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      The web has given women a platform from which they can be heard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are building community and recognition, relevance and legitimacy in a space that is no longer monopolised by the traditionally dominant traditional-lensed perspective. Women own one-third of all businesses, more than half of which are in developing countries.3

      Lots of smart people out there nod knowingly, eyes widening as they lean in to hear more. You progressive forward thinkers recognise that you need to improve now to set yourself up for the future.

      The naysayers who dismiss the opportunities risk finding themselves sidelined, classified with companies that have famously failed to recognise and embrace earlier critical transitions – from steam to electric trains, from celluloid film to digital, from print to online communication.

      It's likely you employ women, probably in your marketing team, which means you already understand the female market, right?

       Wrong.

      Your female employees, staff, team, colleagues, clients and customers have spent a lifetime learning from a rulebook that was invented and passed down with that traditional male lens. But we live in a new era.

      This is fact. It's not man bashing. It's not personal.

      It's just better business.

      Whether you're a woman or a man, it's not your fault that you've been applying or acceding to an unconscious bias.

      We're at the beginning of a market renaissance – a woman's revolution. It's an economic boom that could make or break your business and brand.

      To embrace this opportunity, to get it right, you must have a clear understanding of the role of gender in your market. Or, to put it bluntly, you've got to stop seeing everything through the traditional male lens and learn how to also include a female lens!

      This is what this book will show you how to do.

      A wo-manifesto

      Sure, it's bold and audacious to suggest that there's a new female-focused way forward. But, as you'll soon see, this book is full of bold and audacious perspectives.

      I know what works and doesn't work when it comes to women. Not just because I'm a woman, but because I've worked in the communications business for over 25 years and have seen it with my own eyes. From business culture to research, product development to communication, I understand how great the opportunity is to better cater to unmet female needs, wants and wallets.

      In 2004, I opened Australia's first advertising agency to specialise in marketing to women. Through Venus Comms I've developed proven methodologies that create a whole new perspective on the lucrative and dominating market force that is women, all of which I will share with you in this book. As a mentor and coach, I've worked with businesses large and small, leading executives and CEOs (both male and female) in most industries from retail to sport, fashion to finance.

      We can all collectively benefit from adjusting the current para-digms of business based on historical ways of building successful empires. The data, tried and tested strategies, stories, examples and case studies that follow will demonstrate why the time is now and how you too can use this power. This is a shared opportunity for all who believe in the power of transformation to meet your market needs.

      Decades ago, no-one imagined a future dominated by smartphones, online commerce and artificial intelligence, despite the early signs. We are now living in a new world and a new economy.

      It's time to get businesses and marketing right when it comes to women, and their many unmet needs.

      It's time to get down to business.