Marketers must change how they target mums - Mike Fogarty from BabyCentre talks to The Drum
“Marketers need to be always on as Mums are always on,” a statement made by Mike Fogarty, senior VP and global publisher of BabyCentre to The Drum following new research conducted by BabyCentre discovering that Mums were online 35% more than any other consumer group and have shifted in the way they chose to consume media.
Fogarty explained, “Mums need to accomplish in the same number of hours in a day, you’re forced to find new solutions for those needs and those problems, and what Mum’s, more than any other consumer segment, have realised is there are now new tools and technology to enable her to do more in the same space of time.”
Fogarty highlighted that marketers now need to be where Mums are which is across all media platforms, not just on traditional media platforms like TV and magazines, “All of a sudden you have so many ways to target Mum’s, and that can be seen as scary and challenging. But, this is a market segment that shares so much - Mum’s telling other mothers what they want, what they need, what they like, what they don’t like - they are very vocal especially on social platforms.
“One of the things we [as publishers] do is we highlight to our partners and marketers all you need to have is the insight to turn that into action which turns it into notion.”
Half of those surveyed claimed a smartphone is the one thing they cannot live without as modern Mum’s are multi-tasking throughout the day, “marketers need to be where Mum is, she’s using multiple devices and multiple platforms, she’s always on the go that’s the way she spends her day. As marketer that’s a really exciting model and a way to turn insight into actionable marketing that breaks through to Mums,” commented Fogarty.
Fogarty added that being across all these platforms “sounds harder than it is” and the way to market to modern mothers is insight. He explains this using the example of a car maker targeting a woman with a toddler who’s expecting her second child, “we know she’s in the market for a bigger car, and we know that from behavioural analysis from conversation tracking from site, looking at how mums are communicating and the questions they are asking.” He explained to target her marketers should put some adverts on traditional media such as TV, then focus on social media “target her in those forums when she’s online at two in the morning” and then on mobile. He explains brands need to be there wherever a Mum is on her journey and approach her with the relevant messages.
With all these changes in social media and technology Mums are finding new ways to communicate with each other and brands and the advice to marketers looking to contact this huge consumer market in today’s environment is to “dabble and experiment and be on all social media platforms as Mums are going to figure out a way to use them, Mums are evolving and marketers are going to have a tough time keeping up with them if they don’t change and adapt.”