How Do You Score on the Internet Marketing Emotional Intelligence Test?

By Susan Dunn
Posted Thursday, October 28, 2004

The Internet is changing faster than you can say 'Here comes India,' de veras? Are you marketing appropriately to who's really on the Internet?
How do you score on the Intermarketing Emotional Intelligence test? Are you marketing APPROPRIATELY to who's REALLY on the Internet? EQ means, among other things, good reality-testing and empathy.

Remember that email rounding the Internet recently: "If we could shrink the Earth's population to a village of 100 people, this is what it would look like: There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 North and South Americans, and 8 Africans...."

NOW SHRINK THE US INTERNET WORLD

Okay, now let's shrink the Internet world and take a look: If 100 people were using the Internet, 52 of them would be women, and 48 of them would be men. If 100 women were doing business, 61 of them would be doing it on the Internet and 39 would not be If 100 men were doing business, 55 would be doing it on the Internet and 45 would not be. If 100 women were spending over US$100 in a 3-month period online, 63 of them would not have children, while only 52 of them would TAKE NOTICE: There are more women now on the Internet than men. More women do business online than men More women do business online than do not Women in American make up to 80% of purchasing decisions for the family Women between the ages of 35 and 44 are a dominant e-retail force. (PC Date-Online's research) Women without children are heavier users of the Internet than women with children (Jupiter Media Metrix) and they spend more online.

And -- the number of at-home female Internet users is increasing more rapidly than the number of male users (NielsenNetRatings)

PLUS -- Individuals with household incomes ranging from $100-$150,000 are the fastest growing income group online (NNR).

PLUS -- 44% of US adults over 18 are single, and the AASP projects by 2010, 47.2% will be unmarried. Between the ages of 15 and 85, the average American will be unmarried more years than they're married(USCB).

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

Interpeting these data is like "if all the wookies are mejums, and half the mejums are kondites, how many wookies are kondites?"

GET POSITIONED

Here's how I read it - I'm lucky because most people who seek coaching are women over 40 with an income of 6 figures. It's called "being well-positioned". However, were I a Relationship Coach, I might be slightly better positioned.

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME, WHAT ABOUT YOU? Whatever you're selling, are you pitching it to women?

Whatever your business, have you included products for women?

This doesn't mean being unsubtle, i.e., slapping a "feminine" graphic next to your power tool, but it does mean if you're pitching your power tool with a bikini-clad babe, or showing a pert young thing for your "live chat", or alienating the huge singles' and Islamic markets in your Christmas marketing, D+ for you on your marketing emotional intelligence test.

Consider putting the face of a virile young man on your chat graphic.

And consider that nearly half your consumers are single -- the Carnival cruise line offers a true singles-rate (not a single rate based on double occupancy), and the Costa gets kudos for providing Gentleman Dance Hosts. Combining both might win my cruise business and I cruise often. THE BOTTOM LINE: Put your dip stick in your gender-bias and see how it comes out "US" INTERNET?

Notice I specified "US" here, because the statistics were about US users. However, I'm getting increasing hits on my site from folks outside the US (and glad to have them). Other webmasters are reporting the same.

This month so far, I've had visitors from: UK, Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, Singapore, Argentina, New Zealand, Japan, Luxembourg, Brazil, Belgium, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Germany, France, Namibia, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Cyprus, and Switzerland.

BUT even when we talk "US" Internet users, there are 80 million multicultural Americans in the US, with over 1 million new immigrants yearly.

TRENDS

In coaching, web visits and ezine subscribers precede personal emails precede Internet course learners, clients and licensors for my EQ products. Look at the trends: Last year I started getting more emails from Canada, the UK and Australia. Now 1/4th of my practice is from those countries. This year I'm getting several emails a day from people whose first language is not English. This month alone from Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and the Philippines. I have ezine subscribers from more countries than I can name. In fact I didn't know some of them were countries. It's been a wake-up call. I'm doing my homework, are you?

And most surprisingly, a whopping 20% of the learners taking my Internet courses are from non-US countries including France, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Ireland, Russia and Indonesia.

TamingTheBeast says users from India are coming on strong. "Up until now," they say, "the Internet has been very focused on the US ...[but] by 2003, the Asia Pacific region will catch up and overtake in regards to Internet usage."

Richard Goosey, international chief of measurement science (NNR), says Spain’s the next great Internet market. "In addition to the largest increase in percent of population with Internet access, Spain also had the biggest percentage increase in most of the Internet activities undertaken among surfers in the past six months…Spain now has the highest rate of instant message usage (49 percent) and chat room participation (44 percent) across all countries."

APPLICATIONS? Perhaps we should consider putting ni hao, guten tag, or buna ziua on our websites. Go herefor ways to say "hello" in one of the 2,796 languages on this planet. Start submitting our websites to the Asia-Pacific search engines. Here's one:(www.asiaco.com). Get used to emails that read: "Now you can send Indonesian virtual greeting cards to the one you care with only just some simple clicks" and "That's bang-on." Brush up on multi-cultural selling. Start with Michael Lee's "Opening Doors", full of tips like don't confuse Indians and Pakistanis because they've been at war for centuries. Indians are primarily Hindu who speak Hindi while Pakistanis are primarily Muslim who speak Urdu. Prepare to start hearing "neesh" instead of "nitch" for that niche you're trying to claim. Get a currency converter on your website. Here's a FREE one, and be ready discount your professional services for Canadian clients. They expect it. Put the name of a professional translator in your Outlook Express. In Spanish you don't say "I love my clients" by using the "love" verb, that's erotic; you say "my clients please me." Stop looking for "Article Archives" and start looking for "Free Ideas." It's all the go. But no advertorials, please. If you're going after the asiadragons dot commers, you'll have a "Secret Word," not a password, and you won't have to enter it twice. Check in at CyberAtlas.com frequently. And, let's see, perhaps having an international Internet dating service for un-childed women over 35 might be the gold mine of the century?

P.S. Ofrece coaching personal y cursos de Internet sobre inteligencia emotional (EQ). El "EQ" puede ser mas importante para su felicidad ...

~~~~Recommended reading~~~~
Michael Lee's

About the Author
None