JOIN THE CONVERSATION
We marketers are an opinionated bunch, and we’re interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas about what’s happening out in the marketplace when it comes to reaching moms.  We’ll start the conversation, but we hope you’ll join in. 

Send your comments and feedback to: blogfeedback@marketingtomomscoalition.org

MOM GOES SHOPPING by Michal Clements

Mom makes most of the everyday household product purchases like groceries and household supplies, the family’s clothing (at least up to the teenage years), the leisure/trip/vacation, entertaining/social and banking decisions in a majority of American homes today. So she has a lot of shopping to do. Meanwhile, mom is likely to be working full or part time, preparing a majority of the family meals, helping with homework and trying to spend ‘quality time’ with her children. No wonder then that when mom goes shopping, she is looking to use her time wisely. Even a mom who enjoys shopping is hard pressed to optimize every
aspect of this task given the long list of other responsibilities and demands for her time. Any retailer, service or manufacturer who offers mom an affordable, pleasant time saving options will strike a chord.

For me and a lot of other moms, Target is a big help. This might seem counterintuitive at first since the store is large, but I find that if I go to Target, they will have the items I need, saving me a trip to several specialty retailers. And importantly, I don’t need to sacrifice ‘quality’.

For example, I recently needed to purchase a cat carrier (which would have required a trip to a pet specialty store), an attractive non-plastic laundry hamper (which would have required a trip to a trip to a bed and bath or container store), greeting cards that I consider ‘decent’ (with apologies to most grocery and drug stores, their selection doesn’t meet my needs for highly subjective quality), and red gym shorts in the off season for my daughter’s basketball team (a sports specialty store trip). While I wasn’t certain Target would have all the items, I was hoping, and within 15 minutes I had everything I need. I hope it goes without saying that this list of items, while needed, was hardly ‘fun’ or inspiring shopping. This type of shopping can feel like a series of thankless errands. After crossing these items ff my list, I felt so good that I went ahead and bought some extra seasonal items my daughter liked and we then went home to spend some time relaxing as a family. My experience is not alone. From a business standpoint, Target’s pleasant shopping experience (uncluttered aisles, appealing visual environment and attractive merchandise) all help mom to find what she needs and also encourages moms to “discover” and relax from her hyper responsible role and explore the Target shopping environment. In qualitative work we’ve done on behalf of a packaged goods client, consumers tell us that they will choose to go to Target because they can get a good price on everyday household items (not necessarily the rock bottom cheapest), and then they can also enjoy a little time for ‘fun shopping’. They may pick up a decorative item like a pillow, inexpensive entertaining tableware, and yes, even fashion! Target turns a list of disjointed errands that could be drudgery into a feeling of enjoyment and accomplishment
for many moms. We are now working to quantify how important it is for mom to use the everyday household product needs as a reason to choose Target and thus ‘justify’ a chance for some discovery and relaxation. It’s clear that moms find Target a retailer that makes shopping more rewarding and that combination pays off in bigger baskets for Target and a better experience for mom.

The 2007 Mom by Maria Bailey

Trends for the Year to Come Today's mom market offer marketers a consumer segment controlling over $21 trillion in annual spending. US Mothers are purchasing everything from life insurance to banking services to office supplies to packaged goods. However if you are still sizing the market up based on images of your own mother or one you know in your neighborhood, you might be missing an opportunity to speak to today's mom market with relevance and effectiveness. The mom of 2007 is personalizing her definition of motherhood to her own personality and lifestyle. Just as she customizes her coffee at Starbucks or her television with Tivo, she's redefining what it means to be a woman with a child. We invite you to meet today's moms as we identify some of the trends in marketing to moms for 2007.

Alpha Moms: We call them Mom Mavens but regardless of what you call them, influential moms will continue to deliver your message to other moms in 2007. It was no surprise that the phrase "Alpha Mom" was one of
the top new slang terms in 2006. As marketing budgets shrink, it's more important than ever to get the greatest ROI possible. Engaging Mom Mavens or Alpha Moms to deliver the message not only costs less than traditional media buys but delivers your message with intense credibility. We caution marketers however to approach Mom Mavens carefully. It's not about mailing a few samples and hoping the mom
spreads the word. It's about creating a relationship with the right mom and engaging her in a mutually beneficial partnership. BSM Media has developed the Mom Matrix(c), a system of 18 common behaviors which Mom Mavens exhibit on a regular basis. Among these traits you will find: the number of children she has, the roles she plays in her community and the career path she has chosen. It's important to identify the right mom to carry your message.

