Why should marketers pay attention to how Moms have refocused their spending on family and self in this economy? To start, they represent over $2 trillion to U.S. brands and influence 85% of all purchasing decisions. However influential they are, over 60% say they feel ignored by marketers. So how can that be?

Check our EBL’s recent interview on financial news radio station KFNN-1510 with Isabelle Jazo, V.P. Brand Strategy, for insights on how to position your brand for Mom relevancy during these unprecedented times.

There is certainly something instinctively true about the old adage: Mom knows best.

Moms learn to follow their intuition and their hearts when it comes to raising their families and running their households. With a little time and experience, their gut reactions tend to be the right ones – especially when it comes to household finances.

As Chief Household Officers, their influence is felt in the home, at the cash registers and online. Women make 85% of all brand-purchasing decisions and wield $2 trillion dollars in brand spending. Moms represent nearly 20% of the online population, and Moms between the ages of 40-50 are part of the fastest growing segment of users on Facebook.

So why are Moms among the most active online users? They seek out and provide their expertise via social media to satiate some very basic needs:

 

1. Moms need to connect with other women. It satisfies their social self, which is a fueled by female relationships.
2. She has something to say. Have you met a mom that didn’t?
3. She wants to be heard. Who doesn’t?

 

It’s pretty clear how and why mommy blogging now plays an integral part in the marketing strategies for such brands as Wal-Mart and P&G. Nielsen Online has even attributed a moniker to these active and influential mommy bloggers and social media mavens – Power Moms.

The opportunities can be endless if marketers will employ a very basic strategy in the quest to ingratiate Moms to their brands:

Listen, listen, then listen some more.

In a recent study by the Marketing to Moms Coalition, 60% of moms surveyed felt marketers were ignoring their needs, and 73% felt that advertisers didn’t understand what it was like to be a mom. This disheartening reality was the impetus behind a recent and timely report just completed by E.B. Lane, entitled Middle-Class Moms and The Recession.

Within this study, EBL identifies pivotal shifts in moms’ values – leading indicators for future behavior and brand selection. EBL took the time to listen to moms in Braintree, MA, and Denver, CO, over the course of 5 weeks, summarizing these findings in a white paper available for your download. [http://tinyurl.com/mrg6sf]

Enjoy, read and listen. And while you’re at it, please share your thoughts.