With Mothers’ Day on the horizon we thought we’d put together our top five tips for marketing to mums. The biggest issue we encounter when companies market to mums is that they don’t really seem to understand where mums are right now- what is going on in their lives, what plays on their minds when it comes to making purchases, where budget would be best spent to get mums to buy.

Expert Tips For Marketing To Mums

1. Really know & understand mums – not just the clichés!

That may sound an incredibly obvious statement but think about it for a minute. If you are a marketing manager and not a parent are you really sure you can relate to mums – do you understand their fears and worries? Do you shop in the same way they do? Do you know what they want from your product or service? Do your research – use focus groups, social media and surveys (on and offline) to dig into what mums really want.

2. Mums don’t always follow the rules

The common approach when it comes to research and marketing is to break down a target audience into segments – often working on the basis that they will purchase in a certain way based on socio-economic or geographic factors.  But it’s different for mums – we’re hard to segment. 

Mums in wealthy households can still be penny pinchers who shop in charity shops, because they may not have their own income, or their income may be relatively low. Mums with little income will go without so their children can have the best. 

It can be useful to look at targeting mums based on grouping such as having children of a similar age but segmenting alone might not always give you the best insight.

3. Be aware of where mums are

We’ve seen some statistics this year that have told us all mums are online, spending hours on facebook. This belief about social media use isn’t a true reflection of what’s happening out there right now. 

At the time of writing, mums over 35 often don’t use social media at all, though as the adoption of social media continues to grow this usage trend is likely to change over the coming months and years, highlighting the importance of ongoing research to uncover such trends. Think about where mums HAVE to be every day – at the school gates, children’s clubs or spending time on their own hobbies, for example at the gym or with their own social circle.

4. Word of mouth still rules

Whether it’s face to face or amplifying through social media, word of mouth is still the most powerful and long-lasting way to connect with mums. That’s because mums trust other mums, whether that’s the traditional word of mouth or via social media – mums listen to and trust the recommendations of other mums!

5. Give mums what they want

The easiest way to get mums to buy is by giving them what they need. You can identify gaps in the market by carrying out research using marketing insight experts like us here at The Family Panel and then sense checking concepts with mums. That way you’ll know you are on target to a good product.

The specialist family agency for marketing to mums