Marketing 'WITH' Moms, not 'TO' Moms

Before I start this blog, I want to note that I will be moving my weekly blog to this location on the Giggle Guide. Being involved with social media since 2003, I can honestly say that it is about time that a platform like The Giggle Guide has finally come to be. I urge everyone involved in the various related trades and industries to jump in with both feet and get involved!

Now to the blog. Yesterday I attended a video webinar on MomTV.com about ‘Marketing with moms’, hosted by Maria Bailey, co-founder of the site. Maria has been a mentor of mine for almost 8 years…ever since I read her second book, “Marketing to Moms: Getting Your Share of the Trillions Dollar Market”. I knew she was for real then, and that she truly understood the moms of today. Nielsen Online recently identified her as one of the most powerful of the ‘power moms’ and influencers.

She has launched numerous successful websites, including, BlueSuitMom.com, MomTV.com, NewBabyTV.com, MomSelect.com, and BSMMedia.com to name a few. They all have one thing in common…they center around moms.

Her webinar yesterday did not disappoint. It was vintage Maria. She described current trends, identified core motivators, and defined the categories and terms that today’s moms use to describe themselves; yoga moms, granola moms, punk moms, blue-suit moms, alpha moms, etc. All this information was fascinating, as she gave one example after another of how to use this information to connect with specific categories of moms.

Did you know that 65% of all moms do not have any idea of what they are going to do for dinner at 4:00 pm every day? I bet you are thinking, ‘What does this have to do with my business?’…everything! I look at that statistic, and it gives me (or my clients) a way to really connect with (and build a relationship with) moms. All I/we have to do is provide recipes or dinner suggestions, (preferable late in the afternoon) and voila, we have provided them with valuable, relevant (to them) information. Yes, it may not have anything to do with our product or company, but we have made a connection, and created a level of trust…we’ve helped them solve a problem.

The biggest takeaway of the webinar was, in order to be successful, companies need to integrate themselves WITH moms, not market TO moms. Companies need to become part of the moms’ ‘eco-system of solutions’…in other words, you need to get social! Maria stated that moms are getting bored with the way we (marketers/vendors) are engaging them. They want things cutomized to their individual tastes. We tend to think that moms (specifically mommy bloggers) are just out for free samples of products to review. She points out that moms are looking for something a bit more interesting…something different…and the company that gives them that kind of interaction will really connect.

As Einstein once said, “Knowledge is power”, and this webinar was really powerful. I highly suggest you visit the site and review the webinar. The url is: http://www.momtv.com/marketingwithmoms.html.