Women's initiatives should bring in sales as well as help marketing

Women’s Initiatives Miss Opportunities

You might be asking, "What’s a women’s initiative?" Many people ask that question. Women’s initiatives have been around for decades but, in general, they haven’t been marketed properly. This lack of understanding is only one of the reasons why companies develop initiatives for their women but fail to take advantage of all the opportunities.

Women’s initiatives continue to emerge in corporations, professional services firms, non-profit agencies and communities. Most initiatives are developed to provide resources for the recruitment, advancement and retention of women. The intentions are certainly admirable, yet most women’s initiatives exclude marketing and sales goals.

Here’s what I’ve observed about why these initiatives often miss opportunities:

1. The (usually white) guys at the top are confused about the purpose of a women’s initiative. And, many of the guys are uncomfortable speaking up about it.

2. The human resources department is expected to take a lead role in the execution along with only a small team of very busy people. This puts the initiative in a position to miss marketing and sales opportunities.

3. Not enough time, resources and attention are provided for strategic communications that properly pitch the initiative.

4. Marketing and Communications professionals are not tapped to identify and communicate benefits to client service, marketing, business development, recruiting and employee retention.

5. Sales and Business Development professionals are not expected (or simply don’t understand how) to identify sales opportunities that will arise from the initiative.

6. The champions of the initiative don’t provide a good business case for having the initiative in the first place, which will lead to lack of support down the road.

7. Throwing a big yearly event does not an initiative make.

8. The champions of the initiative (usually women) are not given enough budget or authority to make a real impact.

9. The champions of the initiative are typically not sales or marketing-minded.

10. There’s often a failure to recognize the ramifications on the initiative from those who will get excluded.

People initiatives, such as initiatives for women, serve an important purpose in the recruitment and retention health of organizations yet there are marketing and sales opportunities that should accompany the undertaking to make it more meaningful and inspired. No missed opportunities.