This Mothers Day we decided to do something a little different. We know that Moms like a good laugh and thought these insightful cards from Speckles & Weeds would make an appropriate Mother’s Day greeting. Only a Mom could create these cards. We hope you enjoy it. Feel free to share with the Moms in your life!
May 7th, 2009
MomsRising creating a microsite and customizable video to send friends a Mothers Day video.With days to go, the microsite was well planned in terms of it’s release date and the video itself is hilarious. Obviously Moms where involved in the making of the video and it’s message.
The site was created to raise awareness for Moms Rising and the customizable video is a perfect viral marketing tactic to leverage Mothers Day as means to market their organization. “Moms Rising is working to bring together millions of people who share a common concern about the need to build a more family-friendly America”. Click here to view the site and video. want to learn more about viral marketing? Read Glow Marketing’s article on Viral Marketing in the MOMpreneur Magazine.
May 6th, 2009
Wee Welcome Parentprenuer Contest
Parentpreneurs this contest is for you! Add your company logo or product shot and a short description about your business for your chance to win over $20,000 in advertising and promotions with Wee Welcome and more!
Starts April 29th, 2009, ends May 31st, 2009
More contests to come!
April 29th, 2009
Have you ever noticed that when money is tighter we find ourselves making different choices and throwing our brand preferences out the window? During a recent grocery trip I noticed a new brand on the shelf called “Big Red”. It wasn’t the most expensive brand, nor was it the cheapest. The packaging was appealing, it looked like a quality product and I found myself saying “good enough!”. I had heard about this theory from Seth Godin, marketing guru, and I am a firm believer that sometimes good enough, is well, good enough.
It made me think about my clients and whether they are offering a “good enough” product in their product mix (in addition to their higher end offerings). Middle of the road may sound boring to you, but there is plenty of demand for “good enough” products that won’t blow the budget. Think of the example of razor blades with their ever increasing number of blades, moisturizing strips and ergonomic handles. Between the $20 razor and the $1 disposable razor that leaves your legs looking worse than when you started, there is room in the middle for that razor that is “good enough”.
The same thinking can apply to the size of your product. Offering a smaller size is an excellent way to lower the cost and provide customers with what they are looking for. Have a look at your products or services and see where you can add-in affordable options.
Add comment April 16th, 2009
In Ad Week’s article it is clear that big brands recognize the power of Mom bloggers and include blogger outreach in their marketing plans. Whether you are a multi-national or small start-up, Mom Blog outreach can be an affordable part of your marketing strategy. To find out if blogger outreach is right for your company, contact Glow Marketing.
Read the Ad Week article here.
Add comment March 30th, 2009
By Sharole Lawrence, Glow Marketing
Attracting customers is a little easier when owning a franchise as a business thanks to marketing materials and brand awareness that head office often has already established. This competitive advantage also saves owners time and money on marketing, but it doesn’t mean that marketing ends with head office initiatives. The wise franchisee will go beyond head office marketing materials and campaigns to expand their local customer base and increase their chances of success. Read the full article published in the March/April issue of The MOMpreneur Magazine
A franchise head office will usually develop a number of high quality marketing materials for brand identity, including the corporate logo, store design, company website, ad layouts, and point-of-sale materials. To develop marketing materials and campaigns, franchise owners are typically required to contribute two per cent of their gross projected revenue to head office as part of an “advertising fund”. In return, marketing materials may be offered at a fraction of the cost to each store. By contrast, independent businesses have creative freedom to create their own marketing materials, but they absorb the entire development cost and don’t always end up with high quality or effective tools.
A franchise head office may also have created brand awareness within the target market. Brand awareness is like “warming the door” so that when customers are approached with a promotion, they already know how the franchise can benefit them. An independent store might skip developing their brand and jump straight into offer-based advertising, such as a product discount. Skipping over brand awareness can result in missed opportunities to help new customers identify with the store and learn how the store can meet their needs.
Marketing a franchise effectively means doing more than just contributing to head office’s advertising fund: the two per cent required payment may only go towards a seasonal campaign, but a franchise typically requires customers over the entire year. Industry standards recommend that an established franchise with a good track record increase it’s marketing budget to at least five per cent of the gross projected revenue, and a new business with limited awareness should budget 20 per cent to fund additional marketing efforts.
