Marketing is a discipline in the field of business that deals with the advertising and offering goods for sale. However, what distinguishes this practice from other business activities is that those charged with the task of marketing have to speak to potential customers in a manner that convinces them to buy the given goods. This practice does not necessarily require one to be very skilled to create sales for his employers. Many people including high school dropouts have created a career out of sales and marketing. However, there are business activities that require the skills and expertise of trained and well-versed marketers. Such businesses mainly include multinationals and corporate organizations. Ordinary salespeople and marketers are not all capable of managing marketing programs that go across regions and continents. Despite the practice appearing quite easy to those who try it, there has been a major difficulty experienced by these people especially when marketing to moms. Naturally, most moms are savvy shoppers. This attitude becomes even much more sophisticated when marketers try to distinguish who among working and stay at home moms is much more savvy. I am going to analyze the various ways through which marketers can increase their market sale figures by examining each kind of mom.
Marketing should be an individual process. It is not appropriate as a marketer to assume that since it is in the evening, most moms are probably at home. That is why it is vital to market to the individual mom. Some moms stay at home, some work from home while others work away from home. As a marketer, you should have these three fundamental categories in mind before marketing a product. Also, while making your marketing message, be careful to touch on all kinds of moms because offering a blanket statement might highly affect your sales. According to many business owners, the more than one trillion dollar mommy market is worth pursuing. Authors like Maria Bailey and Bonnie try to educate business owners on the benefits of exploiting the lucrative market. In their book, Trillion Dollar Moms, they describe three generation of moms namely, baby boomer moms, Gen X moms, and millennial new moms. Therefore, having this kind of information, marketers should not say that if they are still trying to make their companies money by marketing to soccer moms alone, they are missing close to two-thirds of the mom market.
Looking at stay at home moms, one should easily note that their population is rapidly growing. Since most of them have working husbands, staying at home with their children enables them to identify business ventures they can engage in the comfort of their homes. The increased childcare costs, as well as immigrant mothers, have been the major contributors to stay at home mothers (Grigsby-Toussaint, & Rooney, 2013, pg. 23). Since this kind of moms normally have nothing keeping them that busy apart from their children, marketers should note that the likelihood of such moms checking their status on Facebook or joining conversations on Twitter is high. As a result, they are also going to agree with the fact that mobile devices do not cut into family time. In such a case, while marketing, one should learn to embrace such platforms. In the contemporary world, more and more moms are researching a product online. This is because most of them, especially those at home do not have time to visit stores and shop around. Also, most of them do not find it appealing to bring along their kids to the store if they do not have to.
Working moms also tend to exploit good websites and search platforms with high rankings when at work. This way, they can easily purchase goods they desire online. Those of them who are even creative enough do from their blogs. Such moms will easily start a brand of their own and help it find success. Also, they use these blogs to share information about trending brands and products (Williamson, 2011, pg. 1). Twitter may be useful to the tech-specialists since the moms who join this platform are more affluent and tech-savvy. Such high-tech moms can be exploited to market highly valuable goods that women crave. Therefore, as a marketer, one should ensure that above everything else, their marketing campaign is optimized for mobile. Never treat moms as technophobes. They are the total opposite. They do not whim when their children are given iPods and most probably you will find them gaming on the iPods or tablets as their kids like to do (Williamson, 2011, pg. 1). According to Pew research results on moms, seventy percent of moms own smartphones, compared to sixty percent of the population at large. Eighty-three of these moms say their phone is ever at arms length. Based on this data, marketers can understand that having a mobile should be a must have for them if they intend on reaching mom audiences. Even after ensuring they possess these requirements, marketers should also consider certain things such as time of day and activity-based ads to convey brand messages within the mobile landscape.
The stay at home mom is likely to monitor the internet use of her child and also friend them on Facebook and other social media platforms. Also, they are likely to read food and parenting blogs. Based on this information, marketers should note that stay at home moms are more receptive to relevant information around food and parenting as compared to working moms (Grigsby-Toussaint, & Rooney, 2013, pg. 26). Even non-food brands can be used as a hook for these moms. Working moms, on the other hand, are in charge of most successive businesses and products. As a marketer, your experience should aid you in identifying with moms and at the same time realizing that not all moms are the same. Therefore, how you decide to market to them is as important as the quality of the product or service you are offering.
