Heather Meligan

October 11, 2011

Best Practices for Marketing to Moms

A lot of people tend to think they have a handle on marketing to moms, but if they did, then getting their attention wouldn’t still be so crucial. Because they’d already have it.  Why do they not have a handle on it yet? Well, here are a few reasons.

1) Not a lot of mom’s work at ad agencies. It’s a male-dominated industry and ad agencies don’t always make time for the work/life balance that moms need http://bit.ly/nGFpF4.

2) Marketers tend to see moms as a one-dimensional group of people with three-year-olds http://bit.ly/nGFpF4. There are all types of moms and they are just as diverse as any other group.

3) A mom’s reality is not communicated through a focus group. All are too busy trying to look like the most put-together mom. In reality, moms are  time-constrained, don’t watch much TV, and “digital lives in the gaps in her life — two minutes here, five minutes here” http://bit.ly/nGFpF4.

Stephen Reily expands on the definition of a mom. 

1) Mom’s are brand-disloyal. Due to the social media culture and the Recession, moms are willing to part with brands http://bit.ly/pP6eXW

2) Mommy bloggers aren’t all 30-year-olds. A mommy blogger can be 25-55. As long as their content generates ‘meaningful conversations’ and ‘shares actionable recommendations’ it is useful to brands, marketers, and moms http://bit.ly/pP6eXW.  

3) Millennial moms can be reached by marketing to their boomer moms http://bit.ly/pP6eXW. Increasingly moms are listening to the same music as their daughters, shopping together, etc. Highlighting and/or playing off this bond in marketing to moms is a useful tool.

Once the definition of a mom has been examined, how to reach them becomes a lot clearer. Technology is a crucial way to reach moms and part of technology is digital and mobile. Both are illustrated in Holly Pavlika’s 5 Brands That Understand Moms http://bit.ly/qjpjjD.

-Johnson & Johnson is the first mentioned, and its Text4baby mobile app delivers health information for new moms about baby’s first year of life timed to their baby’s birth date. Johnson & Johnson is focused on relevant content, and moms are eager to learn from trusted sources like them.

-Target is next, and they offer discounts and deals through their website and social media channels. Target’s mobile app allows moms to checkout purchases anywhere, find discounts, and update gift registries. Moms can also get exclusive text offers, check prices by mobile bar code scanning, create shopping lists and create mobile gift cards. Target is focused on convenience and efficiency, two things moms gravitate towards.

-Gerber is third on the list, and they have numerous mobile apps, including their birth app that tracks sleep and feeding.  Relatable, useful content is Gerber’s specialty.

-Crayola is fourth and it wins with its mom and kid-friendly Facebook page that features plenty of activities that moms and their kids can do together. Crayola is focused on the mother-kid bond.

-Kraft is fifth and its My Recipe Box has recipes to choose from and ingredients of chosen ones can be exported into a shopping list and grouped by category. Additionally, they have a YouTube Cooking School for those who need instruction and a social plugin called Smiletagging for bookmarking smile-worthy websites. Kraft makes cooking a cinch for busy moms and brightens up their day.

To sum it up, moms value trustworthy sources that offer relevant content, convenience and efficiency and ideas on ways to connect with their kids. Marketing to moms is not limited to the above brands. Any brand that focuses on these valued characteristics, while focusing on a mom’s ever-changing lifestyle demands and bonds has a chance to gain their attention and loyalty. Doing so through digital and mobile can make you a mom’s best friend. It’s no secret that moms have a lot of buying power, and using these best practices can greatly further the reach of your brand.

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