Dell is harvesting the fruits of a strategy designed to help female entrepreneurs grow their business, and in the process, trust the brand more.
Two years ago the computer manufacturer realised women-led small businesses was a niche worth pursuing – in some markets women account for more than 50% of small business owners.
Now the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network has turned into an annual global conference, a series of local get-togethers, a LinkedIn group, dozens of favourable articles and blog posts and a Twitter event that reached 12 million people over just two days.
Michael Dell was so impressed he tweeted: “Terrific impact of #DWEN this week--huge thanks to all the entrepreneurs who participated!”. The first invitation-only conference was in Shanghai last year, the second in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last week which 130 women attended.
They heard from Arianna Huffington, CEO Huffington Post; Moira Forbes, publisher Forbes Woman; Luiza Trajano, founder of 600-store Brazilian chain Magazine Luiza, Gen Y and marketing experts, and angel investors.
Dell global chief marketing officer Karen Quinton said she did not know if sales had increased as a direct result of DWEN, but its share of wallet from existing women customers had.
“We’ve learned how to segment our business better,” Quinton said.
“What’s more interesting is how many of these women are advocating on our behalf. We look at their reach and they are telling (others) ‘come to the next event’, ‘consider this from Dell’, ‘buy more from Dell’.”
In Australia, 27% of Dell’s revenue is now due to the small business sector. Women-led business is the company’s fastest growing client segment worldwide.
Kim Hibler, vice-president SMB sales in the US for Dell, said women used technology in the same way men did, but their buying decisions were more influenced by referrals by fellow women.
She said anyone planning to market to women must be genuine, match gender promises internally with women in senior positions and build relationships on trust.
“Don’t be transactional," Hibler said.
"It’s
about being strategic. Give them guidance."
The company held a cocktail evening in Sydney this year hosted by Healthy Habits managing director Katherine Sampson and plans to hold quarterly events in all capital cities. This year’s audience voted to have next year’s conference in developing India instead of mature-market Australia.
To see how Dell’s audience reacted to DWEN click here. The official site can be found here.
Lia Timson attended the second annual DWEN conference in Rio as a guest of Dell.
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