Women in Business

Web Site Marketing
The rules for marketing a web site have changed during the few years this tool has been available. The chart below lists these modifications.

 How the 5 C’s of Web Marketing Have Changed

Before

1. Cool – Well branded, reflect personality of company
2. Content – Flashy, form vs function
3. Context – Easy to navigate
4. Contact – Customers easily communicate with company
5. Control – Keeping control of customer information

1. Cognition – Site awareness through search engines, e-mail, traditional advertising methods
2. Communication – Visitors should be able to contact company in various ways
3. Consummation – Site is a utility, consumer gets something accomplished
4. Commerce – Ability for consumer to buy from site
5. Consent – Respecting privacy, permission marketing

Alternative Care in HMOs
Two-thirds of HMOs now offer at least one type of alternative care service to their members. Chiropractic care is offered by 65%, 43% of which do not consider it to be alternative. The chart below provides a list of alternative modalities being offered by HMOs.

Gender Differences in Ranking Job Aspects
What’s in a job? It depends on which gender you ask. Women are more likely than men to regard various aspects of their job as “extremely important.”

Smart Web Sites
Several web sites now offer a feature that helps users select movies, recipes, music, and even gifts that match their preferences. This technology, collaborative filtering, collects personal data that the user furnishes about tastes and buying habits, then provides the user with recommendations based on that information.

Online Lawyers
Many lawyers, in an attempt to find new clients, are signing up to offer their services via online legal service web sites. About 50 of these web sites are currently in existence. The advantage is that lawyers can sift through potential clients without spending hours in consultation with someone who may not turn into a paying client. The good news for consumers is that they get a personal e-mail response to a legal question for a modest fee of around $40.

So, what’s the problem? Dissidents list ethical issues such as fee sharing and lawyers giving advice to someone in a state where the lawyer is not licensed. Because these online services are not regulated, customers may be receiving answers from someone who is not qualified. Attorneys also worry that an online client can easily lie about his or her identity or the circumstances of the case.  

Overpriced Products
Consumers view several products as being overpriced for what they, as consumers, get for their money. See the chart below.

1. Cereals
2. Clothing
3. Automobiles
4. Prescriptions/other drugs
5. Food in general
6. Health care
7. Gasoline
8. Bread/baked goods
9. Coffee
10. Fruits

Nouveau Rich
Today’s newly rich – from stock market gamblers to Internet entrepreneurs – don’t have the same old money guilt-free stance when it comes to luxury purchases. High-end marketers need to understand these “conditional hedonists” who seek to justify extravagance. Unlike their moneyed predecessors, value and craftsmanship rate much higher than ritzy branding.

Generation Xers Value Time
A poll of 3,000 college students and recent graduates shows that almost two-thirds value their lifestyle above financial considerations. Thirty-five percent say the job benefit they desire most is “flexible hours.” See the chart below for a ranking of preferred benefits.

Restaurants Must Cater to Different Tastes
According to the National Restaurant Association, full service restaurant sales should reach $128.1 billion this year, up 5.9% from 1999 and 33% from 1995. An important part of the eating-out experience is the restaurant’s atmosphere. However, different people want different atmospheres.

• 75% of adults want to eat where they can hold quiet conversations (more important to women than men)
• 45% of adults want a lively and entertaining atmosphere. This is true for 70% of Generation Y and 55% of Generation X.
• 68% of Generation Y likes live entertainment or music while dining. Fewer than three in 10 Baby Boomers seek this.

Hospitals Jump to 'Net
A recent survey by VHA, Inc. indicates a phenomenal growth since last year in the number of hospitals using the Internet. More than 80% of hospital staff and physicians are now connected. The largest growth during this time was in staff physician use, which bounded from 28% to 82%.

Weight Loss Industry Flourishing
Between 1998 and 1999, the weight loss market grew 7.9% to reach $32.31 billion. Expected growth for 2000 – when 51 million Americans are expected to begin some kind of diet plan – is another 7.4% to reach $43.50 billion. According to Marketdata Enterprises, these growth rates are higher than for most of the 1990s.

Weight Loss Industry Trends

1. The number of weight loss centers operated by major chains continues to decrease as many companies move over to Internet-based sales and counseling.

2. New diet drugs that became available in 1999 are generating two million prescriptions per year.

3. Medically supervised modified fasting programs, currently used by around 120,000 individuals, are becoming more popular again.

4. Meal replacement sales – mostly shakes and nutrition bars – reached $1.47 billion in 1999 and growth is expected to continue.

