Financial services love to say they want to reach women. So Why Are They Still Talking to Men??
Let’s talk about the money, honey.
The industry loves to tout its inclusivity. Banks, fintechs, wealth platforms—they all say the right things. They publish stats about the growing influence of female investors. They nod toward “empowering women.”
And yet—when it comes time to craft the campaign, shape the product, or build the brand—it still feels like they’re talking to men.
Why? Because somewhere deep in the brand DNA is the assumption that credibility, sophistication, and cool live on the male side of the spectrum. That if you want to signal power, you default to a voice he’ll recognize. And hopefully she’ll catch on.
It’s not just outdated. It’s lazy. And expensive.
Women are not a niche market. They’re the market. They control more than half of personal wealth in the U.S. and are accumulating it faster than men. They’re starting businesses at record rates. And they’re tired of being spoken to like they need hand-holding—or worse, like they’re not even in the room.
Many women report feeling ignored in meetings with financial advisors (the vast majority of whom are men)—especially when their partner is in the room. Advisors speak to the husband. Make eye contact with the husband. Explain the strategy to the husband. A couple of bros talking numbers regardless or whether or not the husband actually even understands the conversation himself.
So when divorce or death puts her in charge, she does what anyone would do: she leaves.
The $30 Trillion Opportunity
We’re on the cusp of the biggest wealth transfer in history. By 2030, women are projected to control over $30 trillion in financial assets—nearly a third of all wealth in the U.S. By 2048, they will have inherited $54 trillion from their spouses, never mind their parents, and not to mention what they've been building on their own. Financial services firms know this. They’re scrambling to catch up. Hosting panels. Launching female-forward products. Refreshing brand language.
But most of it misses the mark. Because the issue isn’t a lack of attention—it’s a lack of understanding.
How do you speak to a woman who’s poised to inherit, invest, and reshape the future of wealth—without sounding like you just discovered her yesterday?
That’s the real question.
Where the Disconnect Happens
Marketing to women often gets treated like a side quest. Something you sprinkle in after the big brand idea is baked. A color palette. A voiceover. An initiative that checks a box.
But women don’t need a nod. They need a message that speaks to them directly, without condescension or cliché.
The disconnect usually isn’t malicious. It’s structural. It’s creative teams that skew male. It’s briefs written in abstractions. It’s risk-averse approvals that sand off anything sharp.
Most brands don’t fail because they’re ignoring women. They fail because they’re trying to include women without challenging their defaults.
Some of the most common traps:
Speaking broadly instead of deeply. “Women 25–54” isn’t an insight—it’s a census category.
Tiptoeing around clarity. In financial services, this often shows up as vague encouragements to "take control of your future" or "start the conversation"—phrases that sound empowering but rarely say anything specific. These noncommittal statements might feel safer, easier, but they often dilute the message and erode trust. If the message is generic, will the financial plan be, too?
Defaulting to archetypes. Not every woman sees herself solely through the lens of family life, even if she's a mother. She might be a business executive, a solo entrepreneur, a high-net-worth investor, or someone starting over after divorce. And by the way, she might be any combination of those things. Women are not a monolith, and they contain multitudes. It’s time to ditch these tired stereotypes.
Sucking out the joy. For me, this is a big one. Too many campaigns aimed at women are earnest to the point of exhaustion. Where’s the wit? The fun? The spark? If you want her attention, you'll have to earn it.
What Actually Works
After years of working with brands across industries, we’ve found there’s no one formula. But there are some non-negotiables:
Lead with truth, not tropes.
Speak with clarity and intelligence.
Don’t just mirror her life—reveal something about it. This is the deep work that goes beyond demographics.
Have the confidence to say something real, even if it ruffles a few feathers. Specificity builds trust. Vagueness doesn’t suggest competence—it just sounds like you're hedging. If you want your message to matter, it has to mean something.
Marketing to women is a specialty. It’s the foundation of our work at Fancy—and the reason brands come to us when they’re ready to go beyond the generic. Because getting it right takes more than good intentions. It takes experience, nuance, and a willingness to challenge the defaults. It’s not a lane. It’s a lens. And when you treat it as central instead of optional, everything sharpens.
Here’s how we approach financial services.
So, Where Do You Start?
If you’re in financial services, ask yourself: does our messaging assume women need hand-holding? Are we selling security while ignoring ambition? Are we using language that assumes she’s playing catch-up, when in reality, she might be the household CFO?
These are the kinds of questions that move you from generic to resonant. From "for everyone" to "actually for her."
This Isn’t About Perfection
If you're trying to market to women in a more authentic way and struggling, you're not alone. Even brands with the best intentions hit roadblocks. But the answer isn't more tweaks. It's a total shift in posture: from cautious to courageous, from generic to specific, from performative to personal.
The brands that win her trust won't be the ones that get the tone just right. They'll be the ones that finally say something worth hearing.
