Women see things differently than men. Literally. The retina inside your eye measures light, focus and movement. Rods and cones are important components of the retina that help you see. We have a different number of cones and rods in our eyes and women have more rods in their eyes than men. Rods are sensitive to light and detect small movements in the visual field, meaning women generally have greater peripheral vision than men. Cones help your eyes focus, which equals better depth perception.



Having more rods means women can see the “big picture” or “whole picture” at one time. So how does this affect your marketing strategies toward women?

Watch your lighting. Since rods are sensitive to light, don't make it too bright in your store. If you set up a color poster printing board that highlights your services in your store, don't illuminate it with harsh lighting to bring it out. You also may not want to place it next to a window, where sunlight can bounce off of it.

She sees every corner of your store. Because women have good peripheral vision, when they walk into your store they notice carpet stains, cluttered office shelves, the wall paint color – a lot of things you might not notice, so you need to make sure your store is clean and organized. Don't give her a bad impression when she first walks in.

Help her focus on what you want her to see in your marketing materials. When a woman looks at your brochures or flyers, she'll see everything at once and won't know what to read or look at first if you don't give her “road signs” to follow. Your “road signs” can include making the text you want her to read first bolder, bigger, or a different color. Place the image you want her to see first at the top of the page. If you have multiple images, make the main one bigger than the rest.

Choose your words carefully. Women attach feelings to the words they read and the images they see. And, since women will likely pay attention to all of the words on your marketing materials, make sure every word counts. One word can turn a woman away from your product or service.

Hold a focus group. Gather a bunch of women that are in your target market and ask them to review your marketing materials. You can use materials that you already have, or you can do some cheap poster printing to display many materials at once on one poster board. You can also enlarge your materials and put them on separate posters so the whole group can see them and make comments at the same time. It's a good idea to also have actual samples though, to gauge the feel of your materials. The feel can be just as important as the look.