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
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.
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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.
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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!
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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
Etsy is an online community that helps artists promote and sell their handmade goods. The site is an excellent opportunity for smaller start-ups with the gift of craftiness.I see Etsy has an excellent way for Mom entreprenuers to test market a new product idea and create greater exposure for their company. It seems relatively easy to set-up an Etsy shop and Etsy is doing it’s part to drive traffic to the site. Recently Etsy announced it will hold another online baby shower which I think is brilliant.
Etsy is also an excellent source for really unique items retailers. As more and more kid and baby boutiques open, it’s harder and harder to stand apart from the competition. Offering unique and different products with limited distribution or exclusivity is a key element of standing out.
Unique and different products are CRUCIAL, so consider this part of your marketing plan and don’t worry about how small the mark-up is. Without unique products you are no better than all of the other sites and stores out there. Good luck getting any kind of PR if you have the same stuff everyone else has.
Most importantly, Etsy offers Mom entrepreneurs an easy way to test the waters with a new handmade product idea prior to going into full steam production. If you had experiences selling on Etsy, good or bad, please share!
Add comment January 21st, 2009
Read todays article from E-Marketer.com
Add comment October 30th, 2008
There have been lots of changes in the Mom Media landscape over the past few months. Sites are growing, new ones are popping up, media companies are starting to realize that Moms like to use the Internet! Now the only problem is choosing which ones!
GreenMom.ca is a new site dedicated to all things green for Moms and Kids. A great place for manufacturers or green retailers to get exposure.
BabyPurity.com is another green site. This one is from Vancouver. This site is less commercial but hosts conferences for Moms interested in green solutions. The first conference was in Vancouver October 25th and they hope to roll out in other major centres.
YummyMommyClub has now launched their new site too. is Advertising is still national only and the marketplace area has some excellent low cost ad options for smaller online companies.
ShareSavvy.ca is the latest from Savvy Mom, a user generated forum for people to share ideas with each other. What a great idea!
The creators of Babyvibe.ca have now launched a new site and weekly email called Kindervibe.ca, aimed at parents with toddlers.
Vitamin V is getting ready to launch in Calgary soon. The highly stylish website offers a “Daily Dose” email about (you guessed it) Moms and Kids. Very hip and clean design. I’m excited to see how they will attract the “Posh Mummies” here in Calgary. I have some ideas…
4 comments October 28th, 2008
Many Internet users in the US are going online to perform common tasks with efficiency, such as researching products rather than driving around from store to store. Female Internet users with children are no exception, according to a study conducted in June and July 2008 for the Marketing to Moms Coalition by Insight to Action.
E-mail was the most popular online activity among respondents, followed by paying bills.
Not only did online moms head to the Web for product search, they also shopped for their children there—slightly more than they did for themselves.
The data underscores the point that that moms do much more online than visit sites related to parenting. Their surfing activities extend across the Internet.
For example, more than 94% of moms ages 25 to 54 visited large corporate Websites, services sites and portal sites in December 2007, according to comScore Media Metrix. Meanwhile, 89% used search/navigation sites and 88% visited retail sites.
eMarketer estimates that there will be 35.3 million US mothers online in 2008, equivalent to 18.2% of the total US Internet population. The number will reach 39.6 million in 2012, an increase of 12% from this year.
Add comment October 16th, 2008
Photobucket.com has added online scrapbooks to their site. It occured to me that these online scrapbooks, with lots of wonderful designs, could serve as a marketing tool for businesses. This type of tool could be used to create a seasonal “card” or a scrapbook for your next season’s product line or to showcase photos from a past event. You could link from your website or send this out via email to you customer database. It’s professional looking and easy to use. There is also a multimedia tool, to create “mash-ups” of video, music and photos. Oh, and I think it’s free!
Sharole Lawrence, PresidentAdd comment October 8th, 2008
