barletta, a "gracious, glamorous, silver-haired woman is coming up a red carpet as if to the Academy Awards. Suddenly, she trips and falls flat on her face.
The message: Cholesterol doesn't care who you are; it can even bring a princess down."
Women don't like the ad because they "don't like to see anyone get hurt, even for a good cause," says Barletta. "All I can think is, 'Oooh that poor woman, is she okay?'"
Quinlan praises the same ad for being "cliche-smashing." She says the way to get womens attention is to play against type. "How often have you seen the gray-haired grandmother walking the beach and worrying about her incontinence or arthritis?" she asks.
According to Quinlan, the Lipitor ad is an example of letting older models "be silly and not just sentimental," which, she implies, appeals to women.
On this point, I agree with Barletta, not Quinlan. What do you think?
But the books differ most significantly in how they present their material. Quinlan is CEO of Just Ask a Woman, Inc. (http://www.justaskawoman.com/) a marketing research firm she founded in 1999.
Her main research method is a TV-show format in which Quinlan plays "Oprah" to elicit candid views and opinions from an all-female audience. In her book, Quinlan shares the insights from her interviews of more than 3,000 women.
They have told her that, in their stressed lives, they would appreciate having bank statements that are "understandable" and instructions for cell phones "written in English" (as opposed, presumably, to techie talk).
Surely, a wise bank or cell phone manufacturer would provide same. But a reader can't help wondering, wouldn't men like understandable bank statements and cell phone manuals too? Wouldn't anyone?
Barletta is president of The TrendSight Group (http://www.trendsight.com/), a marketing consulting firm that also was founded four years ago.
Its patented product, the "GenderTrends Marketing Model," provides a process for analyzing how to mesh what you sell and how you sell it with, as Barletta puts it, "female gender culture."
Barletta's book not only describes what women want, it also shows many scenarios where no rule applies to 100% of either gender's buying behavior.
Barletta notes that it is not that women want better products and better service while men don't. It's that women will go to more trouble to obtain what they want.
She points out, for example, that Wyndham Hotels put magnifying mirrors in bathrooms based on suggestions from women who wanted them for applying eye makeup.
Men didn't request the mirrors and probably never would have, according to Barletta, but they appreciated them when they appeared, because it made shaving easier.
One reason it takes women longer to make a buying decision, Barletta explains, is that women want the "perfect answer."
Men will buy a workable answer rather than continue to shop, while women will continue to shop in the hope of finding that perfect answer. Now that sounds familiar.
Women also relate better to "warmer" than to "winner." A Nissan print ad stating "horsepower increased 17%, torque increased 6%, bragging rights increased 100%" is a male-only ad.
Women (even those who know what torque is) don't care as much about bragging rights says Barletta. But an ad for an SUV that says "Think of it as a 4,000 pound guardian angel" is an ad that resonates women.
Both books were helpful to me, but Barletta's book contains more information for marketers regardless of gender.
Her husband researchs various plans and finds the one that most matched her calling and financial criteria.
"What kind of phone comes with it?" the wife asked.
"What difference does that make?!" replied the husband.
His wife looked at the information he'd gathered and discovered that Nokia had a model in "ocean blue," although the nearest store carrying one in that color was an hour's drive away.
She drove.
"The color of the phone is the most important thing?" asked her astounded husband.
No, said Barletta, it wasn't the most important thing, but while this woman was buying, "she wanted what she wanted."
To women, details of beauty, simplicity, and practicality matter. Says Barletta, "A woman might choose a Jeep Cherokee because it's the only one whose hatch she can easily flip open."
Studies have shown, writes Barletta, that the male sees his relationship to others in terms of higher/lower, faster/slower, first/second.
A female sees her relationships in less competitive terms: similar-to/ different-from, know-her/don't-know-her. Thus advertising that says others will be jealous if you own this product works with men but is off-putting to women.
Women, says Barletta, want to be able to say, "Yep, that's my life. If that product works for her, it'll probably work for me."
Thus the power of cultivating the mavens –- the trusted people to whom your market of women turn for advice -- can be the key to increasing your profits.
When you want to learn exactly how to cultivate those mavens, read Malcolm Gladwell's brilliant book on the topic, _The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
More than half the U.S. population is female, and women purchase or influence the purchase of more than 80% of all products and services.
Women are the majority decision-makers today, not only in the traditional areas of fashion, food, and cosmetics but also for such big-ticket buys as automobiles, financial services, home improvement, computer electronics, and travel.
So you might think there would be nothing about the buying habits of women that American businesses don't know.
