When I say "hugely successful investor," we pretty much all think "Warren Buffett," right? Would you be surprised to find out that his style of researching and being patient with his investments is more typically feminine than masculine? Now, does that make him a sissy?


A recent Motley Fool article by LouAnn DiCosmo, closes with this:
It's possible, dear reader, that you're of the male persuasion, but don't fret. By focusing on the traits that created superinvestor Warren Buffett -- patience, the willingness to dig deep, the ability to wait for the right price, and the desire to buy and hold instead of trade, trade, trade -- you can awaken the feminine side of your investment psyche. Consider it. Your portfolio will thank you for it.
Ms. DiCosmo's article makes me wonder how a guy would feel about reading a book or attending a conference about investing like a woman. He probably wouldn't be all that interested. But, wouldn't most every guy be interested in a book or presentation about making lots of money through patience, a willingness to dig deep, the ability to wait for the right price, and the desire to buy and hold - when it is proclaimed to be Buffett's approach? It is a little more likely.
When you take the mention of "female" out of the equation - voila - the issue is a lot more accessible to men. The difference is not in content, but in semantics. Whether your products/services are investment-related or not, as a marketer you must decide whether to call out the feminine aspects of your wares, or keep those aspects on the down low so they can do their magic without being so named. I pick the latter as the best default approach.
Why?
Over eight or so years of studying marketing to women, I've learned that men can, and may often still, be quite alienated by a product, initiative, or strategy using the word "women" in its packaging or promotional materials. I've recently interviewed a lot of businessmen, psychologists and sociologists to get to the root of this, and I have also been exploring the most effective way to counter this sort of gender-focus polarization. What I've found is that even a slight change in word choice and tone can help inspire more men to engage with the power of a feminine trait marketing focus (let's not call it marketing to women, for now).
Consider "men's jobs" vs "women's work." Those labels kept a lot of women and men out of certain careers for years. Thankfully, this has changed much by now - and women are doctors and CEOs, while men are nurses and teachers. There is still evidence of such gender label polarization in the marketplace - but today's so-savvy consumers can see, and buy, right past it.
Look around and you'll notice a small but trend-igniting selection of supposed "women's products" - like skin care or fashion-forward apparel, that appeal to the men's market. This follows right along with the more established fact that women are big purchasers of lawn mowers, cars and homes these days - all of which were formerly understood to be solely within a man's realm.
Both as consumers and at work, it seems that women and men are getting comfortable with - and society is more allowing of - crossing those often arbitrarily assigned gender barriers of our past. Our lives and our markets are expanding because of larger cultural transitions. This may be worth a little celebrating, my friends.
Anyway -
If the most famous investor invests "like a girl," and any powerful woman these days is said to have achieved such success because she operates "like a guy" - all bets may be off. The point is more often in that which underlies the gender-assignment of "feminine" or "masculine" traits. Warren Buffett has unique traits and characteristics that make him who he is - which happen to come from the perhaps more feminine side of his brain, and then lead to his making a lot of money. In the same way, Oprah has unique traits and characteristics (some extremely and typically feminine, of course, but others - like building a media empire - more typically masculine) that make her who she is: an also very powerful, rich human.
It's the same with your customers. Perhaps, as a group, they exhibit some strong feminine characteristics - so you serve those well (of course). Is there really a need to tell them and the world that you've done most of your consumer research into how women, and not men, buy? No. Given the tended-to details of your brand experience, you should be able to trust that your customers - male and female - will recognize that you "get" them and their unique ways.
Your new mantra: Expand your markets by striving for a more female-focused walk, while giving the world less female-focused talk.
Now - let's get back to learning to invest "like Warren Buffett"..