| By Vanessa Horwell | |
| The opinion-shaping group is powerful—and idiosyncratic Mommy bloggers, despite their unfortunate moniker (it makes them sound frumpy), have become a fixture in the marketing and PR landscape.It’s only natural that we seek endorsements and testimonials from them. Mommy (and daddy) bloggers are a natural outcropping of the blogging phenomenon, and smart marketers have been looking for ways to capitalize on this digital voice, as they do with every group that gains consumer-influencing power.
The downside to the phenomenon of these blogs, however, is that the ethical guidelines that apply to mommy and daddy bloggers, and the products they review, have been incredibly slow to coalesce. It’s become a free-for-all: The FTC’s recent ruling, which requires bloggers of all stripes to disclose whether the products they review were provided free, has brought to the fore many examples of what not to do. But given that mommy and daddy bloggers aren’t going anywhere soon, what are the best ways for marketers to pursue these coveted endorsements? 1. Be attractive Product endorsements have been around since the beginning of advertising and marketing. Key to a good endorsement is a measure of authenticity and neutrality. A basketball player’s endorsement of Nike becomes instantly hollow to a potential consumer if the hoopster’s dunking while wearing Adidas. Likewise, if a mommy blogger sings the praises of the Maclaren (because she received a freebie) but takes her tyke out in a Bugaboo, the authenticity of the blog review is called into question. The first key to earning the support of a mommy or daddy blogger is to make the product attractive or useful enough to earn regular use, so that the blogger subsequently becomes a brand advocate. Here’s an example of a great dad blog I came across: http://www.hightechdad.com/vendors. It’s transparent, authentic and straightforward—a blogger’s opinion you can believe in. 2. Don’t offer free products As marketers, we’ve learned that a free product or service does not always breed loyalty, and now we’ve learned that the way not to earn allegiance with bloggers is to provide free stuff. With the potential FTC fines hanging over the heads of mommy and daddy bloggers—$11,000—many will be reluctant about, if not hostile to, accepting overt gestures such as comp samples. Boo-hoo. This is likely to have the effect of considerably thinning the rolls of mommy and daddy bloggers, thus decreasing the number of real targets a marketer needs to consider. It also handcuffs agencies eager to have this influential group try their clients’ products. 3. Tell a good story We’re better served by arousing bloggers’ interest in our clients’ products and encouraging legitimate trials than by focusing on “free” goods. There are many ways to do this, and they all start with a good story. The trite, easy way out is to claim that a product speaks for itself. This is at once true and a cop-out. No product “speaks for itself” without explaining. Every product and company has a story to tell, and it’s the effective telling of that story that will grab a mommy blogger’s attention—or not. Engaging any blogger is an integral part of telling a business’ or product’s story to the wider public. Getting the story out starts with targeting bloggers effectively. Every blogger gets his or her information from somewhere, so the best action is to place the product’s or company’s story in the blogger’s sight lines. Scouring blog rolls, looking for trackbacks, and examining similar blogs are all great ways of finding an “in” to the blogger of choice. The idea is to build a groundswell of awareness about a product or company relevant to the blogger’s focus. Relevancy is the keyword here, so, of course, follow what they say and do. 4. Promote benefits As with any great pitch, you must consider all the angles. To be of interest to citizen bloggers, your product has to be positioned to alleviate pain, be innovative, offer value. Although it may seem self-explanatory, these bloggers won’t care about how a product is projected to increase a company’s market share. Consumer benefits, benefits, benefits are all they really want to know about. They also won’t want to hear any sales pitches. Mommy bloggers—especially with their newfound sense of importance—tend to consider themselves the gatekeepers of accessibility, and that they are providing information as a service to their similar-minded siblings and devout followers. Emphasizing utility is a great way to play to this conception. A final word of warning: Courting these bloggers is not for everyone. There are many products and industries that are not well served by actively seeking blogger endorsement. But the majority of producers of consumer goods can reap significant benefits of pursuing mommy and daddy bloggers, as can many service providers. Questions, however, remain in evaluating the cost effectiveness of getting on their radar. Will the testimonial of a handful of influential mommy bloggers really shift and shape consumers’ purchasing decisions? For some companies, probably not. For many other industries, however, the answer is a resounding “yes.” Mommy bloggers hold more than apron strings; they hold the purse strings of millions of Americans. Vanessa Horwell is Chief Visibility Officer at ThinkInk. She works with companies in the US, UK and Europe to improve their visibility through strategic public relations and new media channels. Reach her at vanessa@thinkinkpr.com. |
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