Marketing

(COVER PHOTO) Credit: Isabella Disley (designed on Canva)   Have you ever noticed that feminine products and services are more expensive than their male counterparts? That is because of a phenomenon known as the pink tax. From hygiene products to getting a haircut, women find themselves paying more money for goods and services, simply because they’re categorized as feminine.   In order to better understand just why this phenomenon exists, I enlisted the help of two people, Isabelle Salle, a Canada Research Chair in Macroeconomics and a Full Professor at the University of Ottawa, and Siobhan Rollo, a 22 year old woman from Ottawa who has been dealing with the pink tax her whole life, to help me uncover the truth.   “The pink tax is not literally a tax like the GST or an import tax; it is rather a sex-based price discrimination: it is the extra amount women often pay for products or services that are marketed specifically to them when those items are functionally identical to those marketed to men,” said Salle.   To Rollo, she felt similarly about the pink tax, “It’s the phenomenon where products that are marketed towards women specifically are often priced higher than products of the same nature and quality that are marketed towards men.”   But why are the prices different? Rollo identified that stereotypes are the root cause of the pink tax’s existence.   “I think that the pink tax exists because of old stereotypes that come from the idea that since women care more for their appearance, they’ll pay more for products meant for women. I think it also comes from the statistic that since women are bigger consumers than men, companies take advantage of marketing specifically towards women to make their products appeal more,” said Rollo.   Salle explained that it could partially be explained due to the way companies’ market and advertise their products. When shopping for these products, it is easy to identify the target gender due to the packaging.   “Often the justification is a slightly different design or packaging, or even extra ingredients such as scent, included for women and not for men. For companies, the pink tax is mostly, in fact, a profitable marketing strategy that also exploits the higher willingness of women to pay for these products. Women are, on average, more willing to spend more for a more aesthetically appealing version of a product than men,” said Salle.   Salle added that ‘sex-based differentiation’ and ‘behavioural biases’ are strategies that play a role in the pink tax.   “Sex-based differentiation may lead to higher sales if items that could be sex-generic are marketed towards a specific sex and therefore end up purchased differently by each sex. Sex-based differentiation creates artificial segmentation in markets where companies can then charge different prices. One segment is then priced at a premium, the women’s segment in this case. These products are typically demand-driven: companies also respond to consumers’ willingness-to-pay,” said Salle.   In addition to hygiene products, Salle listed clothes, dry cleaning, and children’s items mainly being affected by the pink tax, where “the premium can be routinely as high as 30%.”   In most cases, feminine products have more colouring on the outer packaging. For instance, feminine products are pink, while male products are blue. Additionally, products such as shampoo that are advertised for men have it written on the packaging.   To see just how bad the pink tax is, I went to see what was sitting on the shelves of stores like Shoppers Drug Mart, such as hygiene products including shampoo, razors and shaving cream.   The first example is shampoo. In the image, the Aveeno shampoo retails for $14.99, while the Dove shampoo marketed specifically towards men is $8.65 but is on sale for $4.99. This adds up to a price difference between the two products of $10, and even if the Dove shampoo were not on sale, it would still be cheaper than the Aveeno counterpart.   Photo credit: Isabella Disley   Another example would be shaving products such as razors and shaving cream/foam. The Gillette Venus razor ($26.99) costs over double the price of the Bic ($10.99). The packaging of the Gillette Venus razor, which is advertised towards women, has a variety of colours, while Bic’s which is advertised for men as seen on the price tag, has more neutral colours.   Photo credit: Isabella Disley   In this instance, other than the $2.21 price difference between EOS ($7.90) and Gillette ($5.69) products, the actual name of the product is a different term too. The EOS product has the words ‘shaving cream,’ while Gillette has ‘shaving foam.’ In this case, there is also the stereotypical gender discrepancy on the packaging that was found on the last two previous examples.   Photo credit: Isabella Disley   So how can consumers avoid the pink tax? Both Rollo and Salle found a solution by switching to men’s products.   “The pink tax used to affect me in the form of hair removal. Women’s razors really suck, and as someone with an Italian background, I used to go through women’s razors twice as fast as my friends. When I started using men’s razors, that issue improved,” said Rollo.   When Salle was younger, she became aware of the pink tax while shopping for beauty products with her mother.   “I systematically buy the men’s products when available and functionally similar. I also thrive to focus on functionality and quality rather than the aesthetic of the packaging,” said Salle.   The best thing to do to avoid the pink tax is to have a keen eye for comparing the products’ brands, prices and packaging. Consumers should do their own research to educate and further gain knowledge on the products that they are buying/using, especially those who may be vulnerable to marketing strategies.   “At the end of the day, if women stop falling for these tricks, companies will adjust and limit the pink tax. Therefore, public education on the issue is crucial. Social media campaigns to raise awareness may also help and push companies to decrease the pink