However, Barletta and Mary Lou Quinlan, author of _Just Ask a Woman: Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How They Buy_, believe that many marketing and sales strategies are more likely to annoy their target audience than to attract them.
"You might feel that you have already evolved into the most politically correct person you can be. Your ads are not offensive your products keep improving, but that's not enough to lure a woman to buy your product rather than a competing brand," warns Mary Lou Quinlan.
Both Quinlan and Barletta point out that women are especially valuable customers. More than men, they typically ask for recommendations from friends and acquaintances before they buy and, if they are happy with a product or service, will recommend it to others. Again, this highlights the powerful influence of mavens on buying decisions.
According to Quinlan and Barletta, women - especially working mothers - lead time-pressured lives and therefore appreciate products that simplify tasks and relieve anxieties.
They prefer product warranties and service guarantees more than extra bells and whistles.
Women don't want to be told a product is "cool"; they want to hear specifics about how it serves their needs and their families' needs.
Both agree that women want marketers to be patient and helpful. "It's frustrating to marketers of high-stakes or big-ticket services such as financial services or cars to be asked to meet with women several times to go through alternatives," writes Quinlan.
But from a woman's point of view, it's necessary: "Women judge the quality of the relationship as well as the quality of a product. They ask a lot of questions and do a lot of listening before they form a trusting relationship to believe what that person is saying about the product," she says.
Quinlan and Barletta reach many of the same conclusions but disagree on some points.
For example, Quinlan says women today – especially working mothers are stressed out.
Barletta believes the opposite: "In fact, women today are proud of how well they cope with stress."
In another point of disagreement, both authors describe a current ad for the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, reaching opposite conclusions as to its effectiveness.
In the ad, writes Barletta, a "gracious, glamorous, silver-haired woman is coming up a red carpet as if to the Academy Awards. Suddenly, she trips and falls flat on her face.
The message: Cholesterol doesn't care who you are; it can even bring a princess down."
Women don't like the ad because they "don't like to see anyone get hurt, even for a good cause," says Barletta. "All I can think is, 'Oooh that poor woman, is she okay?'"
Quinlan praises the same ad for being "cliche-smashing." She says the way to get womens attention is to play against type. "How often have you seen the gray-haired grandmother walking the beach and worrying about her incontinence or arthritis?" she asks.
According to Quinlan, the Lipitor ad is an example of letting older models "be silly and not just sentimental," which, she implies, appeals to women.
On this point, I agree with Barletta, not Quinlan. What do you think?
But the books differ most significantly in how they present their material. Quinlan is CEO of Just Ask a Woman, Inc. (http://www.justaskawoman.com/) a marketing research firm she founded in 1999.
Her main research method is a TV-show format in which Quinlan plays "Oprah" to elicit candid views and opinions from an all-female audience. In her book, Quinlan shares the insights from her interviews of more than 3,000 women.
They have told her that, in their stressed lives, they would appreciate having bank statements that are "understandable" and instructions for cell phones "written in English" (as opposed, presumably, to techie talk).
Surely, a wise bank or cell phone manufacturer would provide same. But a reader can't help wondering, wouldn't men like understandable bank statements and cell phone manuals too? Wouldn't anyone?
Barletta is president of The TrendSight Group (http://www.trendsight.com/), a marketing consulting firm that also was founded four years ago.
Its patented product, the "GenderTrends Marketing Model," provides a process for analyzing how to mesh what you sell and how you sell it with, as Barletta puts it, "female gender culture."
Barletta's book not only describes what women want, it also shows many scenarios where no rule applies to 100% of either gender's buying behavior.
Barletta notes that it is not that women want better products and better service while men don't. It's that women will go to more trouble to obtain what they want.
She points out, for example, that Wyndham Hotels put magnifying mirrors in bathrooms based on suggestions from women who wanted them for applying eye makeup.
Men didn't request the mirrors and probably never would have, according to Barletta, but they appreciated them when they appeared, because it made shaving easier.
One reason it takes women longer to make a buying decision, Barletta explains, is that women want the "perfect answer."
Men will buy a workable answer rather than continue to shop, while women will continue to shop in the hope of finding that perfect answer. Now that sounds familiar.
Women also relate better to "warmer" than to "winner." A Nissan print ad stating "horsepower increased 17%, torque increased 6%, bragging rights increased 100%" is a male-only ad.
Women (even those who know what torque is) don't care as much about bragging rights says Barletta. But an ad for an SUV that says "Think of it as a 4,000 pound guardian angel" is an ad that resonates women.
Both books were helpful to me, but Barletta's book contains more information for marketers regardless of gender.
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