The Millennial Marketing Hurdle: How To Advertise To Millennial Moms

 

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How Do Brands Reach The Millennial Mom?

A series of cultural events that have taken place over recent weeks have drawn attention to the mommy community around the world, ranging from the U.K.’s birth of Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana to U.S. Mother's Day celebrations. 

When it comes down to mothers, more specifically marketing to mothers, some brands are more successful than others in getting an attention grabbing positive message out to the mommy crowd. As it stood, this year brands were well rehearsed in their messaging and traditional marketing campaigns. However, there's a new mommy market creeping into the spotlight – classified as the ‘Modern Mommy Market’. So how do brands advertise to the Modern Mommy Market, or what is more commonly referred to as the 'Millennial Mom'?



The Princess Effect

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The Royal Baby's timing couldn’t have been more perfect for the U.S. Mother's Day celebrations, with many brands striking gold with their segue from the Royal well wishes, to Mother's Day commemorations. Arguably, brands had it in the bag for the birth of the Royal Princess as they were well versed with their congratulatory tweets and social media well wishes after the birth of Prince George in 2013. Princess Charlotte was a home-run for adorably crafted posts from brands calling attention to doting Royal fans, and of course mothers across the world!


Brands Jumped At The Chance To Be Center Stage At The Royal Baby’s Birth

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Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. The newest little Windsor is the fourth-in-line to the throne, and was born on Saturday, May 2nd 2015. Brands did not hesitate to jump on to social media and join in the celebrations to send the Royal family their well wishes. Many British brands dominated their twitter pages with carefully crafted posts wishing the Royal Family well following the birth of the Princess.

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But why put in such an effort to send the new Princess well wishes through a platform she most likely will not see for at least another 10 - 15 years? Recent studies show that year over year, figures are clearly indicating how millennial moms are spending more time interacting with media overall. This is due to the ease of accessibility and the use of their mobile. Becoming a mother shifts any woman's priorities across the board, and this in turn alters consumer preferences and purchasing criteria - it can even go as far as media preferences, (yes, becoming a mommy alters what women choose to watch on TV)!

Recent studies show that millennial mommy media consumption habits have changed in comparison to previous generations. This is due to the ease of access a millennial mommy may get to a digital device. Overall, desktop and laptop usage decreases by an average of 57 percent, and their cable TV consumption decreases by 32 percent. This means that marketers targeting the millennial mommy market are wasting their time with traditional and pop-up website advertising.

For the new millennial mommy convenience is key - and this is supported by their media consumption habits. Media consumption via a tablet device increases by 29 percent. Digitally recorded media consumption (TiVo and DVR for example) increase by 15 percent. It comes as no surprise that smartphone media consumption increases the most, at a whopping 63 percent.


Millennial Mommies Use Smartphones To Help Them 'Mom'

With convenience being its main attribute - the smartphone is quickly proving to be the millennial mom's new best friend. 8 out of 10 millennial moms surveyed use their smartphone when they're shopping for baby products in the store. Millennial mommies use their smartphones to download coupons, price shop, read product reviews, ask friends and family their opinions of a product, and some even go as far as to purchase products online while in a store.


Millennial Mommies Are Online Dependent

Arguably, a new mommy is limited as to where she can go, and how easily she can get to the places she needs to be with her new bundle of joy in her arms. In these instances, the internet prevails over the somewhat daunting task of tackling the physical stores. Online shopping has proven to become a mommy's best friend!

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44 percent of millennial moms are more likely to buy clothes online after becoming a mom. This is closely followed by 43 percent of moms buying electronics online. This suggests that between the hours millennial moms have when their baby is sleeping - they're spending their time online shopping!


What Does This Mean For Brands?

For the brands marketing to millennial moms, the most effective form of marketing is proving to be via online media outlets. Moms no longer have the time to sit and watch traditional advertisements through outlets such as Cable TV, and they're opting for the more convenient route of the smartphone and tablet device. And they are ad skipping through TV. 

Brands should devise their marketing campaigns accordingly - and perhaps follow the lead of the brands partaking in the social media world of well wishes for the birth of Princess Charlotte and for the Mother's Day holiday. This form of advertising is more cost effective and can overcome the hurdle of advertising to the new digitally centered millennial mom market.

Millennial marketing is becoming increasingly important for brands looking to reach out to new demographics and target markets. Read more about how your brand could potentially be missing out, and what to do to increase your chances of breaking into the market.

Before you spend another dollar on traditional advertising, start thinking about ways to make your marketing more engaging to consumers.  Watch our video to learn how to combat common advertising challenges marketers face daily!

 

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