Mom WOM

by | Mar 17, 2006 | Blog, Communication

From the WOMMA newsletter, we get a glimpse into the power of Mom WOM for influencing the entire family. Lucid Marketing’s Kevin Burke gives us five reasons for targeting mothers for word of mouth campaigns:

Tip #1. Moms are your customers
Recent data suggests moms control 80 percent of household spending, and they are typically buying for themselves, their husbands, and their kids. Capture “Mom WOM” and you capture a huge market of valuable consumers for nearly every consumer business.

Tip #2. Moms are busy and discerning
Moms have more choices than in previous generations. They are pressed for time and often juggle a work-life balance. Moms multi-task skillfully because they have to. They’re on the lookout for solutions to make life easier, which is one reason why they strongly embrace the internet. If stranded on a desert island and can only have one medium, they chose email over all others.

Tip #3. Moms are not classical influential profile
Moms value relationships to a greater extent than anyone else because they experience the strongest relationship anyone can have — a mother and child. Moms are good at building relationships and enjoy sharing know-how. You can see relationships growing and word of mouth happening at ball games, bus stops, birthday parties, etc.

Tip #4. Moms are extremely credible with peers
Moms are big influencers in mom-to-mom dialogue. They are more likely to make personal recommendations to other moms, and they rank WOM from other moms as the most trusted means of finding out about new products and services. The thought process is as simple as, “she’s like me and knows what I face!”

Tip #5. Moms have widely differing behaviors
“Typical” mom activities? There are no such thing. Their busy lives lead them to all different places and experiences.

As a mom of a 5 and an 8 year old, this definitely matches up with my own experience. I make 90% of all purchasing decisions for the family (#1), hugely prefer to use e-mail over other forms of communication because it’s quick and efficient (#2), spend my day jumping between different relationship contexts (#3), will definitely trust the opinions of other moms I know about things related to the kids as well as products/services that will make my life a little easier (#4), and rarely have one day that’s the same as the next (#5).

I am WOMMY, hear me roar!