February 20, 2008
Is This Sweetie Stuff Just for Women? - Wednesday Words from You
On the weekend, I received a comment from Walter Schwabe and he said:
“How do you find the name ‘Sweetie’ affects your audience? Can guys play too? I think the concept is fresh, if not completely geared towards the woman entrepreneur and there’s nothing at all wrong with that, in fact, that’s incredibly well done.
Or should I infer the opposite of your use of the whole concept…who are you targeting?”
I responded with:
“Hello Walter…I’ve always attracted more women than men to my lessons, even prior to the Sweetie thing. I started out by working with work at home moms and work at home mom hopefuls and it kind of evolved to this. Regardless, some of my very best students are indeed men.
Overall, I think my materials are geared toward the person who likes to take a kinder and more giving approach to business - and that seems to be appealing to both men and women.
Hope that helps and to answer your questions simply…yep, men sure can be sweeties!”
So there you have it. Clearly, it’s a concept that by reading comments on this blog appears to attract more women, but a quick look at my customer list shows a decent chunk of men on the list…but maybe they’re more quiet around here cuz they aren’t sure if they should indeed be Sweeties. 
And honestly, I’m pretty sure that the “Sweetie” repels a good number of women. I was once asked by a woman on a forum if I did a focus group on the concept “Internet Marketing Sweetie”.
I told her no, for a few reasons:
1. Focus groups are just people, who may or may not be your TRUE target market, stating their opinions. And seriously, people usually DO something completely different from what they SAY they will do.
2. I don’t wish to appeal to everyone. I had been working in this market for a couple of years before the concept of the “Internet Marketing Sweetie” was developed. By then, I had already developed my own approach to business (even though it was labeled with the “Sweetie” word) and had gathered an audience that held the same values as me. I had a very good sense of who my target market was and what would appeal to them.
Even then, when Internet Marketing Sweetie was released in 2004, it was very much in the background and wasn’t central to my Internet Marketing teaching business. I didn’t really start branding everything with the Sweetie name until the Spring of last year…and I tell you, when I did…business began to boom.
So overall I’m happy serving people who have the same values as me. Man or woman, it doesn’t matter. It’s great to have all you Sweeties on board.
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As an old guy (to some), I kind of like being referred to as Sweetie by a smart, cute, young chick. It puts a smile on my lips and a pleasant lift in my heart.
To steal from Forrest Gump: “Sweetie is as Sweetie does!” It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman!
Gender identity is so complex and multi-dimensional.
In a medical sense, gender is categorized as genetic, gonadal, phenotypic and psychological.
But gender can also be defined emotionally, socially and by individual choice.
What we refer to as ‘male’ or ‘female’ is, in the real world, based on appearance (phenotype). But in an impersonal online medium like the Web it more really reflects other components of gender/identity.
And each of us has both sides in us, each represented and expressed to varying extents in our behavior and attitudes.
Yes, in an ‘appearance denominated’ world, the word ’sweetie’ has feminine connotations. However, online, I doubt if it is so clearly biased in favor of women.
As Alice says, it is “geared toward the person who likes to take a kinder and more giving approach to business - and that seems to be appealing to both men and women.”
Interesting question, and comments too.
All success
Dr.Mani
LOL Charles and Arika.
Very interesting points, Dr. Mani. Especially the thoughts on the difference in possible perception of a word on and offline.