A while back a small business owner paid me a visit. He wanted help marketing his fitness business to women. Before we even started talking, he handed me his business card. The card was very professional and said all the right things. But it also included a huge blunder.

He was pretty smart to target women as prospects for his business. After all, experts say that in the average household women control over two thirds, 75 percent, of the finances and are responsible for 80 percent of purchasing decisions. That means women wake up in the morning ready to spend money. Will they spend it with your business?

And what about women-owned businesses? Well, that's a huge market too. According the the Center for Womens Business Research, 10.6 million firms are at least 50% owned by a woman or women and the average growth rate of women-owned firms is nearly twice that of all firms. On top of that, women-owned firms employ 19.1 million people and generate $2.5 trillion in sales.

So if you're targeting women as prospective buyers, you better make sure you know how to sell to them. And don't make marketing blunders like my client did. Make sure your visual materials scream "women are my market" too. His didn't. On the front of his business card was a photo of "rock hard men's abs." Ack.

Denise O'Berry

With more than two decades of operational and management experience, Denise O'Berry has developed a sharp eye for how businesses get bloated with inefficiencies, cross-purposes and miscommunication -- and how they can retool for a sleeker, smoother, strategically focused organization.

An entrepreneur who quickly built her own successful consulting business, she helps other small business owners set priorities, take action to grow their business and create the balance they want between life and work. Her clients have ranged from telecommunications giants like Verizon to Mom-and-Pop retail shops with a primary focus on those having 10 or fewer employees and up to $2.5 million in annual sales.

Denise frequently speaks to professional organizations, is the author of three booklets, and several "how-to" manuals. She writes a weekly small business column, hosts an online small business owners forum and is called upon regularly by publications such as Entrepreneur, Bank Rate Small Business, Florida Trend, Inc., various newspapers, radio and television to provide expert comments on small business issues.