As we get ready to celebrate Mom this weekend, and as a Mom of two gorgeous boys, we felt it timely to discuss the most powerful influencers in our country, and the world - Moms .
Women who are Mothers in the United States, control 85% of household purchases and command over $2.4 trillion in spending power. Mothers are unequivocally the most powerful and influential general audience for many products and services. Need more proof? An annual Marketing to Moms Conference is held each year in New York City attracting CMO's and marketing heavy-hitters including the likes of Volvo, Pepsi, Google, Unilever and others. Moms are serious business and getting in front of them and connecting with them, is critical to almost every business on the planet.
That said, an article published in "Forbes" on the topic stated that three out of four Moms still say companies have no idea what it's like being a Mom. Our perspective as to why that is? C-Suite decision makers are primarily men, or career women who do not have children. Wonderful people no doubt, but they can't connect because they can't relate and they don't take the time and make the effort to understand.
Whatever your product or service, we insist that Moms are one of the most impactful audiences out there, and that a business that wants to be successful with this audience must take the time to reach them.
Not sure how to connect with these maternal superheroes? The following are three suggestions on how to authentically, meaningfully reach and connect with the Mom audience.
Understand the Life of a Mom
Before you make the effort to reach Mom's with your product or service, spend time putting yourself in their shoes. Use these questions, to create a broad picture of the specific Mom audience you hope to reach so that you really understand who they are:
What is their day like?
Who do they spend time with?
What do they spend time doing?
What do they stand for?
What do they stand against?
How do they take in information ~ when, where, what mediums and platforms?
What do they do for work? If they work, or are they home with children full-time?
What do they do for fun?
Who do they follow and interact with online?
Utilize your answers to these questions to understand this audience and how to reach and connect with them - and where and when.
Be Authentic & Empathetic
Moms are typically stretched, overworked and tired. Prioritizing their families, they have little time or bandwidth for businesses that don't connect with their busy life. The effort you develop to reach mothers should recognize all of the details of their busy lives and speak to them through the lens of understanding who they are and what they have on their plate. If you are not a Mom yourself, get to know a few, develop a focus group, or speak with your Mom.
Utilize the brainstorm of details and information you developed in Step 1 to create and develop a campaign or effort that connects with this audience from a Mom's point of view. Utilize empathy, from the angle of being a Mom yourself, or the time and effort you have spent to learn about mothers, to speak and connect with your audience in an authentic, respectful, helpful way. Moms have superpower radar for a fake, and they care about anything and everything that interacts with their family, so insure your approach comes from the heart and specifically communicates what you know and understand about them. Don't be shy about it either. Tell Moms you know what it's like to be in their shoes and then deliver a message that is on-target with what they care about.
Be Brief & On Target
Moms are busy. We want things straightforward, efficient and effective. Moms are interested in products and services that improve their days and support their families. They also want to be pampered, but not verbosely so.
When trying to connect with Moms, if you have purposefully made the effort to understand your audience and develop an authentic message, insure your communication reaches your target in the way they take in information directly. Share communication that is straightforward, brief and to-the-point. Moms like pretty pictures no doubt, but what they love more is getting it done. There isn't a mom on the planet that doesn't love the feeling they get when checking a box.
Take Moms directly to the sign-up page, make the purchase, appointment or registration straightforward and easy, and we practically guarantee you will have a customer that returns again and again, so long as your product or service is up-to-snuff. Deliver it, or put it on auto-renew, even better. Just don't send a million messages, or fill our Inbox. We don't have time or patience for that.
Finally, Watch analytics and data as you move forward with these efforts to insure you are reaching Moms successfully. Tweak if need be, or go back to your focus group to request feedback. Once you connect with Moms, talk with them. Ask them what they need, what would improve their lives. What they like or would improve about your product or service. Be human. Moms respond to connection like no other audience does, and we argue with over $2.4 trillion in spending power, they are well worth connecting with for every business.