It’s no secret that the outdoor industry greatly underrepresented women up until recently. Previous marketing and advertising efforts predominantly featured men and there was a lack of products designed specifically for women. 

In doing so, the athletics and outdoor industries portrayed the outdoors as solely a place for males and excluded a significant demographic – women.

However, in recent years, more companies have targeted women through women-specific marketing initiatives. There’s been an increase in campaigns and advertisements showing women in the outdoors to make the industry more inclusive for women from different backgrounds, races, sexual identities, shapes, and sizes.

In this article, we’ll examine 5 examples of outdoor brands’ women-specific marketing initiatives and give tips for connecting with your female audience. 

Tough Cutie

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Tough Cutie, a woman-owned company, sells premium wool hiking socks designed by women and made for women. Brittany, Tough Cutie’s founder, started the company as a way to support women through every walk of life, both literally and figuratively. 

“We believe women should be making the decisions for the things women wear, because well, we’ve walked the walk … We hope that our work will inspire other brands to take a similar approach,” she says. 

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Tough Cutie’s marketing initiatives include a social media series, “Women on Wednesday,” highlighting relevant and inspiring quotes from women in the outdoors, routine Instagram stories highlighting its women-owned vendors, and its “In her shoes” blog about hiking and women-related topics and stories. 

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During August, the company is sharing stories on its blog about Black women and their outdoor experiences. “Our brand is going to revolutionize the outdoor industry by creating space for voices and perspectives that have previously been stifled,” says Brittany.

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“We are change-makers, and we are changing the perception of gender inequality as an issue of women vs. men and instead fostering an inclusive mindset that views men and women as part of the solution.”

REI’s Force of Nature

Much of REI’s success can be accredited to the large community it has built around its love for the outdoors. As one of the US’s top retail and outdoor recreation service brands, this co-op has significantly broadened the narrative about who participates in the outdoors.

Since launching its Force of Nature campaign in 2017, the corporation has been striving to make the outdoor industry more accessible and equal for all women. Its major advances include:

• More Sizes for Women

REI has expanded the sizes available for many of its products. For example, women’s clothing is available in bigger and taller sizes, and shoes are available in wide sizes.

• Saying Bye to “Pink It and Shrink It”

REI understands the “pink it and shrink it” method is outdated and doesn’t help serve all women. Instead, REI recognizes measurements vary between all people, not only between genders, and is working to dissolve gender labels. 

• Funding Inclusion Efforts

The co-op donates money to non-profit organizations making strides to include women and expand diversity in the outdoor industry.

• Spotlighting Women 

In podcasts, films, and narratives, REI has increased the number of females in the spotlight of these stories. Additionally, across its social media platforms, the company features lots of women in the outdoors. 

• Events Specifically for Women 

The co-op hosts events and experiences across the country designed to get women outdoors. Some of these events have consisted of retreats or adventures in different countries. 

As a leader in the outdoor industry, REI’s efforts have played a huge role in encouraging other brands like Osprey, Arc’teryx, Terry, and other companies to focus more on women-specific initiatives. 

Merrell’s ‘More Less’ 

Merrell, an outdoor footwear brand, launched its More Less campaign this year as an attempt to redefine self-care and get more women outside. The campaign video features women putting down their “vibrating facial masks” and “gold dumbbells” and instead opting for a hike, walk, or run outdoors. 

Merrell prides itself as a pioneer in including women in the outdoor industry as it introduced its first woman hiking shoe fit over 20 years ago. Today the company is building on this foundation by telling all women that they don’t need so many self-care products and things to “be enough.” 

The ad, produced by female-led teams, affirms, “When we get outside, get moving and get to reclaiming self-care, we’ll find that we’re more than enough. And that all we ever needed more of was less.”

Merrell acknowledges that women have been vastly underrepresented in the outdoor industry and hopes to inspire more women to get outdoors. So the company’s initiative advocates for the outdoors and movement as the best form of self-care. 

She Moves Mountains by North Face

The 2018 She Moves Mountains campaign by The North Face was the company’s first global campaign exclusively aimed at women. It featured brave female explorers to inspire more women and girls to get outdoors.

The campaign’s short films highlight female role models: Alpinist Hilaree Nelson, climber Ashima Shiraishi, and runner Fernanda Maciel. In addition to sporting industry role models, the campaign also features strong women in other industries like activist Madame Gandhi and NASA scientist Tierra Guinn Fletcher. 

The campaign’s success can be accredited to its diffusion across a multitude of channels, including advertising, media partnerships, social media, influencers, and direct cooperation with target groups like Girl Scouts USA.

The North Face’s women-specific marketing campaign inspired people to share success stories of impressive women on social media, using the hashtag #SheMovesMountains. The campaign had a global reach of over 275 million users. 

Alongside the campaign, the brand opened women-specific stores and new women’s apparel collections. Sales of these products increased by 25 percent during the campaign. As a result, She Moves Mountains made significant impacts on The North Face’s business and women all over the world. 

SheJumps

SheJumps is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing girls’ and women’s participation in outdoor activities. The organization creates activities and hosts events to get women outside. 

SheJumps partners with numerous outdoor companies such as Yeti, Trenton Sports, Evo, Blizzard, and others. Since 2007, SheJumps has created 36,000 opportunities and counting for girls and women outside. 

The organization continues to motivate women and girls to get out of their comfort zones and learn outdoor skills in a fun and non-threatening environment.

Takeaways 

As you can see, there has been an increase in marketing initiatives directed toward women in the last few years. However, although the outdoors industry has made some progress, there is still much more work to do. 

If you are an outdoor brand looking to reach the female market, here are some tips when coordinating marketing efforts.

1. Ditch the Pink - the messaging more so than the product resonates with the female audience. So instead of just taking a product and turning it pink, you need to craft a powerful message that distinguishes your campaign as women-targeting. 
2. Don’t Generalize Your Marketing Messages or Use Stereotypes - do the research, specify your demographic, and craft your messaging so it connects with them. There is no “one-message-fits-all” approach that will resonate with all women.
3. Market Where Your Audience Is Online - again, you’ll need to research which platforms contain most of your target audience. It may be Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or other social media sites. Adjust your marketing messages according to each platform to ensure unique delivery. 
4. Create Compelling Content - 70% of women will share something that makes them laugh, and 60% will only share intelligent or thought-provoking content. So make sure your content is educational or entertaining. 
5. Tell Women’s Stories - Integrating stories into your content can help connect with women and bring together different niche markets. Sharing stories will help build a community between your brand and its audience. 
6. Hire More Women - A female perspective is crucial when designing messaging that will resonate with women. Build a diverse team of women to approach marketing efforts from a human perspective. 

Women-specific marketing initiatives are popping up all over the industry. However, companies not addressing women nor tailoring their marketing efforts to females may get left behind. So crafting a marketing strategy that includes women in the outdoors is crucial for your company to remain relevant.