5. Diet materials such as books, cassettes and exercise video sales are expected to increase 14.4% in 2000.

Courtroom Tactics
Classic films such as “Inherit the Wind” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” as well as the more recent “My Cousin Vinny” offer attorneys lessons in courtroom techniques. Simplicity of the story, positioning in the courtroom, voice changes, and props are key to getting the message across. Some strategy techniques to consider are:

• Prepare the case backwards by creating the closing argument first.
• Create a one-liner that summarizes the case and use it as needed to give the jury a sense of where the case is going.
• Physically embrace evidence that is damaging to the client to make it less threatening to the jury.
• Talk louder and faster when things are heating up
• Use a slower speech pattern to show how a witness had time to make an observation.

More Web Sites Seeking Advertisers
The cost for advertising on the Internet has stabilized at $33.75 per CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions). Since total advertising revenue is growing faster than expected, many other web sites are jumping into the fray. The number of sites seeking advertisers bounded from 1,033 in December 1997 to 3,347 in December 1999.

Online Shoppers Buying Consumables
Two in five online shoppers bought consumable products during 1999. Consumables include health & beauty, healthcare and prescription pharmaceuticals, groceries and household supplies, gourmet foods, and pet supplies. These shoppers already buy other products such as books, gifts, music and fashion via the Internet. They are middle-aged, well educated and technically well informed. This group shops online for price and convenience and expects to find a wide selection with full product descriptions. These shoppers also expect to receive an e-mail confirmation with details about their purchase.

Bullets

• Ninety percent of U.S. companies are family controlled or operated, including one-third of Fortune 500 companies. Combined, these companies employ 55% of the U.S. workforce and produce 49% of the gross national product.

• The average American golfer spent $1,212 on golf-related services during 1998.

• Web sites offering legal advice or news on legal issues are now available. Check out www.uslaw.com, www.findlaw.com, www.freeadvice.com, www.law.com, www.lawguru.com and www.uscourts.gov.

• The Native Forest Network reports that 100 million trees are ground up for paper to produce the 4.5 million tons of junk mail sent out each year.

• Consumer sales generated by telemarketing calls totaled more than $200 billion in 1998.

• Almost 17 billion catalogs (64 for every man, woman and child) were mailed in the U.S. during 1998.

• The number of magazine readers jumped 24% from 1995 to 1998.

• During 1998, households with income under $10,000 that donated to charities gave an average of 5.2% of their incomes; households making over $100,000 that donated gave 2.2%.

• The number of men who color their hair has tripled in the last decade.

• Americans make an average of 500 household shopping trips by automobile each year.

• Eighty percent of men say it is acceptable for a girl to ask a boy out, compared to 62% of women.

• One in four American adults has experienced at least one divorce.

• About 84% of pet owners consider themselves their animals’ mom or dad; 87% include them in holiday celebrations. Sixty-five percent sometimes sing or dance with or for their pet.

• Almost 2 out of 3 companies have disciplined employees for misusing the Internet.

• Almost 63% of American adults drink coffee; drinkers consume 2.9 cups per day on average.

• Because of the Internet, one-half of all U.S. financial transactions will soon be conducted electronically, with one-third of all bank branches closing as a result.

• Two-thirds of Internet users say they provide accurate personal information when registering at web sites.

• Debit card use is growing 43% annually; the average transaction expenditure is $37.68.

• The percentage of new-vehicle buyers using the Internet to aid them during the purchase process grew to 40% in 1999, up from 25% in 1998.

• The World Wide Web now has more than one billion unique pages. The number of working web sites is approximately 4.2 million.

• Seventy-eight percent of web users who are age 55 or older have made at least one purchase online.

• Sixty-five percent of Americans think sales taxes (an amount comparable to taxes paid in a local store) should be charged on purchases made over the Internet.

• One-third of all American adults have worked in the restaurant industry at some time in their lives.

• Lawyer conduct in personal injury cases and real estate cases spawned the greatest number of malpractice claims—4,147 and 2,750, respectively—from 1990 to 1995.

• Most (72%) Internet users say that having online access has made their lives better, while 2% say their lives are worse and 26% see no difference.

• More than one-third of 16- to 22-year-olds will make a purchase online during 2000, spending $4.5 billion (over 10% of their disposable income). Within four years, over 50% will be shopping online.

• During 1999, 22% of U.S. business travelers (39.8 million) and 10% of pleasure travelers used the Internet or checked their email while traveling.

• One-half of all white-collar criminals convicted in U.S. federal courts from 1993 to 1997 were sentenced to prison.

• Almost 100 million Americans have at least one chronic health condition. The most common ones are orthopedic impairments, sinusitis, hypertension, hay fever, hearing impairments and arthritis.

• According to Men’s Health magazine, being in an unhappy marriage increases an individual’s chance of becoming ill and shortens his/her life by four years.

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