To understand the secret to Pinterest's $5.0 billion valuation, you only need to know one word: female. That's what Business Insider argued last year when it said the high price for this social media site was justified because the majority of its users are female -- and females are the household spenders, responsible for 85 per cent of consumer purchasing decisions.
While Mom holds the purchasing power, that doesn't mean she's easily swayed. Here are four things you need to know about targeting this female consumer.
1.Moms make the decisions -- but not alone
Moms may be the decision makers in their households but they're not coming to conclusions on their own. In fact, about 84 per cent of moms search for recommendations online before making a purchase.
Best practice: Feature reviews prominently on your site and provide incentives to consumers to review products that are currently unrated.
2.Consistency is key
Women, including moms, dominate social media networks. Excluding LinkedIn, more female Americans use all other social networks compared to their male counterparts. You might read this as a signal to get on Pinterest or Instagram but the first step is to actually ensure a consistent presence across all your marketing channels.
Women are comparison shoppers but they're not just comparing prices -- they're comparing what story your brand is telling on every site you're on, from your website to your Facebook page. If you're sales-focused on your website but every social post are animal pictures, they'll quickly pick up on your Facebook façade.
Best practice: Utilize your company's mission statement as a benchmark for consistency and authenticity. Before every post, pin or tweet, ask yourself if it adds value to what message you're trying to send about who you are as a company.
3.Stop stereotyping
There are more colors than just pink and not all women are wearing high heels elbow-deep in diapers. As society changes, so does the picture of the average mom so don't restrict your marketing collateral to images of stereotypical moms of the past. Today's moms want to see diversity -- single moms, lesbian moms, moms with full-time nannies and moms with none.
Best practice: Evaluate the tone of your images in marketing collateral (sales sheets, emails, website copy etc.) and label it on a scale of how stereotypical it is of what is often portrayed as a typical mom in the media. Aim to create collateral that is lower on the stereotype scale.
4.Authenticity sells
Nothing sells better than authenticity -- something that Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty and Pantene's Not Sorry #ShineStrong have shown. What these two campaigns have in common is they barely mention the products these companies sell. Instead, moms take note of what they're really selling: the idea of the empowered, authentic woman -- something they can relate to or aspire to be.
Best practice: Content marketing is about creating content that is helpful and solves your readers' problems -- not hypes up your product. Dove and Pantene have shown that they're willing to spend on a campaign that doesn't even advertise their product but builds brand awareness, advertises their core message and relates to their target audience, which, in turn, will help them sell their products down the road.
Moms, and females in general, are one of the most important and lucrative demographics to target. Before you do, understand these four characteristics that set Moms apart from the competition and implement them into your brand's marketing strategy.
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