Their marketplace is worth an estimated $1.6 trillion dollars. There are 35.3 million of them. And “word-of-mom” is the most powerful marketing tool to reach them.

They are mothers with children under 18 years of age. And who do they listen to? Each other.

Social media and the phenomenon of moms influencing moms have given rise to the mommy blogosphere – a network of blogging mothers who share their experiences, insights, and wisdom with each other. Mommy bloggers have created their own marketplace by referring and selling products and services to other moms.

• Half of moms say mom blogs influence their buying decision
• 67% of moms look online when purchasing products
• 78% of moms blog review products
(Source: BlogHer.com, Media Post)

Marketers looking to reach this audience should log on: moms spend more time online than watching TV. Their top three activities are reading blogs, participating in online communities, and creating and sharing videos. Only 25% of young women read newspapers. Mommy bloggers are their “go-to” group.

Scott Public Relations recently conducted a campaign targeting mommy bloggers for a natural health product for children. Here’s our five tips for working with this influential group.

• Place your product in the hands of bloggers who are likely consumers. Mommy bloggers won’t write about something unless they have personal experience with it.
• Provide information on the product that bloggers can read and share.
• Focus on sites with an engaged and active community, and with consistent, repeat traffic
• Once engaged, find the bloggers who can be product evangelists.
• Some mommy bloggers actually sell product on their sites; this can be easily set up with e-commerce providers that target this market.
• Once the relationship is established, keep it alive with more information – educational, not marketing – that bloggers can share with their readers.

Taking online “word of mom” marketing a step further, some influential bloggers have partnered with companies for “twitter parties,” in which the company hosts a virtual get-together on twitter with a guest – an authority such as an author, physician, or expert – on a topic related to their product that is of interest to moms. The mommy blogger is the host, and promotes the event online and to her community. “Word-of-mom” about the party is as powerful an influencer as the event itself.

Do you have experience in working with bloggers, mommies or otherwise, in your marketing programs? We’d love to hear from you.

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