I’ve been working on a brand within the baby care category for a couple of years now, and have always believed I have good insights into moms and how to be relevant to them.
But what I’ve recently come to understand is that you think you know a fair amount but you never really truly understand the group of people that make up your target audience until you are actually part of that specific group.
I’m a mom to a 20-month old boy and boy oh boy, the insights that I’ve gained through this journey are life changing.
According to the Establishment Survey, there are roughly three million women with children under three years old and nearly 3.5 million people within the ‘Young Family’ life stage.
If you’re a brand that’s relevant to this audience, whether baby/child focused or in general, you should know by now that this audience has a different set of priorities and makes decisions differently to the rest of the general population.
Taking this to heart, there’s no better time than the present to highlight some of the key points a recently released Mintel study highlighted about marketing to moms and some insights brands can take note of.
- New or younger moms are more likely to value media as a parenting resource
Having the internet at your fingertips, it’s easier than ever to Google questions or concerns. However, information overload is a real thing – especially for new moms! This is where the power of brands may take advantage. Moms will naturally be drawn towards advice and information offered by a brand that carries authority in a category, especially the baby category. Therefore it’s vital to ensure that the brand is ready, willing and able to be this trusted and valuable source of information.
2. Working moms are more open to bite-size information and benefit more from products that make their lives easier and efficient
It’s amazing how much time an extra little heartbeat takes from you, whether you’re a working mother or not. So let’s skip the essay approach of telling moms more about your brand and tap into ‘snackable’ content. Keep it short, but in more frequent bursts. Moms have a lot they need to think about and small reminders of your brand and benefits will work a lot harder. Anything that makes a mother’s life easier has huge appeal, but it’s how a brand sells it that will determine whether or not it resonates with her. Focus on the product benefit but also highlight the benefit of time. Time that can be spent on things that matter, not just everyday mundane tasks.
3. Moms no longer buy into the ‘perfect mom’ fantasy and are more open to embrace imperfections and parenting on their own terms
I do think this is an increasing phenomenon within women in general, especially in the fashion and beauty categories. From a mom’s point of view, there’s a huge online movement where mothers from around the world accept, share and celebrate their imperfections. Raising a child is hard work and moms are more open to admitting when they’ve made mistakes. This is a huge insight that brands can utilise. Brands that exhibit an understanding of the challenges mothers face, and highlight the highs and lows of parenting, will forge a long-term connection that will have a positive impact on brand loyalty within this audience.
Reading through this study, I realise that the insights aren’t rocket science, but sometimes when you’re not a part of the specific group you’re targeting it’s easy to miss these little nuggets of gold. That’s why it’s so important for brands to really immerse themselves into the target audience, do proper research and find those little nuggets that will make them more relevant and endearing in the long term than their competitors.
Louise Hefer is a media strategist and implementation planner at The MediaShop