Colours play an important role in shaping a business’s brand identity and public perceptions. While a business can be known predominantly for one colour, having multiple colours available for branding, marketing and other similar ventures is strategic. But how do you choose colours that go well together? How will you know that your colour combination is pleasing to the eye? This is where colour theory comes in. Keep reading to learn the basics of colour theory and how to elevate your brand identity. What is colour theory? Simply put, colour theory is a practical guide for colour mixing and combination. At a fundamental level, colour theory explains relationships between 12 colours across three categories, primary, secondary and tertiary. The three primary colours are red, blue and yellow. The three secondary colours, orange, green and violet, are made by combining primary colours. Finally, the six tertiary colours are created by combining a primary colour with one secondary colour next to it on the colour wheel. The colour wheel The colour wheel places the 12 colours discussed above into a ring or circle. While colours exist on a spectrum,  the colour wheel helps visualize relationships between colours and map out pleasing combinations. Some basic colour combinations include complementary, analogous, triadic and split complementary. These are not the only combinations, but they are a helpful starting place if you are unsure where to begin. Complementary colours Complementary colours are opposites of each other on the colour wheel. For example, red is complementary to green. Complementary colours have the highest contrast and can be harsh when placed beside each other. Consider making one more neutral to lessen the impact, or use one colour as a base and the other as an accent. Analogous colours Analogous colours sit directly beside each other on the colour wheel. Their close proximity means they have less contrast and harmonize well. Sometimes, analogous colours might be too close together, making them hard to distinguish. If this is the case, try changing the saturation or value levels to increase their contrast. Triadic colours Triadic colours are equal distances apart on the colour wheel, forming a triangle. The three primary colours, red, blue and yellow, are an example of a triadic combination. Here, you may encounter a similar issue as complementary colours, and the contrast may need to be lowered. If you use equal amounts of each colour in a triad, none will stand out. To fix this issue, consider using one colour predominantly while using the other two as accents.   Split complementary colours To find a combination of split complementary colours, start by finding two complementary colours that are opposites on the wheel. Then, choose one of the colours and go a certain number of hues down one direction and the same number of hues in the other direction. You now have three colours, as one of the complementary colours has been split into two. For example, take the complementary colours red and green. Looking at the colour wheel, going one space away from green in one direction gives yellow-green, and going one space the other way gives blue-green. This leaves you with a split complementary combination of red, yellow-green and blue-green.  Combinations like these offer the same interesting contrast of complementary colours while covering a wider range of colours. Hue This refers to the position of a colour on the colour wheel and is sometimes called the “base colour.” The saturations and values of different hues are often changed to create contrast and interest in colour combinations. Saturation This refers to how vibrant a colour is. High saturation results in a rich, bright colour, while low saturation is muted. Lowering saturation all the way will result in a shade of grey. Changing saturations can drastically affect how hues look, making saturation a crucial tool for adjusting contrast between colours and improving colour harmony.  Value Value, sometimes called “brightness,”  refers to how light or dark a colour is. Black has the lowest value, and white has the highest. Similar to adjusting saturation, adjusting value is another way to change the contrast between colours without altering the hue. Perception The way we perceive colour is affected by other colours around it. For example, a red box on a blue background will not look the same on an orange background. Keep this in mind when choosing which colours to place beside each other. Placing colours that are too similar beside each other will make them both look washed out, while having too many contrasting colours will cause them to clash. Finding a good balance is important so the colours are perceived the way you intend. Accessibility When designing a website, logo or anything requiring colour, readability should be a primary focus. The colours chosen should be distinct enough from each other that anyone can understand what you are saying. Many free resources are available online, like the Coolors colour checker, which determines if the contrast ratio of two chosen colours is acceptable according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Several other aspects of colour theory are more complex, but this is a good starting point. Continue to research and experiment with different colours and combinations to see what works best for your business.

