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Donna Fox wrote an excellent blog post last week which prompted some interesting discussions about women in Internet Marketing.

I didn’t blog immediately about it, partly because I wanted to mull things over a little first (i.e. not be reactionary) but also because I made a lot of my feelings known previously in these posts: Where have all the good girls gone? and Celebrate your differences!

But, this topic is slightly different from the focus of those posts, and in light of my new project (Secret Women’s Business Network) with Allison Reynolds and Barb Sabathil, I wanted to highlight one or two things.

As mentioned before, there are simply fewer women in Internet Marketing, although this balance appears to be gradually shifting, especially with so many women choosing to be SAHMs and wanting a career they can pursue from home. The imbalance is reflected in business as a whole – in the UK the latest figures show that the male to female ratio of self-employed workers is 3:1.

Also, many women have a different focus when it comes to their Internet businesses. Their priorities are often dissimilar to men, and hanging out with the top Internet Marketers is not necessarily one of them.

I enjoy male company and most of my closest friends are men (perhaps a throwback to my years in what was a heavily male-dominated career – radio presenting), but I understand that many women prefer to socialise and “hang out” with other women. That’s why SWBN has been created: to offer an environment where women can learn, network and mastermind with other women. This will appeal to some women more than others.

There are all-female business groups throughout the world, established for just this reason, so it’s not fair to suggest that male Internet Marketers shouldn’t have their own mastermind groups and friendships. We are all drawn to socialise with others like us, and we all like to network with people whose company we enjoy. Internet Marketers are no different. This may mean networking with other women, with other men or with a mixed community – wherever is most comfortable.

However, that wasn’t really what Donna Fox was writing about in her blog post. There are women in Internet Marketing who want and deserve to be known for being at the top of their field, and being accepted into the upper echelons of this business is part of that. They have set themselves goals to be the best at what they do. Part of this would naturally include being invited to speak at seminars and be recognised as one of the movers and shakers. And I think that female marketers at all levels need to see that happening – in any career, we need our mentors and role-models.

While I have no problem with the “boys club” within mastermind groups and social networks (none of us has the right to tell others how to pick their friends and associates), at events and programs that are supposed to bring together the cream of online marketers it seems unlikely (and remiss) that this wouldn’t include a number of women.

There may not be as many women at this level as men, but they certainly exist. I set myself the task of naming as many as possible off the top of my head and in just a few minutes came up with 18 (Donna Fox, Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero, Lynn Terry, Alice Seba, Michelle MacPherson, Rosalind Gardner, Julie Perry, Lee Milteer, Coach Deb, Kelly McCausey, Nancy Andrews, Sylvie Fortin, Sydney Johnson, Mari Smith, Liz Tomey, Mila Sidman, Lisa Preston, Loral Langemeier…). I’m sure if I delved deeper into the recesses of my brain I could name many more.

We all have our personal goals in life and our careers. Probably for most this will not include being recognised at Internet Marketing events. You may simply aim to be good at what you do and live the lifestyle that enticed you to online marketing. But for women whose goals include becoming a seminar speaker, writer and/or teacher in this field, it’s important to be recognised for their skills, not because they are women but because they are good at what they do. It shouldn’t be a question of sex, it should be a matter of talent.

And, before I upset all the men I respect in this business, I am happy to report that I have almost always been treated with respect at marketing conferences and meet-ups (not because I am a woman, but because I am a fellow marketer with as much to offer as anybody else). There are those that have patronised me for being a woman, but thankfully they have been the exception not the rule. Frankly, those that have been patronising are not people I want to hang out with anyway.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Secret Women’s Business Network and finding other women to network and mastermind with (or you simply want to learn more about online marketing in a fun and comfortable environment), please sign up for more information from SWBN.

One marketing concept Dan Kennedy often talks about is to take an idea that is working in another market or business and apply it to your own.

I notice that recently in Internet Marketing the trend is to give away a lot of stuff for free (or nearly free). To lose out on the front end with the long term plan of making money on the back-end. Actually, this isn’t new even by IM terms but marketers are now giving stuff away on a MASSIVE scale (see the recent Stompernet promotion). These promotions cause a major buzz and news spreads virally. It may take 6 months or a year (or longer) to start profiting from an event like this, but the investment will be worth it for future profits.

Of course, anything that is done online has probably been done successfully offline – good marketing is good marketing and will work as well now as it did 100 years ago. Dentists will give away free or virtually free tooth whitening to bring in new clients who will eventually pay high premiums for cosmetic work on their teeth. Housing companies will pay for you to move into your new home because eventually they will see huge profits from your purchase.

And yet, it surprises me that with this marketing tactic working so well for so many years that more companies don’t employ it.

When I worked at TopShop one Christmas 15 years ago, we were told that a customer should always be given a carrier bag when they buy something. In fact, no customer should leave the shop without a TopShop carrier bag. This is another great marketing tactic. As much as we like to think of ourselves as individuals and free thinkers, humans are actually conditioned to follow the crowd, so the more people who are seen with TopShop bags, the more likely others will come in and shop there too.

In this era of environmental ‘friendliness’, it would be silly for a company to insist someone use a plastic carrier bag, and all the supermarkets in the UK now sell bags made of cloth, jute and strong plastic so customers can use them again and again. They also reward customers with pennies off (or loyalty points) for using their own bags, so it’s not unusual for a customer to use Sainsburys branded cloth bags in Tesco and vice versa.

I was thinking last year that it would make a lot of sense for one of the supermarkets to have a Big Green Bag giveaway, where every customer was given at least one re-useable shopping bag. If that bag was branded with their supermarket name, it would create the same effect as the TopShop bags were supposed to create 15 years ago. It wouldn’t matter where they actually shopped, other people would think they were regular shoppers at XXX supermarket. Plus, the goodwill it would create would be enormous.

I waited and waited for a supermarket to run with that idea (OK, maybe I should have contacted my favourite, but that’s what they have marketing departments for). I believe Sainsburys did do something similar back in 2006 but only for customers who bought a certain number of items from their organic range (close but no cigar).

Eventually, Morrisons had the right idea. Only problem was that they gave away strong plastic bags instead of cloth or jute bags. They may last longer but plastic is still plastic and when the bag splits it will still take centuries to biodegrade. They chose the cheap option.

Maybe Sainsburys or Tesco will eventually take a hint from the Stompernet launch and realise the value of giving away stuff on a massive scale i.e. great quality shopping bags, fully branded with their name. When they do, remember you heard it here first (unless I simply missed them do it already) and I will expect my fee from their marketing budget.

In the meantime, think about what you can learn from the Stompernet launch or any other good marketing tactic you see online or offline. How could you apply it to your business?