by Kim Boyer

Marketing to Moms – Why?

You might be asking yourself, why worry about marketing to Moms, we are marketing our brands to women, that should cover it.

This attitude is why, according to PMI Enterprises, 60% of Moms believe that marketers are ignoring them and 73% of Moms believe marketers do not understand what it is like to be a Mom.

I am a Mom and even though I am in the marketing industry, I have snickered more than once at a sappy, happy cleaning – product commercial or wondered why many car companies keep portraying women with children as soccer moms.

Moms have different attitudes, spend differently and behave differently than their counterparts without children. I know I have a different attitude than my sister-in-law, who has never had any children. She is able to zip away for a romantic weekend with her husband with only a moment’s notice. She has more black skirts than my total wardrobe of skirts. It is true that we both work, but how we spend our money and time outside of work is completely different.

According to the US Census Bureau, of Moms 15-44 years old with children over 1 year, 72 percent are in the labor force.  In addition, 55% of  those Moms have a child under 1 year and are also in the workforce.

Moms believe that marketers ignore them, marketers don’t understand them and they are treated differently than men when they are shopping.

It is not a surprise that these Moms are turning to the internet daily, to get their information about future purchases, to relax and to share their information. According to Great Minds in Marketing media study, (2004), Moms spent an average of 13.2 hours per week online and only 7.6 hours per week watching TV.

Moms may be in the challenging situation of not only taking care of children and working, but also taking care of their own parents and ultimately controlling the purchasing power of the seniors in their life, too. It is critical for marketers to begin studying and engaging Moms online. Rather than spending hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars on their TV spots and paying little attention to their online communications, it is time to re-prioritize. Building a relationship with Mom online is critical.

Marketing to Moms represents a huge opportunity for most marketers.

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According to the US Census Bureau, of the 108 million adult women the US, 82 million are Moms. 32 million of those women have children living in their homes. Mothers control 80% of the purchases in their families and spend $1.7 trillion dollars annually. Kim Boyer, Mother and a President of Adamson, a brand experience agency.

Filed under: Brand Strategy, Social Media, Strategic Planning on January 29th, 2010