When we meet with business owners across the country, we are asked many questions about effective television advertising, particularly, “How do I successfully market on television to women?”

Business owners often are middle-aged men who lack a deep and complete understanding of what women expect to see in a television commercial and how to properly present their product or service as a smart choice.

I posed a few questions about marketing tactics to two of the industry’s top female television ad sales executives, Jane Williams, VP of sales at Cox Television, and Lynda King, senior VP of guerilla marketing at Local Television Group. Their responses were surprising, even to a jaded marketer like me.

TelevisionWeek: What advertisers do you feel are already doing a good job in their television marketing in regards to influencing women, and why?

Jane Williams: The one advertiser that comes to mind is Target. In my opinion, their creative is fantastic. When these ads air, I will stop what I am doing and watch the Target ads because they are so engaging. Target seems to be able to mirror my viewing habits as well. I see them often, and because of my busy schedule, I have a few programs that I watch regularly.

Lynda King: On a national scale, Best Buy and Home Depot come to mind. But there are also local chains and retailers that get it very right as well, maybe because they have the ability to be more nimble on a geographic and psychographic scale.

TVWeek: The common theory is that “60% of all big-ticket purchases are influenced by women.” What’s your view on that?

Ms. King: If you think that a married man will make a major purchase without consulting his spouse, then you would be mistaken. And he would be in trouble at home! I think that the 60% estimate number is low by about [half]. ... I think 90% of a purchase decision is made by a woman, especially when the purchase is an item that goes into the home. I know retailers that confirm this opinion and actually encourage couples to shop together, since a purchase made by the male spouse alone has the highest “store return rate.” That should tell you the real story.

Ms. Williams: Honestly, I believe that number is low. Women control the household budgets for most families, whether she is a stay-at-home mom or not. Therefore, they decide where the money is spent. Shopping decisions (grocery, retail, back-to-school, electronic, automotive, furniture, medical, entertainment, financial, etc.) are often decided by the female in the household. Remember the old saying, “Happy wife, happy life”?

TVWeek: What are the three most important things to consider when marketing to women?

Ms. King: One, customer service. You can spend as many millions as you want, but if your customer service doesn’t live up to your marketing, you’re dead in the water with women. Two, we don’t all respond to pastels and babies. Three, stop thinking about “marketing to women” and start thinking about “the female consumer” since they are not just influencing the purchase, they are making the purchase.

Ms. Williams: The three most important things to consider are: One, their busy schedules; two, your TV creative should connect with women and grab their attention quickly; three, women are asking, “Is this product going to make my life easier?”

TVWeek: If you could have 30 seconds with all of the chief marketing officers today, what would you say?

Ms. King: If you’re trying to “reach” women, use a “reach” medium like broadcast television. And change your media buy parameters to include deeper demographic data. A “rating point” never bought a car in its life; women do.

Use female psychographic information to make an informed decision about where your television message should be.

Ms. Williams: I would ask them, “What keeps you up at night as it pertains to your specific marketing challenge?” Then I would listen and try to contract for another appointment (hopefully longer than 30 seconds) in order to present a marketing solution.

Marketing to women is not a difficult practice to perfect; however, we’ve learned that you should take some key points into consideration:

Keep it simple. Women are very busy managing their own lives, as well as their families’. Cut to the chase in the television creative. Give her less fluff and more facts. Try to inform, even at the risk of being less entertaining. She’ll get your jokes, but you still need to tell her why your product makes sense for her.

Never patronize. Do not make women appear weak or helpless. Having a man come in to “save the day” is an outdated concept. Women want to be empowered and manage life on their own.

Show your colors. Women have an ability to absorb much more visually. You can show her many looks, colors and styles in a 30-second ad (think Target). Men see linearly, meaning we like to see one object at a time, so our eyes can remain fixed in one position. Women, by contrast, can see an entire montage of images simultaneously. So don’t skimp on the visuals.

Don’t operate in a bubble. Get a female opinion of your commercials from women independent of your company and ad agency, so you get an honest assessment of your television creative. By independent, we mean individual assessments, not focus groups. You’d be surprised how many times women “see” something in your TV ad that everyone else missed. You don’t want to find this out later. This last stop before airing is very important, as it will save you time in re-edits.

In the end, marketing to women is not difficult, but it is an evolving science. Women are taking on new roles in society, so one marketing tactic may not be good for all types of women. Do your homework, assess the female group you are targeting and use the information shared in this article to increase your success ratio.

Give her what she needs, and she will reward you with her business.

Adam Armbruster is a senior partner with Red Bank, N.J.-based retail and broadcasting consulting firm Eckstein, Summers, Armbruster & Co. He can be reached at adam@esacompany.com or 941-928-7192.