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Returned home late last night from doing three breakout sessions on marketing for the Hot Springs Spas national conference in San Diego. Fantastic crowd and a great day all around. Ben McConnell from Church of the Customer was the keynote speaker and gave a terrific presentation on Creating Customer Evangelists. Nice to have a chance to chat with him (hey Ben – go Sun Devils!).
Thanks to Kirsten over at re:invention for a heads-up on the newest brain study involving gender difference. MSNBC reports that new research may show that men think more using the gray matter in the brain, while women utilize more of the white matter.
According to the study, issued by UC Irvine and University of New Mexico:
"… in general, men have nearly 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence compared with women, whereas women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence compared with women.
The results of this study may help explain why men and women excel at different types of tasks, said co-author and neuropsychologist Rex Jung at the University of New Mexico. For example, men tend to do better with tasks requiring more localized processing, such as mathematics, Jung said, while women are better at integrating and assimilating information from distributed gray matter regions of the brain, which aids language skills."
Same coginitive abilities, same levels of intelligence – very different neural pathways. Each new study points in the direction of heightened language skills for the female brain.
Power of the Message = the difference between a mediocre marketing campaign and a wildly successful one.
What marketing language are you speaking to your female customers… gray matter or white matter?
Michele Miller is a writer, speaker, and consultant on ways to capture the heart of the female customer. The co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth, she consults with businesses of all sizes across North America 
Michele, you know you are one of my favorite lady bloggers, as is Kirsten…and I cannot dispute the science behind white matter and grey matter, but…BUT… I know too many women who are mathmatic whizes, who excel in science (two daughters who do, by the way) and men who prefer getting in touch with the inner you, to give this “science” much credence. There is no doubt it’s real…you wouldn’t report on it if it wasn’t true…but, can we think less of the white matter and grey matter and more of what moves people? I’m curious to learn what moves women who are into math and science, to buy. And what moves men who are in to decorating and baking, to buy. It isn’t, may I be so bold to say, their grey matter or their white matter. Or, is it? Help me out here…you understand this all so much better than I…
I’m with ya all the way, Yvonne. If you read the article (and actually delve into the study, which you DON’T have to do), you’ll see that the researchers are saying that men and women have the same cognitive abilities, intelligence, etc. – they just use different neural pathways to get there. As for preference to mathematics, baking or mechanics, that’s till a mystery! What I do believe is indisputable is that women do seem to have an advantage where language skills are concerned, which is why I talk about the power of words.
Vive la difference!
Jane Muses on Marketing to Women Online
Originally, Jane titled this post,
I’m new to this blog, in fact all blogs…. but the content of this one is quite fun and helpful. The grey and white matter stuff is interesting and helpful to know, but having raised a posse of humans I’ve found that male or female, we start out with the some basic drives. Titty, clean pants and lots of cuddling.
Yet, the research out there is staggering, and illuminating as well. Much of what science is “proving” we inherently know anyway. The fact that men and women think and process so differently makes the ride more interesting. If we could get more women to just stop questioning their credibility things would be even more fun. This kind of research paves the way for some soulful pondering about who we are “being”. Michelle, thanks for sharing this study!
10,000 Tomatoes Separate Us
You say tomato; I say ToMAHto. Men hear 10,000 more words from women than they seem to want to hear. Women await the 10,000 words they need to hear from men. Maybe what’s missing from that conversation is listening: (