Patriot Moms: It's less than 50 days until the 2008 election campaigns begin and we predict that moms will be the deciding votes for our next President. It was the voting force of soccer moms who elected Bill
Clinton and you better believe that his wife will remember that should she decide to pursue the same path. The US may or may not be ready for a female President; however, you can be assured that every candidate will be wooing the influence of today's women with children. Watch for the launch of www.momsvote2008.com in early February. It promises to be a non-partisan multi-media platform that will allow moms to share their views via video, audio and blogs.

Hybrid Moms: We've preached it for years, segmenting the Mom Market by "working" and "stay at home" categories is outdated and wrong. Two categories of "work" no longer exist and the growing number of Hybrid Moms proves it. These women who choose to integrate a career or professional work into their in-home parenting life are proud of their dual role. In fact, they even have their own magazine, Hybrid Mom, which launches with over 100,000 in circulation before the first issue is printed.

DigiMoms (R): We've all heard that necessity is the mother of invention and you can count on mothers to find a way to get it done. Today they are doing it with technology. Scan the sidelines at any baseball game
and you are likely to see moms utilizing more than one wireless device to manage their family's schedules, stay in touch with independent teens or place an order for dinner. These are the same moms who are emailing photos, blogging about products and listening to podcasts in their minivans. We call these moms DigiMoms because they've taken the use of digital and wireless technology to a new level creating solution systems that meet their individual needs.

The mom market offers a lucrative opportunity for brands who leverage insights to meet the demands of today's busy mother. Once you've identified your target mom remember to sell her benefits, solutions and
simplification. She'll remain loyal and best of all spread the word to other moms for you.

Pamper Me With Time by Teri Lucie Thompson

I don’t cook much anymore, but I’ll tell anyone who wants to listen about Pampered Chef.  Not about their cooking equipment.  About their customer service.  Listening?
I ordered three items from a party my sister hosted 2000 miles away.  When my stoneware muffin pan arrived, it was clearly too high maintenance for me, so I decided to return it.  Thus began my love affair with Pampered Chef.
The packing slip with my items provided clear return instructions.  I had to call an 800 number to get a return number for the pan.  Of course, I got an automated voice response, which advised my wait time would be 25-30 minutes, then offered me the option of a call back in that amount of time.  Since I was assured I would not “lose my place in the queue” and am not a patient soul, I decided to try.  Sure enough, in about 25 minutes, customer service rep Connie phoned me.  Friendly and helpful, Connie gave me the number I needed, told me to write the number on the outside of the box in which I placed the muffin pan and place the box outside my front door for pick-up by FedEx within one to three days.  FedEx picked up the box the next day.  My problem was solved without

• Waiting in line
• Explaining my situation multiple times
• Making an extra stop somewhere

Pampered Chef gave me what every busy mom wants:  time and convenience.
I wasn’t at my sister’s Pampered Chef party, because I moved recently.  Although my husband and I encountered some very helpful people during this transition, no company made my life easier like Pampered Chef.  In fact, it often seemed like policies and procedures were created to complicate it.  For example,

• Circuit City missed two dates to deliver a new TV.  And, of course, no one will commit to a particular time; it’s the customer’s responsibility to be available for a four to five hour range to accept delivery.
• Comcast Cable had so many ill-informed reps my husband spent at least four hours on the phone—much of the time on hold—and only got resolution when a field representative provided an on-site solve.
• The relocation coordinator assigned by Graebel to assist with our move appeared to be incented by the amount of frustration she could cause.  I must have faxed every document she needed at least twice, and things improved only slightly when I began copying her supervisor on every e-mail.
• I spent hours online and on the phone with my new health insurance provider, trying to understand the menu of coverage options and their associated costs and to make my selections.

THIEVES OF TIME!  Fortunately, every time I felt like Peter Finch in Network—“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”—some individual would rise above their company’s bureaucracy and save our sanity.  There was Sherri at Wells Fargo, who met my husband near our home, instead of her bank, to review our accounts, then spent time on the phone with me carefully walking me through the online banking set up.  And there was that practical “cable guy,” who saw the folly in his corporate office’s directive to make the 30 mile trek to our home one day to turn off the box and the next day to turn it on.  Bless these saviors of sanity.
The market research departments of all these companies surely share similar insights:  we’re overscheduled, over-choiced, and time-starved.  What they haven’t done, that Pampered Chef has, is to operationalize that insight.  The hard work is not in knowing what to do, but in doing it.  Let’s challenge these thieves of time to the hard labor of building systems and training around this insight:  MOMS, AND THEIR FAMILIES, NEED TIME AND CONVENIENCE!

P.S.  What companies help save you time? We’d love to hear your nominations for a Saviors of Sanity award!