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Moms Want WOM Marketing, Not Celebs

Most mothers prefer receiving information about brands from other moms or friends than a celebrity mom.

Sixty-seven percent of mothers would rather talk to a peer than hear from a celebrity about products, because mothers feel disconnected from the way most marketers portray them, writes MediaPost. That’s according to research presented at the 2nd annual Marketing to Moms Conference being held in Chicago this week.

Just 20 percent of mothers feel advertisers do a good job of connecting with them, according to Bonnie Ulman, president of The Haystack Group, while 70 percent said advertising doesn’t seem to focus on moms and 30 percent said they see ads that offend them.

Marketers who fail to understand mothers are missing out on a 25 million-strong market. The group represents 44 percent of the women’s market, but accounts for more than its share of certain products. For example, mothers account for 55 percent of spending on consumer electronics, 51 percent of spending on food, 49 percent of spending on health and beauty aids, 48 percent of spending on home furnishings and 47 percent of spending on clothing.

A huge 91 percent of mothers prefer easy-to-find brands that other moms have recommended. That’s compared to 50 percent of the general population who said they were more likely to be influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations from their peers than by radio or TV ads, according to Intelliseek’s 2005 Consumer-Generated Media (CGM) and Engagement Study.

Still, online advertising also has huge potential, as contemporary moms spend more time online than watching television.

Research presented at the conference showed that, of the moms online:
-88 percent of moms rely on the web for parental guidance and advice
-86 percent make online purchases
-85 percent have clicked on an online ad
-95 go online at least once a day

Magazines are still being read by busy moms, as well, according to the article: even the busiest mothers say they read 4.1 magazines a month, two of which arrive in their mailboxes.