From Marketing Fog to Mommy Blog.

If anyone out there still doubts the power of the mommy blogger to influence purchases among the mom market, consider these stats:

There are 35.3 million moms online with children under the age of 18 — a number projected to reach 36.9 million by 2012.

There are only about 40 million moms, total, with children that age, across the U.S.

Of the 36.2 million women actively participating in the blogosphere weekly as either publishers or readers, 46% — or just over 16.5 million — have children at home.

67% of moms online look for help making a purchasing decision.

78% of moms who blog review products.

Just as significant as the number of moms writing blogs, reading blogs and looking for advice on what to buy for their children is the psychology behind that last category. Studies show that moms are increasingly losing trust in established “experts” — institutions and the like — while trusting more in what other moms have to say. That trust extends beyond members of their family or immediate community to other moms — strangers — they meet online.

They feel that other moms who are going through the same experiences that they themselves are, at the same time, are the only ones truly qualified to comment on what to do — and, more importantly to mom-targeted companies, what to buy. Moms also feel that, unlike companies that want to promote their own brands, other moms have no motivation to be anything other than truthful. As a result, mom bloggers become the “go to” group, the ones other moms rely on, the opinion leaders and the purchase influencers.

“It is clear that how moms communicate and whom they trust is fundamentally changing,” noted “Digital Mom,” a report recently published by Razorfish and CafeMom. “Understanding how to leverage emerging technologies, and the growing social influence of the digital moms, is a critical step for marketers in a changing media landscape.”

In other words, marketers: Bloggers can promote products or services more credibly than companies can on their own.

This is particularly true for reaching Gen Y moms — women in their 20s and early 30s — the prime target for most manufacturers of products for young children.

“Gen Y moms are much more attached to media that connects them to other moms online — such as Internet communities, blogs and video-sharing sites — suggesting they prefer to rely on peers rather than experts to help them parent,” according to a 2008 report by from The Parenting Group and NewMediaMetrics. “The top three activities of Gen Y moms (online) are reading blogs, participating in an online community of moms, and creating and sharing their own video.”

Meanwhile, the top three online activities for Gen X moms (generally, in their mid-30s through 40s) are using a photo site, rating and reviewing products, and shopping.

New vs. Old

Where, one might ask, do traditional media fall on the popularity and influence ladder in comparison? Largely, by the wayside:

Moms spend more time online than watching TV.

Newspaper circulation has dropped at least 30% since 1985 — and that’s a figure from well before the latest developments: Last month, The Rocky Mountain News published its last issue, while the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News filed for bankruptcy. Also of note: Only 27% of young women read a daily newspaper.

National parenting magazines are also declining. Child magazine vanished a few years ago, and Disney Publishing’s Wondertime recently announced that it was closing down. Remaining parenting publications, meanwhile, are running their own blogs.

Personally, I have no interest in devaluing traditional media — as a former journalist and the spouse of a current one, I long for The New York Times over morning coffee and a glossy magazine to relax with on an airplane. But I am not Gen Y — and I am realistic.

Word of mouth — rather than newsprint — is extraordinarily impactful among moms, and the musings of mommy bloggers fall within that umbrella. Marketers who remain skeptical about the influence of mom bloggers must acknowledge that adhering exclusively to the old ways just won’t work.

Companies must recognize that their own lack of understanding of how to work with this increasingly influential channel can no longer serve as an excuse not to. This is especially true in this economy, when it’s more critical than ever to reach moms where they live, which — no doubt about it — is in the blogosphere.

By Stephanie Azzarone.
Stephanie Azzarone is founder and president of Child’s Play Communications, specialists in public relations and marketing communications for products and services targeted to moms. For more than 20 years, she has managed traditional and/or social media relations for clients such as Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Hasbro, CVS/pharmacy and Parents magazine. She is also the editor and publisher of the newsletter Marketing Communications:Kids and the blog Mom Market Trends. Email her at **@**********pr.com.
Courtesy of http://www.mediapost.com