By using reference books such as Trillion Dollar Moms, marketers can learn how these generational shifts have had significant impacts on the buying behaviors of moms in todays market (Walter, 2012, pg. 17). Working moms want high-quality goods, and they are never shy of admitting it when they receive such goods at favorable prices. This is a major reason as to why people are getting to see lots of designer items in stores such as K-Mart and Target. Bailey and Ulman conducted surveys which they included in their book using accurate data that shows that advertising is mainly not geared to the moms. According to many working moms who have had the chance to respond to questions on adverts addressing moms, the adverts are offensive to them. For marketers to have a smooth time penetrating this market they, therefore, need to adhere to some tips that include:
Focusing on networks. Working moms have an inborn trait that makes them believe they should belong to a given group, be it constructive or just fun. When marketing, therefore, one needs to consider these kinds of networks because they could bring forth even unintended profits. When networking among themselves, moms like to talk about what they need to buy and what they think has become old fashioned. As a marketer, therefore, you should exploit such networks to understand their needs such that if you have a good that they may prefer, the word spreads and you might have found a new market.
Be precise and to the point. Many working moms do have a passion for whatever it is they do because it helps keep their families intact. As a result, they are naturally expected to tire from all the work they do in a day. Therefore, to specially address such circumstances while marketing, one can offer special services such as free shipping as well as quick deals. Asking moms to go through the details of your product or service is one way in which you could be wasting their time. Have the basics with you when you are conducting the exercise to avoid any inconveniences. If you are willing to offer a discount, just tell them what price they will pay. Having a marketing strategy that gets to the point is the way to score highly when it comes to moms.
Paying attention to what works. Many commercial ads get people talking. However, as a marketer, your job should be that of determining which of those ads are loved so much and why they are loved. Some ads may be old, but many working moms still find them quite appealing. For instance, the Toyota Swagger Wagon has a theme of sentimentality and family. Also, it includes humor which is depicted by the reference of a working mom as a badass. This example serves as an important reminder that not all working moms are adverse to humor due to their busy schedules.
Be real. Most working moms experience a lot of crap during their daily routine. The last thing that any of them would like to see when they get home is more crap. This fact may make them look like very sensitive people. However, working moms appreciate honesty a lot in communications. They want to be treated as intelligent people and not just like moms. They also do appreciate realism in communications. Many marketers use the traditional assumption that dads are responsible for bringing the bacon home while the mom feeds the kids. This is not necessarily the truth. Parents do work together in respectful partnerships.
Stay at home moms also have a set of qualities they prefer when it comes to marketing products they might be interested in. To effectively meet the desires of this market, marketers should also be keen on the following things:
Saving their time. Stay at home Moms tend to have multitasking capabilities. This urge to do more in less time is what most stay at home moms would like fulfilled. As a good marketer, you should be able to note these individual desires such that if you possess a product or service that has huge time-saving benefits, it is likely to score highly with moms. Focus on the small but significant improvements that will make their lives much easier.
Focusing on products with the same content but different meanings. Since most of the time children spend their time on their moms laps, as a marketer, you could come up with online experiences that encourage co-viewing. These experiences should be child-friendly and also full of content that parents find to be extremely useful. The same content is normally very entertaining and relevant to a childs growth. For instance, when Dora the Explorers Beyond the Backpack was designed, it was intended to inform parents of how to prepare their kids for kindergarten by educating the kids with maths and reading games.
Using every screen. The digital experiences of moms are no longer limited to the desktop. Many stays at home moms possess smartphones with shopping applications as well as internet TVs. In other words, two-thirds of all stay at home moms own connected devices. Therefore, when coming up with marketing strategies, it is only essential in this modern day and age to design digital platforms on multiple screens. However, as mentioned above, always consider a mobile-first approach. Moms are constantly moving with new screen editions; your job should also entail moving with them.
Do not stereotype. Many people have come up with different names based on the stay at home moms. These are terms which some marketers have also adopted for their target market. What they do not seem to understand is that none of the moms is willing to describe herself using any of the terms. Most people find the portrayal of moms in advertising and media platforms as stereotypical and hence a major turn-off for any products that are being advertised. Focusing on one particular angle can only lead to marketing strategies going awry.
Marketing not only serves as a means through which both stay at home moms and working moms can get their desired goods. Following up on the needs of your clientele base ca...
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