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Last week I received another email inviting me to a great event that absolutely perfect for the entire family. I was filled with glee because I’ve been trying to find NEW things for my kids to do while I practice my photography.
I’ve got the camera in hand in the kids in tow before realizing one thing…
The time.
That’s right it was another invite to a spectacular event conveniently planned for the middle of the day on a weekday.
Oh poop (that’s not what I really said). I said something way cooler than that.
See I’m one of those; I’m a mommy blogger that works full-time. While I appreciate all of the wonderful invites to some really great events, I almost always have to turn down the opportunity because I also work full-time.
Which makes me think, I clearly can’t be the only working mom that blogs, right? I’ve seen others out there on Twitter and Facebook. Quick raise your hand (leave a comment) if you are a mommy blogger or blogger that also works full-time.
Anyway, this post isn’t really about my misfortune of having to turn down events, but it did get me thinking…
I wonder if all of these brands catering to moms realize they are missing the opportunity to reach out to over 21 million consumers. According to a report released by Scarborough working moms make up 9% of the US adult population and 43% of working woman are full-time working moms.
While working moms account for only 18% of woman, here are some reasons why they should be in your target market.
- Working moms spend more on groceries
- 2/3 of working moms use grocery coupons, 28% use them weekly
- Working moms are more likely to eat fast food (by the way I’m not saying that is a good thing, but I’m guilty)
- Working moms spend more annually across all clothing categories
- Working moms are 29% more likely to paint/wallpaper their home in the next year
- Working moms spend 21% more on wireless phone service than the average phone user. Check out my article on Why the Mobile Market Should Love Moms on lifetimemoms.com
- Working moms drive over 1000+ miles in a month (For working moms in LA it may not necessarily be the distance by the time of travel that sucks your time)
As a working mom, work at home mom, mom entrepreneur, or whatever you want to call me I generally have control over the spending for my family like other moms. My choices do influence the brand choices my children will make in the future.
In my opinion working moms sound like a great target market because they are generally tech savvy, in need of some serious me time, are always looking for cost savings and healthy choices and are always looking for was to be more efficient with time and money.
So how do you reach out to the time-starved working mom?
- Plan an event that includes dinner – I know the first thing on my mind after work is, what’s for dinner. Hosting a family night dinner would be an interesting way to bring working mother together to share your brand and ideas.
- Spa Day – Ever working mother is starved for me time, plan a spa day event in the evenings or on the weekend.
- Offer babysitting services for adult only presentations. Since events are sometimes hosted in hotel conference rooms, why not reserve a second room for the kids to play
- Plan events on the weekends rather than weekdays
- Host a shopping event – invite working moms to a boutique or store for a nice cocktail party and allow them to explore your product line.
Those are just a few suggestions. What do you think working moms? Do you have any tips or suggestion on how brands should try and reach out?
The data in this study is from Scarborough USA+ Release 1 2009. Data collection dates are February5, 2008 through March 7, 2009, except for page 12, which is based on six months of data. Scarborough defines the working women as “women who are employed full-time and have one more children in the household. For more information on this study, please see www.scarborough.com. You can download the working mom report here.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
You know that this subject is near and dear to my heart. As a fellow full time working mom that blogs, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Thanks Laura for your comments, if you were in PR what would you do to cater the working moms.
I”m totally with you on this. I work at home, but it’s a full time thing. I can’t get away from my home office between 5am & 5pm. Except for the rare moments when I can spend an hour running errands that HAVE to be done during those hours. I’m certainly not going to make it to any event held during the day, during the week. I can’t tell you how many things I”ve missed out on just because it was during the day. It’s frustrating because I wanna say “Hello? Who has time during the day that HAS money to spend?” anyway, thanks for bringing it up and getting it out there!
@wyndsong
Christine´s last blog ..What’s New Boogaloo?
Amen! You pretty much summed up how I feel – I work full time – and an event that caters to me, in the evening, that is also kid friendly! Of course there would be NO way for me to say no.
But, first, I need to be invited to an event. Because, after a long time of blogging, I still have not reached that point. And, sometimes, I feel as if I am being punished for working – I feel like I miss out on a lot of opportunity and am not even offered opportunities, because, well, a lot of times, there is just not enough hours in a day to make my blog a priority.