Individual marketing efforts can dovetail with head office initiatives. One example is a franchise owner taking a brand campaign that head office is advertising on billboards and applying the same image and message in a direct mail flyer or community newsletter advertisement. The idea is to increase the amount of times potential customers consistently see and hear the message to move them to action.
Franchise owners will benefit from knowing what head office’s plan is for marketing and then supplement those initiatives with their own. Creating an annual plan empowers franchise owners by ensuring that critical selling seasons aren’t missed.
While owning a franchise usually means having a corporate brand and materials readily available, basic marketing principles still apply, including the importance of knowing and reaching the local market which is critical for success.
Franchise owners need to ask the same questions that an independent business asks: who are my customers? Where do they live and what do they like to do? What other business are they likely to frequent and what media are they regularly exposed to? How are they likely to find my business – through the Yellow pages, a friend, driving by the store, seeing community newsletter advertisements, or searching the Internet? Profiling local customers helps determine how to effectively market to them.
Trying new marketing initiatives tailored to local customers also helps to ensure success. For example, a franchise dog grooming owner could visit a dog park and hand out dog treats with franchise information to dog owners. That same franchise owner could partner with a complimentary service or company, such as a pet store, to provide a preferred rate to the store’s customers, resulting in a win-win situation for both businesses. Another idea may be for the franchise owner to sponsor a fundraiser for the local Humane Society.
The Internet is another forum for localizing marketing efforts. The “world wide web” can be reigned in through search engines which many customers use to research products and services. Google Ad Words can put a business front and centre in a local market. Additionally, Google can place advertisements on well-known websites that only appear to viewers in the local market. Placing advertisements on related websites, such as a local car dealership promotion on a car enthusiast website, is another way to target customers.
Attracting new customers is important, but keeping existing customers happy is vital. Existing customers influence new customers through word-of-mouth referrals, so consistency in the customer experience is crucial. For example, if a spa offers herbal tea and fresh fruit, they need to always do this, regardless of how busy they are. Customers feel let down when there is a deviation in their experience and can communicate this to potential customers or decide to abandon the business themselves.
Consistency in marketing is also important, including times of trying out new and different initiatives. New initiatives need time to grow and be used frequently. A potential customer may be exposed to a marketing message five times but be too busy and forget the message or tune it out. However, it may be the sixth time that that potential customer receives the message and decides to become a new customer.
Finally, tracking marketing efforts determines which marketing initiatives attract new customers. Marketing is an investment that takes time and can have a delayed, but lasting, effect. This means that marketing initiatives and their costs won’t necessarily correlate with monthly or direct sales. The math doesn’t add up – the amount of a sale doesn’t equal the value of a new customer. Calculate the long term worth of a customer, and the investment in marketing can be exponential.
Sharole is President of Glow Marketing, Western Canada’s leading marketing consultancy specializing in marketing to Moms. Glow Marketing is currently working with franchises such as Beaners Fun Cuts for Kids, Marble Slab Creamery and Milkface Nursingwear.
Sign-up for the Glow Marketing E-Report, free tips and trends on marketing to Moms.
Add comment March 17th, 2009
Read more on the latest developments in the Canadian marketing to Moms media landscape.
yoyomama, the weekly email for Vancouver-area Moms has recently launched yoyobelly for “Moms on the grow in the know”. The site and e-blasts offer more targeted advertising to reach the highly coveted and hard to reach pregnant crowd. Fit Parent is a Canada/US magazine that will be hitting stands later this year. Watch for more exciting details on this opportunity to reach active parents through their site, magazine and local events. Yummy Mummy continues to grow with the addition of high caliber writers and also their Yummy Mummy broadband channel. Wee Welcome seems to be on the right track with continuing with their printed guides and “Mama Mingles” local events. The Vitamin Kids Daily Dose dishes out high fashion finds for funky parents and kids and now covers Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. MommywearDaily.com recently underwent a redesign and continues to help Moms everywhere go beyond their Momiform.
For more tips on marketing to Moms, sign-up for our free Glow Marketing E-Report.
