Marketing to a woman is just like being in a relationship with them: you’ve got to understand why they’ve come to you and what they want from you. To market to men or to women, you have to create trust, but the ways to get it differ for the different genders. The key difference between marketing to men and marketing to women is that women want acknowledgment and if possible, empathy from the person they’re trying to engage with. If you’re currently in a market that specifically deals with women, follow these two steps to increase your commissions.

1. Acknowledge: In general, women just want to be understood. They don’t always expect the man to agree with them; as long as they have an ear out for their problems and acknowledge them, then the value she places on that topic is justified and she feels happy. This is no different online. You, the affiliate marketer, are the man. Sure, you could shove a product in her face, but that’s just going to make her “x” out of your site. And you don’t want that. Spend a little time acknowledging her. Show her that you care. She’s not talking to you, but predict what she would say if she winded up at your website. Do so on your front page in bold letters, or even in a video. Just let her know you’re there.

2. Empathise: Not everyone can do this. The marketers who can really are “the man”, for more reasons than one. Empathising goes beyond acknowledging how they feel. Empathising has to do with actually feeling it. This is somewhat difficult in online marketing in general; you can only go so far with written text, but that’s where the beauty of audio and video comes in. If you really want to make a mark in your niche, you’re going to want to try and empathise with the ladies.

Let them literally hear your voice. Lace your words with sadness at the frustration of unruly kids, thread shame into not being able to walk into a gym because you feel too fat. If you’re a man who can empathise with women, you’ve got even more going for you. It’s definitely harder to empathise if you’re a man but really, it’s just about picturing the woman in front of you, as if she were someone close and how you would respond to something that made her approach you for advice. Marketing is all about empathy.

Making sure that you abide by these two rules in all your marketing campaigns will iron-clad them. It doesn’t matter if your SEO rankings drop, or if your PPC doesn’t go too well one week. Women will remember the person who cares about them and they will directly return to your site. They will make an effort to remember the name and, if you permit them, your name even. This is powerful information that should be used only for good. Thankfully, usually only good people can understand and empathise.