HaB ´s last blog ..At LEAST it’s NOT Chicken Pox?
Love this post. Raising my hand—full time working mom over here!
Really like #3: Offer babysitting services for adult only presentations. Since events are sometimes hosted in hotel conference rooms, why not reserve a second room for the kids to play
African American Mom´s last blog ..I’m BACK!
As a working mom, I spend a LOT more money on my family and kids than most stay-at-home Moms I know. More toys, more take-out, drive more, you hit it on the head. The savvy companies reaching out to me have worked around my schedule and it’s paid off for them. Although I’ve been totally willing to take a few hours off of work here and there if it will have a dramatic impact on my blog’s visibility – for example, I’ve been on the morning news twice in the last 2 months.
Otherwise, for a company’s PR event, if it is held during a work day, you will need to have a kick-ass event that I’m interested in and think my readers will be AND promise a giveaway for my blog worth a minimum of $40 — then I might consider taking a few hours off work to attend.
Great topic! Thanks for giving some props to the working mommy bloggers!
Missy @ The Marketing Mama´s last blog ..Top ten women’s gifts for the holidays
I have to praise you for this one Stephanie and based on some of our conversations, I truly hope that more moms like us (working, entrepreneurs, and mothers) will start to make WAVES in this arena.
I am so TIRED of big advertisers only catering to a “certain” type of mom or mom blogger. We are so complex and unique. All different and yet still underserved in so many ways.
At TheCocktailCafe.com, I was working full time when I decided to create this blog-magazine for moms. And now with ProMomBlogger.com, its important to highlight now that I am WAHM. But my day schedule is usually booked up.
Cheers to Your Succes!
Rhea – ProMomBlogger.com´s last blog ..How to Develop A Niche Blog for Your WAHM Business
*Raising Hand* Full time here too!
I have been invited to a few events, but can never go. There was one event that I took PTO for, but it was a one time thing.
I love the store cocktail hour idea, makes so much sense.
HEAR HEAR! I saw on tv this morning that 51% of the workplace is now WOMEN! That means more and more moms are in the workplace. The number is growing.
Brands can appeal to me by understanding MY needs and what my life means.
My life doesn’t allow me to cook breakfast in the morning for the family.
Our car is always trashed (do not show me another clean car in a commercial!!)
I am in a constant hurry until after dinner.
My house needs Glade candles not to enhance a smell for when friends come over – rather cover up the stinch my kids make!
I could go on
but yes – thank you for writing about moms in the workplace. There are more and more of us – especially with economy as it is today.
I hear you with all of the above cooking breakfast is next to impossible on the weekdays and to be honest my REAL work starts after work because the minute I step out of the office I’m running around like crazy from coming up with a dinner plan, getting them ready for bed and then cleaning up after their mess. I usually don’t have a minute to relax until well after 10pm.
I won’t even talk about my car.
I’m a homeschooling mom who has two full time businesses. While I work from home and am a bit flexible, I always find things I would love to attend that are planned for the time I am either hosting podcast or teaching an online event or homeschooling my son. I have so many church events I can’t go to because of this too.
JoJo Tabares´s last blog ..Chonda Pierce: Menopause Parking
Not only am I a full-time working mom, but I’m also in school part-time! I can’t blog as often as I’d like, but I do take it seriously, and would love to get in on some of the ‘fun’ of events!
Christi´s last blog ..And the klutz status gets even worse…..
~raising hand~ I leave for work at 6am and return at 5pm. I’ve missed pretty much every event I’ve been invited to.
So, Amen & Amen to this post!
Mistressofthedorkness´s last blog ..CAD Managers Not Optimistic
I work for myself from home on a part time basis… so I can’t really raise my hand here for you, but I will say that I think you have an excellent point – I’m a graphic designer that does a lot of marketing work – you’d think the PR people for these companies would realize how awesome ideas like yours are… because even for me, if it was an evening event that Hubby could come to and I could leave the kids with a sitter… now we’re talking!
Blessed´s last blog ..How to find bargains without spending lots of time shopping
I’m so glad that I found your blog…and your thoughts. I, too, am a full timer in the workforce, mompreneur, and wife. Not to mention all the community stuff that needs my extra time.
I would love a “mom” geared event on a weekend without the kids filled with pampering and a good buy.