Who Is Today's Mom and How Do You Market To Her?
How to Use the Internet to Target a Broader Female Audience.
Who is today’s mom? What does her life look like? What are her values and priorities?
These are the questions advertisers are asking. In their attempt to gain answers, advertisers and marketers are constantly trying to put moms into neat categories. One of the biggest categories companies are targeting is “Soccer Moms.”
While doing research for their book The Soccer Mom Myth - Today's Female Consumer, Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys, Holly Buchanan and Michele Miller found that the vast majority of moms don’t like the label “Soccer Mom”.
The room was a marketer’s dream filled with educated, savvy women with money and the urge to spend it. Holly asked a pointed question: “How many of you in the room consider yourself a soccer mom?” Nary a hand rose.
Every time Holly asks that question, usually only one or two women raise their hands. The numbers never change. Normally, only one to two percent of the crowd identifies themselves as soccer moms.
What’s going on here? Why aren’t women identifying themselves as soccer moms? And what does that say about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of billions of dollars of advertising aimed at this group?
Why don’t women like the Soccer Mom label? Some feel the label is too limiting. It doesn’t represent their more dynamic, multi-faceted lives. Others feel the term Soccer Mom is belittling. They feel it causes companies and marketers to talk down to them.
Researcher Deborah Tannen in her book You Just Don’t Understand – Women and Men in Conversation points out, “Although these categories might predict some of the behaviors of the people so described, they miss far more than they capture.”
Mothers are such a vast, divergent group. It sounds a bit crazy to think you can put a label on them and market to all of them the same way. They have such a wide variety of lifestyles, values, and motivations and often vastly disagree amongst themselves.
Then, who is today’s mom? And how can marketers do a better job of communicating with and persuading her?
The answer is to go beyond stereotypes and truly get to know moms, understanding not only how they are similar but how they are different.
The Internet is a great place to start. Wenda Harris Millard, President of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia said, “The Internet has given women a voice, and they’re screaming their heads off.” Millions of moms are having conversations on the Internet every day in discussion forums, review sites, and on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Brands have a unique opportunity to listen in and even join in those conversations.
For example, there are lots of moms on Twitter sharing magical moments from their daily lives. Instead of relying on stereotyped cliché commercial ideas, brands can tap into real-life, relevant scenarios to create commercial messages moms can truly relate to.
Here are some examples of actual entries on Twitter:
“Being very productive today. If I was an octopus I would give myself a high-five and a nice back rub.”
“I have done pilates three days in a row. I am serious this time. But I may need to take tomorrow off so I don’t need a Vicodin when I SNEEZE.”
“3 year-old asked me to nap with her…hard to say no to that. She won’t always want to snuggle with momma. Time to unplug and enjoy.”
“I just took 79 pictures while out with my kids in the snow. Do you think that’s enough?”
“Today’s fun moment – me and my son belting out Beyonce’s ‘If I Were a Boy’ and making up our own words.”
“It’s 3 am. I should be asleep by now. Someone sing me a lullaby.”
“I need to design Swiffer socks for the household. That way I’ll never have to sweep again.”
Can you see the commercial ideas for a pain reliever, digital camera, mattress, or household cleaners?
The Internet is full of different perspectives from different moms.
Mothers are a wonderful whacky, vastly diverse group. Drop the Soccer Mom label and take the time to truly get to know moms. Thanks to the Internet, there are more opportunities than ever to reach out, and more importantly, to listen in.
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