In the world of public relations, audience is everything. Reaching different audiences in strategic ways is a huge part of our field, but before you can reach anyone, it's first important to identify them to better understand how they communicate. A recent article addresses the issues surrounding how the misrepresentation of members of the Hispanic and other immigrant and minority communities has negatively affected these groups.

We just stumbled across a hilarious (but also thought-provoking) blog on the Huffington Post today and wanted to share. Titled "What if Men ran Christmas?" the blog addresses all sorts of things about the upcoming holiday that would be totally different if men were in charge. Oh wait, you thought they were in charge? Maybe you haven't heard that women make 85% of the purchasing decisions in this country, and more specifically 56% of household gift purchases.

A recent article in Woman’s Day Magazine addressed the issue of revenue discrepancy between male- and female-owned small businesses. Nell Merlino, a communications professional with a firm in Manhattan, was the driving force behind the establishment of “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” back in 1992. She was shocked to learn that of the 40% of women-owned small businesses in the U.S., only 2.6% make at least $1 million in annual revenue. Compared with male-owned firms, 6.7% bring in that much or more.

With the success of home improvement shows, DIY blogs and design magazines, it’s no surprise that the industry has experienced a burst of growth this year. Part of this can be traced to the efforts of big box home improvement chain Home Depot rethinking its methods of marketing to women.

Japan’s popular Shiseido cosmetics brand now has a new magical makeup line. The new line, called Majolica Majorca, is being marketed to young women by appealing to the princess in all of us. Products are packaged like jewelry and each has detailed backstory that is reminiscent of a fairytale.

Female consumers in Canada have gotten an extra special apology in the form of a marketing campaign from O.B. Tampons. The brand, under the parent company of Johnson & Johnson, was off the shelves in the U.S. and Canada last year, but returned this year, minus its Ultra line. The plan was to discontinue Ultra, but the company never expected what happened next.

Women play the games and use the gadgets to transform their lives, so why is the technology industry still marketing to them as if they slept with fuchsia-clad, faux-diamond-studded Barbie dolls tucked under their arms?

The above question was posed by Belinda Parmar, founder of Lady Geek TV. In her recent blog entry over at the Huffington Post, Parmar examines the tech industry and how it’s missing the mark in its efforts to reach women.

A recent Huffington Post blog article discusses the “Must See” Holiday films and how they stack up when it comes to female characters. As a public relations agency specialized in marketing to women, we were interested in what these numbers show. According to the list of seventeen films (as recommended by Common Sense Media), only 1 out of 17 has a female lead character. In fact, the article cites data revealing that the ratio of male characters to female characters in films hasn’t changed since 1946.

Thanksgiving is this week and the rest of the holidays are right on its heels. This time of year things get a bit more festive and this includes imbibing in more celebratory beverages. We’ve noticed an interesting conversation taking place concerning women and alcohol, specifically whiskey and because we pride ourselves in being a public relations agency specialized in reaching female consumers, we wanted to throw in our 2 cents here on our blog.

We've blogged before here at Her Voice about the marketing phenomena of women shopping together as a social activity. It's more than just a perceived stereotype...retailers who take notice of how their female consumers like to shop and cater to their needs and wants will always fare better than ones who don't.The following excerpt from Paco Underhill's Why We Buy does a good job capturing the ideas surrounding how women like to shop.