So, who are we, the 21^st Century women,  and how can you reach us most effectively not only about your products but our desire for wellness?

We’re your sister, daughter, mother or grandmother.  There are millions of today’s women like me out there, across all cultures, and you can reach us by going beyond traditional loyalty strategies like incentives and coupons. Give us a vested interest in seeing your brand thrive in our time-constrained, multi-dimensional lives; and market with us, not to us, so you can help us shape a more integrated approach to physical, mental and emotional health….all the while helping you go beyond loyalty strategies to brand attachment.

The key is the four C’s: Coaching, Conversation, Connection, and Charisma.  In this blogpost: I’ll give you a snapshot about coaching.

Coaching:  Giving Women Tools for Wellness

Women value a personal and interactive experience that shows that you care about our health and are also interested in our wellness or well-being. From a marketing perspective, this is a critical first step in behavior change. From smoking, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and heart disease to obesity and weight management, behavior change tools are key to improving our health.

By providing a coaching service that reinforces self-management and personal responsibility, obstacles to self-efficacy are identified and talked about openly.  Alli’s “Are You Ready” question puts control of her life and weight loss in each woman’s own hands, empowering her with accountability.  This is an effective strategy towards long term behavior change, and provides a leadership position from which others to follow and expand upon.

Studies show that many women today prefer to make lifestyle changes when there is a “fun” component included.  Dr. Michelle Segar, a research investigator, at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan, and founder of a women’s lifestyle coaching methodology called EssentialSteps® has done extensive research showing that women will sustain health behavior changes if they do so to enhance their life and not simply to lose weight.

In her study of two groups of women (one group motivated by desired weight loss, the other by positive impact on mood and stress level), the women who were motivated by its potential for positive impact on mood and stress level had a higher rate of success in remaining engaged in a regular exercise routine. According to her research, exercise is related to improving mood which increases the desire to continue, which ironically then results in weight loss as a delightful by-product.

Join us on September 17th at 7:30 pm on our blogtalkradio show to meet Michelle Segar and to learn more about coaching for weight management and other conditions that affect women’s overall health.

If you’d like to check out our Real Women on Health blog for women, I look forward to your comments!