Cox also pointed to the influence of a Ludwig endorser, Meg White of the White Stripes, a female drummer. “Parents are being much more supportive than they used to be,” said Cox. “They’re realizing drums are no longer just for guys.
“We’ve been aware of the growth of females of every age getting into drums,” she added. “We wanted to make sure [however] that we market to any age of a female player. An example is we introduced drums with glitter fade finishes at NAMM this January. We introduced it in a purple fade, a green fade, and a cherry fade. Those are colors women lean toward. Men prefer blue or black.”
Although female drumming has skyrocketed, it isn’t instantly always an advertising slam dunk.
“While we’ve noticed a detectable increase in female drummers over the past few years, we really haven’t made a gender-specific effort to appeal to women,” said Jeff Ivester, director of marketing for Mapex USA. “For that matter, we don’t feel that our advertising and promotional efforts have been particularly targeted toward a male audience [either]. We want our product to appeal to drummers—regardless of their gender. In the past, I’ve participated in attempts at ‘targeting the female market’ with campaigns and I’ve always felt that they were sort of patronizing on certain levels. The decisions a consumer makes when he or she commits to buying and learning a musical instrument transcend gender lines and are common to both men and women.”
Bull’s Eye or No Bull’s Eye?
That leaves a very important question for you at your store. Should you make special efforts to appeal to female customers? “Consider having a program in your store,” said Stevens. “You’re not going to get new customers in without doing some activities. I’ve seen very successful stores competing with larger chains—which we all know is an issue right now—by having ‘Women’s Night’ once per month. Soul Drums in Toronto, Canada, has that. Women are more likely going to that event because some feel intimidated going into a drum store. They also have ongoing drum circles at the store. Skip’s Music has been such an innovator with ideas like this. I heard Skip speak at NAMM and he said, ‘You have to have programs.’ I’ve seen great successful sales at a store that partnered with a music therapist to offer after-school programs for ‘Mommy and Me’ music making. The people in the community are looking for a space. It could be a ‘win-win’ [proposition].”
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