1to1 - Spring 2009 - (Page 15) trendspotting > MARKETING TO MOMS by Jeremy Nedelka Mother Knows Best Moms. As the primary purchaser for most households, they choose the products that are best suited for their children, their home, and, often, their husbands. In doing so, many moms demonstrate aboveaverage purchasing power. But tread wisely when reaching out to this group of increasingly savvy consumers: They’ve created a word-of-mouth army that can stop a brand in its tracks or elevate it to universal recognition. Last November Motrin discovered just how powerful moms can be. An ad for the pain reliever implied that moms who carry their babies in baby carriers are part of a fashion trend and that it “makes them feel like a real mom.” Almost immediately, the blogosphere and Twitter network went into action and moms across the country denounced the commercial as insulting and offensive. Within days Motrin pulled the ad and company executives apologized for the gaffe. As an individual, a mom is an attractive marketing demographic; as a group, moms are a force to be reckoned with. Moms as Marketers Thanks to the power moms wield, companies are targeting them as spokeswomen for product safety to allay the fears that other moms may have. Moms trust other moms, so who better to speak for a company like McDonald’s or Wal-Mart to certify the quality of their goods? McDonald’s in particular has targeted moms for this purpose. It recruited 83,000 moms for its “quality correspondents” program (www.mcdonaldsmoms.com). The moms in the program are taken on tours where food is assembled and given facts about the quality and cleanliness of McDonald’s food and facilities. The company says this is to bring transparency to its business, and it’s a great marketing tactic for speaking directly to the people who decide what’s for dinner. McDonald’s says it started the program to bring transparency to how its products are made, but the campaign has created buzz on blogs and social networks as well. Children can’t buy a Happy Meal themselves, but if mom is convinced that fries are healthy and burgers are 100 percent beef, then she’s more likely to buy one for them. In Search of Mom Working Mother puts the total number of U.S. moms at 50 million. For marketers looking to tap into the mom demographic, reaching the right segment isn’t always easy, and there’s no effective way to reach all of them with a single strategy. Lucid Marketing recently launched a Mom Marketing Search Engine to help marketers navigate the vast resources available about marketing to moms, including information on related studies, articles, and research firms. The site also aggregates content from news sources, mom bloggers, consultants, and research reports. And it uses RSS feeds, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as other social media technologies, to keep marketers up to date. Moms Put “Social” in Social Media Blogging isn’t just for political junkies, techies, and television fans anymore. According to the report “The Power of Mom Bloggers,” by Mom Central Consulting, moms are using blogs to share information about products more than ever before: 78% of mom bloggers review products on their sites. 96% of moms who read blogs value the recommendations they see. Moms spend about $78 trillion annually. ONLINE EXTRA: Read about two websites where moms are testing products and posting their results. www.1to1media.com/links/mom.html Spring 2009 15 http://www.1to1media.com/view.aspx?itemid=29293 http://www.motrin.com/ http://www.mcdonaldsmoms.com http://www.momcentralconsulting.com http://www.workingmother.com/?service=vpage/106 http://www.lucidmarketing.com/ http://www.1to1media.com/links/mom.html
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