Noticing Women’s Business and Women’s Pay…say it isn’t so

Lewis Green at l-gsolutions posted a query last month: “Are women-owned
businesses growing at such a rapid rate because that is the best way for women
to overcome a subtle but real male-dominated business environment that
discriminates against women unconsciously and without malice but with harmful
effects?”

The question has been on my mind and in my discussions with other women. Frankly, I don’t know if that’s the only reason for huge growth in women-owned businesses. New Mexico ranks highly, 11th in the nation for women-owned businesses, according to Association of Women’s Business Centers. The state ranks 42nd for women’s pay.

Earlier this spring a Women’s organization – Business and Professional Women whose mission is to advance the cause of all working women – formed a wage club. A waitress at the restaurant hosting the preview event discovered that she was being paid $1.00 less per hour than her male counterpart. Although she did receive a raise as a result of her complaint, she was released from service a few days later.

Evelyn Murphy wrote “Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What to do About it,” a book which is being used as the foundation of the New Mexico Wage Club. Murphy contends that a woman will lose $700,000 to $2 million in earnings over the course of her lifetime because she earns consistently less on the dollar than her male counterparts. For a fact sheet on starting a wage club, click here.

If there is discrimination, I find that there is less reaction. Are women afraid to rock the boat? Is there a bias against women? And, if such a bias exists, does anyone care?

Six P Motto Aligns Perfectly With Guerrilla Marketing

On Monday, Client A planned an introductory lecture for the following Tuesday. He rushed a flyer through the creative process foregoing a proper logo because the artist could not be reached in time and ordered 500 copies from a quick printer for pick up Wednesday. He made a list of 20 places where his flyer would reach potential customers. His wife assured him that she could deliver 25 copies to each of the 20 locations. Unfortunately, nothing happened Wednesday and she didn’t feel well Thursday; then, an out-of-town trip doomed Friday’s deliveries…

This scenario reflects what passes for guerrilla marketing in many small businesses. Contrary to popular opinion, guerrilla marketing doesn’t mean “marketing for free.” Time and energy go into successful events. I revisited this concept as I reviewed The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook. As Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the successful Guerrilla Marketing series notes, “The guerrilla is a cheapskate. She knows that every dollar allocated to marketing is essential, and she doesn’t plan to waste a penny. But she’s not foolish. When necessary, she hires the best designers, media planners, and experts in the business – she realizes that the best is often the cheapest in the end.[1]”

My advice to the client with the introductory lecture:

• Plan further out – three weeks, minimum
• Pay a graphic designer for a flyer template that can then be used for future events
• If there’s no budget for advertising, talk with the employees about getting the word out. Enlist their support in bringing the flyer to the attention of every customer
• Continue to list locations for flyers; divide them up between employees or, pay a delivery service to get them out quickly
• Build an e-list and get permission to mail contacts with news of upcoming events
• Get the event listed on community calendars in local papers and on bulletin boards
• Offer a reward for the most creative idea from employees

Time Management expert and motivational author Brian Tracy offers a Six P Motto which is perfectly applicable in this situation: “Proper prior planning prevents poor performance. “

Other ideas? This is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Let me know what low cost methods have worked well for you.

[1] The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, Jay Levinson & Seth Godin

Passion Creates Advocacy for BPW Young Careerist

Hats off to Trish McKeen, Owner and Executive Director for A New Awakening, Inc. Counseling Agency in Albuquerque, NM who won the Business and Professional Women (BPW) National Title of Young Careerist!

Trish competed at the National BPW Conference in Reno, NV, making her final speech to approximately 1,400 on “Why Mentor Girls at Risk?”

After hearing Trish recap the experience at last night’s local BPW meeting, I’m ready to endorse a Camp BPW program for New Mexico. Because Trish told us about the young girls, their reactions as well as her own, I understood more about her involvement.

Trish didn’t ask the audience to endorse advocacy. She explained how her one day immersion experience created and fostered it. “I am personally a mentor and I am a richer woman for that experience. It has taken strong women who came before me to not accept the status quo and as I stand here today I refuse to let any young girl believe she cannot achieve her dreams.”

Effective? Yes. Her comments reflected passion and authenticity, taking on eloquence as she recapped the experience with stories the audience could see and feel for themselves.

No wonder Trish is a National winner. She inspired our small group of 30 as she outlined her hopes of implementing a similar program in New Mexico.

Congratulations, Trish. We’re proud of you for your achievement and for setting a benchmark that we can aspire to as you show us how to make the world better. We’re proud that you walk your talk. We're proud that you're part of BPW/NM.

Gorilla Marketing, Anyone?

When I Googled Gorilla Marketing I found "promotional products you'll go ape over." So, I assumedthe "Gorilla Marketing and the Web series" advertised in the UNM Anderson School of Management Professional Development Certificate Programs for Fall 2007 was in error. Then, I saw an advertisement for "Website Marketing Secrets for Total Domination." Give me that, I thought.

Guerrilla is defined in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary as a person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage. Gorilla, on the other hand is defined by the same publication as 1 : a very large typically black-colored anthropoid ape (Gorilla gorilla) of equatorial Africa that has a stocky body with broad shoulders and long arms and is less erect and has smaller ears than the chimpanzee or, 2 a : an ugly or brutal man b : THUG, GOON.

Author Jay Conrad Levinson, the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, has sold more than 14 million books in the Guerrilla Marketing series. He defines Guerrilla Marketing as "...a body of unconventional ways of pursuing conventional goals. It is a proven method of achieving profits with minimum money."

Intrigued, I continued my research. It's official. Gorilla Marketing was a typo. The online version purports to build and maintain brand equity through (in part) Guerrilla Marketing as discussed by Andrea Lake, Season 5 Candidate on The Apprentice.

Moral of the story: The online correction means that someone got the message. We'd all like to run error-free. That's not always possible; Errors or not, moving forward is the name of the game. Good move, UNM.

How have you handled errors in your business?