In today’s world, where virtually every consumer purchase is discretionary and the choices are seemingly endless, marketing is key. Companies know this, which is why they hire marketing consultants to reach the spenders. These consultants target men and women differently, according to what they think will draw in open wallets.

Marketers flirt with women, complimenting, befriending, and beguiling their audience in bids to have them try the products. It’s not unlike dating, author Andrea Gardner says in “The 30-Second Seduction: How Advertisers Lure Women Through Flattery, Flirtation, and Manipulation” (Seal Press, 220 pages, $14.95).

Marketers have only recently begun to target women with their advertisements, Ms. Gardner says, realizing around the year 2000 that women have money to spend and are, in fact, often responsible for most of the household’s buying.

Now that marketers have caught on, they are seducing women in various ways, she says. There’s the scholar, who knows everything about the target and aims to use that knowledge to rope her in; the sneak, who has a trick up his sleeve (such as word-of-mouth marketing); and the show-off, who gets her attention by being funny or irresistible. All of these types of marketing strategies appeal to different female demographics.

Ms. Gardner’s book features many women talking about advertising and what appeals to them, but in several places it seems the information is more about marketing in general than marketing to women.

There is a lot of information in “30-Second Seduction,” but not much broken ground. According to Ms. Gardner, women are often put off by perfect models; they like to “see themselves” in advertising, and don’t want to be hoodwinked by false promises. Most who experience ads strictly as a consumer probably already know this, but as these styles of advertisements are plentiful in the print, television, and Internet landscapes, perhaps it’s the marketers who need the advice.

Apparently, advertisements weren’t really directed toward anyone before a decade or so ago, because in “Branded Male: Marketing to Men” (Kogan Page, 228 pages, $39.95), Mark Tungate writes that the entrance of the “metrosexual” in the late 1990s changed the way companies looked at male shoppers.

Originally published in Britain, “Branded Male” argues that men were never shoppers until the past few decades; they always left the buying to their wives or mothers. But as women became increasingly independent and chose work over wedlock, men became more independent, too. Thus, a new breed of shoppers was born into a world of wrinkle creams and suede magenta shoes.

Using the story of a modern male and following him from the bathroom to the closet to the cab ride home after a date with a co-worker, readers get to know his buying habits, his likes and dislikes, and what might sway his decision toward making a purchase. The James Bond want-to-be has a bathroom full of skin care products, a closet stuffed with quality suits, and the newest BlackBerry in one hand and a drink in the other.

Men are direct, Mr. Tungate says. They know what they want in a store, they find it, and then they get the heck out of there. They don’t experiment. If a product has worked in the past, chances are good that it will work again. Although men are concerned with the way they look, they aren’t as likely as women to put “their wallets where their wrinkles are.” To help marketers reach out to gents, and get them to shell out for new and different products, Mr. Tungate offers a list of suggestions at the end of each chapter, dubbed the “Branding Toolkit.”

Understanding the way men buy is key to developing the right marketing platform for new products, Mr. Tungate says. He describes men as a buying demographic that has grown significantly in recent years, but has untapped potential. Still, the world is also filled with men such as Mr. Tungate’s father, who hasn’t changed his aftershave. Ever. Maybe the younger generations are going in for facials and trying new fashion trends, but not every man is a metrosexual. Some just don’t like to shop, and no amount of marketing will change it.