1 comment March 7th, 2009
Courtesy of Jeanette Miller, Limelite PR
I started twittering just before Christmas 08 and quickly became a twitter-evangelist. Within 24 hours of creating a profile, I was “followed” by two Mom PR experts (based in the USA), made direct contact with a woman who runs a number of mom blog networks and within 48 hours I connected with two new (prospective) clients. It became quite apparent that twitter is the place to be to engage with peers, clients and like-industry influencers and monitor the competition.
For those companies who want to connect with the mom-market, twitter is the mom-mecca of social networking. As long as you are honest, transparent and actively engaged in the community, you will experience significant results.
When I spoke to Annemarie Templeman-Kluit, founder of yoyomama.ca and yoyobelly.ca, about the impact twitter has had on her business, she cited twitter as one of the biggest referrers of website traffic (more than facebook, which they’ve been on for years). Her participation on twitter was also the reason she was recently interviewed by Canadian Family Magazine. “We’ve connected with people we would have never found any other way - we’ve connected across Canada with experts like Ann Douglas and Alyson Schafer, we’ve been interviewed by Canadian Parent Magazine about mums & technology, we’ve gotten advice on what we can do with kids with colds & coughs now you’re not supposed to give them kids’ cough medicine - and it’s all thanks to twitter,” said Templeman-Kluit.
Twitter also provides a porthole into the lives of mom bloggers around the world. There’s no way anyone can read the thousands of mom blogs each and every day but with Twitter, you can get quick updates on the daily lives of some of the top mom bloggers, engage with them directly by relating to their mom-life trials and tribulations, send them congratulatory tweets when they win something, and support them by re-tweeting relevant posts to my own followers. That’s one of the best first steps into developing a relationship with these key mom influencers.
Also consider that most media outlets are on twitter, especially those specializing in the mom-market. Twitter is providing a foot-in-the-door to your next media pitch! Most of the outlets use a logo as an avatar(something that does irritate me but that’s for another post), which gives them the freedom to have multiple people tweet and participate in tweet-versations however, in the rare cases like with @yoyomama_van, you will see a photo of the person behind the tweets. In any case, you learn nuances of the editor, writer or researcher that are almost impossible to obtain unless you personally know them. You will learn what they like/dislike, their own daily struggles and how they like to engage with their followers. I have seen media tweet a call for people to be interviewed and products to be submitted. I’ve also seen companies subtly pitch Annemarie and receive a warm response. Note of warning: do not spam the media by sending them a link to a press release via twitter! Twitter is about learning, sharing, and engaging with your followers. If you spam, you will quickly be blocked or un-followed.
Twitter is easily the best business tool I have found to network with peers, clients, influencers and competition. It does require time and effort but so does any aspect in building a company/brand.
What’s stopping you? Get on Twitter today and when you do, send me a tweet @limelitepr
PS - Having trouble getting started, read this post on “Think like a Toddler and find your voice on Twitter”, by Darren Rowse.
Sign-up for the Glow Marketing E-Report, free tips and trends on marketing to Moms.
1 comment March 5th, 2009
Call me crazy but I think coupon sites are going to be HOT this year. Where have you been all my life Motherhoodofadeal.com? Post your sales now!
Sign-up for the Glow Marketing E-Report, free tips and trends on marketing to Moms.
March 4th, 2009
Do you have a unique and new green product you want to promote on the Celebrity Baby Blog? Read on…
Excerpt from HARO (Help A Reporter Out):
Summary: Eco-Friendly Products for Baby/Toddler
Category: Lifestyle & Entertainment
Name: Danielle Friedland
Email: danielle_friedland@peoplemag.com
Title: Founder and Senior Editor
Media Outlet/Publication: Celebrity Baby Blog
Anonymous? No
Specific Geographic Region? No
Region:
Deadline: 6:00 PM EASTERN - February 28
Query:
“For our annual “Green Guide,” which launches March 24, I’m looking
for eco-friendly and organic baby and toddler clothing for
newborns-preschoolers AND maternity, newborn-preschool toys and
stuff for the nursery such as crib, bedding, air purifiers, paint
and decor.
If you respond to my query, put GREEN GUIDE in the subject line and
give me detailed info on the specific product, line or brand, a
link to where it may be purchased, pricing and most importantly,
what makes it eco-friendly such as being made from organic
materials, minimal packaging, etc.
PLEASE don’t waste my time with off-topic pitches. I’m not
interested in products for adults or older kids.”
Add comment February 11th, 2009
