How to Reach the Mom Target Market with the Help of Mommy Bloggers, with Katja Presnal
March 26th, 2009Author: Allison Blass
I had the pleasure of meeting Katja Presnal, mommyblogger and PR and Social Media Consultant, at a Tweet-up in New York City last fall. She is speaks regularly about reaching the mommy target market and she currently is one of Walmart’s Elevenmoms. Katja has shared some wonderful insights with me about mommybloggers and she was kind enough to share some of her thoughts with the readers of Open the Dialogue. You can read more about Katja at her blog, Skimbaco Lifestyle. – AB
Defining Modern Mom
Marketing to moms is one of the hottest online marketing niches at the moment. According to BSM Media, moms spend $2.1 trillion a year, and modern mom doesn’t just buy diapers and cleaning supplies, but makes the purchasing decision of everything from cars to electronics. The number of work-at-home-moms and mompreneurs keeps just increasing, and today’s mom is also business savvy, and the most likely target market to do online research and hear the opinion of her friends and other moms that she trusts before making a purchasing decision.
You can find today’s mom blogging, tweeting, skyping and kirtsying her opinions, experiences and product finds with other moms. Moms tend to trust other moms’ opinion much more than a message they hear from TV or print media, and this is why word-of-mouth marketing and marketing with moms is the most effective way to get your message to moms.
Know your target market
There are so many niches within the mom target market. Get to know what kind of mom uses the product you are trying to market, and find mommy bloggers in that niche. Don’t think mom is a mom – there are so many sub-cultures and different types of moms, and you need to find the right ones that fit your product and brand.
Do your research. Get to know who these women are and build an on-going relationship with the mommy bloggers – if they are able to market one of your products/clients/brands well, they are likely to be a great person to partner later on too. Organize your mommy blogger contacts in different niches to make it easy to contact the right ones when you have a new client.
Think what you have to offer for the mommy bloggers
While there are thousands of new mommy blogs popping out weekly, and you will most likely to get some mommy blogger to post a review of your product with a poor pitch and without offering anything for them, blogging is a business for many of the successful mommy bloggers. I always say to all of my PR clients, think what you can do to mommy bloggers, not what they can do for you, and that is the first step to a successful relationship.
Don’t expect a product review without sending a product to review. Most mommy bloggers pride themselves giving honest product reviews, and how could they honestly write their opinion, if they haven’t even seen the product? And while print and TV media normally return your samples, think that journalists are being paid a salary to do reviews and write articles – mommy bloggers are not.
To truly engage with mommy bloggers, tell them about your brand, and engage them in the discussion, many times you will get the best marketing ideas from them – after all, they know the target market. Offer the mommy bloggers an unique experience or sponsor one to a blogging conference and go to the conference with the mommy blogger and learn more from her, how she sees the relationship between PR people and mommy bloggers can develop to better and be mutually beneficial.
Real Life Examples
Follow how brands are marketing with moms successfully and learn from others. Walmart’s Elevenmoms campaign is a great example of authentic engagement with a number of mommy bloggers. Disney has been very successful with their Mom Panel and by inviting real moms to visit their parks to hear moms’ opinions on the experience and at the same time Disney has received positive PR from the moms sharing the experience with others online. Frito-Lay and Suave has invited moms to participate in their own red carpet evens in LA. Frito-Lay also invited moms to visit their factory and so did Campbell’s telling bloggers about their brands and products.
When companies offer experiences like this to influential mommy bloggers, who are the “to-go moms” for their peer moms, and when they have a positive experience with your brand, they will become brand evangelists for life, and will keep promoting your brand over and over again.
Suggested reading:
Mom 3.0: Marketing WITH Today’s Mothers by Leveraging New Media & Technology by Maria T. Bailey.
- Katja Presnal