Blogging is a great way to attract customers and keep them interested in your business. By consistently uploading posts, readers will always have new content to look forward to. Blogging is also a great way to increase customer engagement while also enhancing retention rates. One of the most important aspects of blogging is understanding search engine optimization (SEO). SEO describes building a website so it ranks highly in search engine results. The higher your website ranks in search results, the more likely users will click on it. Using SEO principles, such as implementing keywords and having well-written content, when developing blog posts can boost your business performance by driving more traffic to your company’s website and generating more sales. Read on to learn about the key components to consider when starting your business blog to boost web traffic and create customer relationships. Keywords A keyword is a phrase that will lead to your blog post when searched. For example, if you write a post about common website design mistakes, your keyword might be “design mistakes.” Keywords must be researched thoroughly before being chosen to ensure they are effective. It is important to choose keywords that your audience is searching for. In the website design example, selecting the keyword “design mistakes” works well because it is simple but not too broad. If the keyword is too niche,  it won’t matter how high it ranks on search results because barely anyone will be searching for it in the first place. Using keywords that are too broad or popular is also a mistake. If the keyword is too general or popular, countless other websites will use the same keyword, and your website isn’t likely to rank highly among them. The key is to balance specificity and broadness when selecting a keyword. This will require lots of research to see which keywords are currently popular and what other sites are using them. Keyword research also requires knowing your audience well. If you know what specific phrases your customers are searching for, you’re more likely to attract the kinds of people who would be interested in your blog and, by extension, your business. Keyword optimization Once you have chosen a keyword, you must place it strategically across your blog to boost search rankings. This is how search engines will know that the chosen phrase is your keyword. Important places to incorporate your keyword include: Overall, you want to use your keyword several times throughout your post, but you still want it to seem natural. Overusing your keyword can be just as bad as not using it enough, as a reader might find your post clunky to read and inorganic.  Readability Readability refers to how easy your post is to navigate. Readers should be able to quickly find the information they are looking for and shouldn’t have to read your entire post if they’re only looking for specific information. Short paragraphs are a good way to increase readability. Breaking up longer text into smaller chunks makes reading easier on the eyes and less daunting than large text blocks. Another way to improve readability is by using subheadings. This splits your post into groups of relevant information and makes it easier to navigate. Readers only have to quickly scroll to the subheading they are interested in instead of reading through the entire post.  Links There are generally two kinds of links used on a website: internal and external. Internal links lead to other pages of the same website and are a great way to increase page views. By including internal links in your posts, readers will be directed to more of your posts or other pages of your website. Ensure that any links included are relevant to the topic at hand. They should lead to extra information, a more in-depth explanation about a topic, or anything else still related to the original post. External links can also be useful. These links lead to other websites and may be used to explain a topic further or to provide a source for some information. Either way, they lend credibility to a post and help readers trust the information you share. Images Breaking up text by including images is another way to improve readability. Images like graphs and charts can also help readers to understand a topic more easily. Even including simple pictures relevant to the post helps make it more engaging. If you don’t think your post works well with images, try including an infographic. An infographic presents information visually by using diagrams and charts instead of text. This is a great way to present the same information in a different format that is easy to read. Post ideas Constantly creating new blog posts is difficult, so here are some reusable post ideas to get you started. A blog is a great marketing tool for businesses because gaining more readers can increase customer engagement. Make sure to continue researching to understand your audience better and provide them with content they’ll want to keep reading. 

With the growing popularity of social media, does email still have a place among today’s marketing strategies? Just as email seemed to overshadow more traditional marketing methods before it, will social media make email marketing less effective? Read ahead to learn about the future of email marketing and if businesses should be redirecting their marketing efforts to newer strategies. The statistics From a statistical standpoint, email still has the potential to reach a wide audience. A report published by The Radicati Group Inc. estimates that by the end of 2023, the number of email users worldwide will reach 4.37 billion. This is a 2.7 per cent increase from 2022. This number is expected to grow by around 2.5 per cent every year, meaning there will be no shortage of customers to reach via email any time soon.  A study published by Management Letters found that the number of existing email accounts is three times as much as Facebook and Twitter accounts combined. Email marketing will likely continue to be an effective tool based on the current and projected growth of email accounts.   Email marketing has also been proven to still be profitable. In 2009, companies could expect around $43.50 in return for every dollar invested into email marketing. A 2019 study updated this value to $42. Despite this slight decrease, email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective marketing methods. Additionally, email marketing contributes to around 21 per cent of total sales on average. Pros and cons Like any marketing strategy, email marketing has its pros and cons. As mentioned before, email marketing is cost-effective compared to other forms of marketing. Since there are no factors such as advertising or printing fees to consider, this helps drive down costs. Another pro of email marketing is that it is permission-based, meaning every customer who signs up for an email list has actively chosen to do so. These individuals are likely already interested in a business if they have signed up for email updates, so they are also more likely to engage with its marketing campaigns. Companies can also easily personalize emails, such as placing customers’ names in the email or including information that specific customers might be interested in. On the other hand, one of the downsides of email marketing is that many email platforms now have more sophisticated junk filters. If a user has not interacted with an email address, emails from that address may be placed into spam or junk folders. This means there is no guarantee that a customer will even see a business’s email in the first place. Another challenge with email is the long-term commitment. Many users come and go from subscriber lists, and it can often be difficult for businesses to retain their customer’s interest over longer periods. Quick tips Though email marketing is still effective, it can only perform well when used correctly. Here are some quick tips to help craft a solid email marketing campaign: Email marketing is still a viable option for businesses despite other online marketing methods becoming more popular. Like any other marketing strategy, creating an effective campaign will require time and research, but it will be well worth it in the end.