The rise of mummy bloggers and social parenting is a recent phenomenon. Tapping into their network and influence can achieve remarkable results – but you need to ensure you do it on their terms.
There are 1,000+ UK parenting blogs, each with its own following and authority. Their voices are increasingly superseding those of traditional media in shaping the opinions and purchase decisions of a nation of mums; often the prime target for brands wanting to engage “household main shoppers”, “housewives with children”, or whatever marketing term has been coined to include this group that week.
Couple that with the recent media coverage gained by sites such as Mumsnet, Netmums and the British Mummy Blogger Network it’s clear to see what “the power of mum” can achieve.
In a recent interview with Marketing Week magazine, Siobhan Freegard, co-founder of Netmums commented: “Society has become more fragmented so our website and others like it give mums the chance to have a say. No one cares what a few mums at the school gate have to say, but put a million of them together and everyone takes notice.”
Recognising “the power of mum” opens up many opportunities in the marketing industry, PR in particular. Take our recent campaign to promote McCain Foods’ Potato Story initiative: an unbranded national curriculum aligned programme educating children on food provenance and healthy eating.
We reached out to some of the country’s most influential parenting bloggers with a tailored approach to inform them of the educational campaign and succeeded in securing approval from many; adding credibility from those that really matter to McCain, mums.
Witness also the success of a similar approach to launch a new EA Games fitness product for the Wii – EA SPORTS Active Personal Trainer – who briefed FH to communicate the product to women.
By previewing the product to blogger mums, inviting them to take part in a “30-Day Challenge”, we gave them the opportunity to trial it before it hit the shops. This fuelled reviews and chatter amongst an influential online community who in turn spread our product message far and wide.
Over 40 pieces of online/blog coverage and 200+ contributions to discussion threads about the product resulted, which when combined with print coverage in on-target women’s mags and national papers not only helped EA reach a new audience, but also contributed towards sales of over 2 million copies at launch; making it the best-selling EA product ever for the Wii.
When it comes to leveraging the power of mum the opportunities are huge, but fail to recognise the need for the right approach and the risks become just as significant; with bloggers and parents on online discussion forums unafraid to name and shame those who make a hash of it!
“Fools rush in” as they say, so it pays to work with experts who understand the best way to engage with this emerging group of opinion formers. Most importantly of all, before you even begin you need to ensure you use them, not abuse them: thinking about the benefit of your product or service for them, not just your campaign success. They are not there to do your work for you.
At FH, we are proud of the relationships we’ve developed with mummy bloggers and happy to discuss how to leverage those to best effect for clients, both existing and new.
Some examples of coverage: Huge thanks to the mummy (and daddy) bloggers involved in generating these great pieces.
