Being Lucid, we like to clear the air once in a while (pun intended). We just finished a week long meeting bringing our associates in from around the country. It’s an annual event where we talk about issues facing the business, our markets, our customers, and ourselves. Traditionally, we’ve exhausted hours with detail surrounding how we can do our jobs better, how we can stand out from the crowd, and how we will be successful.

This year, there was a decidedly different current, as our collective attention has moved from day-to-day and internal issues to resources needed for growth. A common phrase coming into (and that’s a key point) the meeting emphasized optimism for a good year in 2005.

We are finding that conversations with our customer are more upbeat. The investment we put into Mom Marketing as the core focus of our business is paying off. Growth is our (unanimously) “Number 1″ planning requirement, and frankly it feels pretty good.

What about you? Are you seeing more opportunity? Are you experiencing more freedom for innovative approaches to marketing your brands as media channels become more fragmented? Blogs got you excited? Search Engine marketing still your hot topic? Are you growing? Let’s hope so.

Feel free to send me your thoughts,

John King

• lucid analysis
  A Mom Initiative? – by Chris Ulmer
• lucid news
  Coming Soon: “Holiday Spending by Moms”
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  All the Best Articles of the Month – Just One Place

A MOM INITIATIVE?
by Chris Ulmer

“How do you start a marketing to Moms initiative?” It’s a good question, and it is the first thing any marketer should ask before embarking on the challenge of marketing to Moms. It is best to break it into two fundamental questions before you begin: 1) Why Moms? and 2) Which Moms?

Why Moms?

Companies who “get” marketing to Moms still struggle with an answer to this question that will rally the troops to the challenge of a marketing to Moms initiative. That’s ok, because this is how we can help. A good starting point is to “find out the facts.” When we head down the fact-finding road with a marketing team, sometimes with them kicking and screaming, we uncover some startling data on what companies don’t know about their customers. For example, car companies recently awoke to the fact that women, and more specifically Moms, are very influential in the buying process a majority of the time. Marketers at car companies typically would say, “men talk more about cars, men read more about cars, and men work more on cars. Therefore, the audience we need to focus on is men.” This type of thinking leaves out a large segment of the buyer base. Also, moms think differently and more importantly shop differently then men, so the same marketing techniques and messages do not apply. Your discovery process should lead you to figure out your share of the mom market opportunity. It is likely that someone else in your category has done the same. If you make an effort now to capture even just a small share, you might be surprised how your sales will grow now that you are paying attention to Moms.

Which Moms?

Recognizing your need to speak to Moms in their own language is a first step that can take you ahead of your competition. Which Moms to target depends greatly on your brand or product and the objectives of your Mom initiative. Moms will see your true value if you are able to bring relevance between your brand and what matters in her life. This statement should lead you in the direction of where you can start to segment your Moms. You may ask, “Do I really need to segment Moms if none of my competitors are even looking at them?” Yes, you do. A nice place to start is segmenting Moms by their kids. As segmentation variables, kids’ gender and age provide criteria to craft a unique message to Mom. Her planning and responsibility to her children greatly affect her buying decisions, thus a point of relevance for a marketer. Being relevant with your brand to her family may be the message she thinks of first when making a purchase in your category.

The challenge of starting a Mom initiative may seem like a daunting task to undertake. But once you focus on the opportunity and dedicate yourself to try something new to increase your share, then it becomes even easier to ask, “Why Moms? or rather, “Why not Moms?” It will definitely be worth it.

RESEARCH REPORT: HOLIDAY SPENDING BY MOMS

Lucid is actively compiling results of a study on “Holiday Spending by Moms”. We surveyed over two-hundred Moms across the U.S. to find out how they shopped for entertainment products for their children.

Look for highlights in February 2005.

• relationship strategy
  ROI Isn’t the Only Factor to Consider by Barbara Lewis – Acquisition or retention? That is the question. Should you put more money or less into retention? A recent survey claims that more companies spent additional money on retention last year, a swing from previous years when acquisition spending was king.
• crm solutions
  Chat Technology: Changing the Way We ‘Talk’ to Customers by Dr. Jon Anton – If a customer is Internet-savvy and happy to make contact online, why get them to reach for a telephone when they need help?
• email marketing
  Holiday E-mail Campaigns Receive Mixed Report by Rob McGann – A new consumer survey conducted by Return Path issues a mixed report on the effectiveness of e-mail marketing campaigns in the 2004 holiday season.
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  Getting Ready by Richard N. Tooker – The first step in any database marketing project is a readiness assessment. It will help you determine where your organization is on the learning curve, define the degree to which it already possesses the tools and skills necessary to succeed, and figure out how database marketing fits into corporate strategy.
• marketing metrics & analysis
  Higher Quality Information Drives Success by Beth Jacaruso – The cost of poor data quality, and some suggestions about how to fix it.
• internet promotions & advertising
  Paid vs. Organic: Can Search Users Tell the Difference? – A new report released by Pew Internet and American Life studies how Americans perceive and use search engines, based on a survey of 2,200 adults ages 18 and over, conducted in May and June of 2004.
• customer research
  How to Improve Direct Mail Responses by Surveying Prospects Before You Start Copywriting – How do you figure out which single benefit to spotlight in your launch marketing campaigns?
• leading edge marketing tactics
  The Rise Of Business Blogging by Steve Rubel – Unlike corporate web sites, blogs directly reflect the individual personalities who pen them. That’s what made them such a success…