BSM Media

The Magic of Digital Gift Guides as a Marketing Tactic for Selling to Moms

bsm_admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 18:32:11 +0000

As we move into the holiday selling season, brands are planning their marketing tactics. No doubt that the goal is to create a buzz around products. The more buyers see and hear about your product, the more they believe it makes the perfect gift purchase. This is one reason brands hope to land on the top of Amazon’s Top Gift Lists or Target’s Top Ten Toy Guide. The stamp of approval combined with digital advertising, PR and influencers is the perfect storm for holiday buzz. However, year after year, I watch marketers ignore the power of digital gift guides as a mean to ignite the buzz.

For those who may not be familiar with digital gift guides here a quick explanation. Digital gift guides are a collection of favorite or newly discovered products created by social media influencers and content creators. The publishers of these guides highly promote them to their followers by posting them to every one of their social channels and in some cases, event boosting the placements with paid advertising. They have a strong following and many shoppers consult them, particularly on Pinterest for product ideas. BSM Media research shows that 85% of moms consult at least 2 gift guides each shopping season. Product placement in digital gifts guides range from free to a few thousand dollars. Currently BSM Media has a list of over 200 content creators or influencers working on their 2021 Holiday gift guides. These influencers are actively seeking product samples from brands.

The magic and effectiveness of digital guides is that they are produced by influencers with large followings and the cost is significantly less than a single post by that same influencer. Digital guide publishers typically begin assembling the products they will showcase in September. Many put out a call for submissions thru H.A.R.O (Help a Writer Out), emails or influencer agencies. The key is to get your product in the hands of these creators early. If chosen, the product is highlighted in the gift guide and promoted throughout the holiday season meaning it has a very long shelf life. Best of all, the product has the inferred endorsement of an influencer with a strong following which means a great deal to moms shopping for the perfect gift.

Earning placement in 20-25 digital gift guides can be as powerful as a single mention on an Amazon or Target list because mom shoppers have become smart to the commercialization of those lists. Seeing a product showcased in multiple Holiday Digital Gift Guides on multiple social platforms sends a strong message that the product is the must have product of the season. Best of all for the brand, the return on investment is likely to be higher than single social posts by influencers or advertising dollars on large 3^rd party site.

If your brand needs helps connecting with digital gift guide publishers, shoot an email to Maria@bsmmedia.com. We will be happy to get you started on your journey to holiday sales success.

BSM Media, Inc. is an award-winning and internationally recognized Marketing to Moms agency specializing in strategic outreach, influencer engagement, and content creation. BSM Media also owns and operates MomSelect Influencer Network, MillennialInfluencers.com, GenZInfluencers.com, and Mommyparties.com.

Maria Bailey is the CEO of BSM Media and the author of “Marketing to Moms: Getting Your Share of the Trillion Dollar Market,” “Power Moms,” “Millennial Moms: 202 Facts Marketers Need to Know to Build Brands and Drive Sales,” and the soon to be released “Marketing to Gen Z Moms.” She is a frequent keynote speaker and media expert. She can be reached at Maria@bsmmedia.com. Learn more about Maria Bailey at www.MariaBailey.com.

7 Overlooked Ways to Work with Influencers

bsm_admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 16:30:13 +0000

“I need influencers to post about my product.” I hear this statement more than a dozen times a week. With thousands of brands engaging with millions of social media influencers, the strategy of working with influencers needs to be much more refined and targeted. Brands likely have very specific goals behind why they want to work with influencers, whether it’s to drive sales on Amazon or generate downloads of an application. Just as each of these goals are very different, so is the approach to using influencers. Brands needs to align their engagement with influencers with the goals of their campaign. Fortunately for marketers, there are many ways to engage influencers that can maximize your budget and allow you to reach your goals. Here’s 7 overlooked ways to work with influencers and the most effective ways to use them.

1. Pinterest

Millennial moms use Pinterest to find solutions. Most influencers promote their Instagram content on Pinterest but few brands ask them do it for paid posts. Pinterest is a great place to promote toys, party supplies, food products and anything else that serves as a solution to an everyday mom challenge. BSM Media engaged influencers to PIN party ideas to Pinterest for a client. To date, those PINS and the links to the client’s product have received over 5 million impressions.

2. Live Events

Use influencers to host Instagram Lives from your social channels or theirs. It’s a great way to give a voice to your brand and demonstrate how to use your product in everyday life.

3. Amazon Lives

Using influencers to host Amazon Lives is a great way to send her followers right to your product pages. It allows your brand to benefit from the influencer bringing her followers into your store. Find influencers with a strong Amazon Affilliate business model and ask for past sales data to ensure it’s the right partnership.

4. Digital Gift Guides

Engage with Influencers who have publish digital gift guides especially if you are a holiday gift or toy brand. Placement is very affordable and the content stays relevant and live on the influencers feed throughout the holiday season.

5. Offline Sampling

Influence transcends the online world if you select the right influencer. If they love your product online, they likely are willing to share it with friends and followers offline. When engaging with influencers, ask them about offline involvement in the community such as PTOs, community clubs or local athletics.

6. Content or Photo Creation

Covid shut down many brand photo shoots but helped those brands realize that content creators produce great stock photos. Use influencers to produce photos, videos or articles that can be used on your website, emails or social channels. In many cases, the quality is good as professional photo shoots, less time consuming and less expensive.

7. Offline Media

Many influencers have side gigs on local television, radio or produce a podcast. Don’t overlook having those influencers carry your message offline and deliver it to larger communities on different platforms.

Engaging influencers is so much more than a single Instagram post. Getting to know the depth of the influencer’s community and how to maximize your partnership should always be the first step in your influencer marketing strategy.

To find out how you can leverage Mom Influencers in a more effective way, email Maria@bsmmedia.com

10 Effective Yet Overlooked Ways to Engage with Mom Influencers

bsm_admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:43:17 +0000

Uncovering the Opportunities for Brands as Millennial Moms UnMask Their Families

bsm_admin — Thu, 27 May 2021 13:59:13 +0000

Now that Mom consumers are pulling off their masks and sending their children back to summer camp, what can brands expect as they return to normalcy? BSM Media sought out those answers in a recent online survey of 590 millennial moms across America. The survey was conducted the week of April 25, 2021.

It appears that moms are eager to celebrate, travel, and continue some of the behaviors they adopted during Covid.

According to survey results, 63% of families already have plans to take a vacation this summer. Only 10% of moms surveyed say they will definitely be staying home. In fact, 44% of moms admit to planning multiple vacations to make up for lost time together last year. The most popular vacation will be road trips. Sixty-five percent (65%) of moms say they have a road trip planned with 22% of those trips ending up in a state or national park. Less than 2% will take a cruise and only 8% will travel outside the United States.

The increase in family vacations, most particularly those taken in a car, will positively impact sales of everything from car snacks to travel entertainment according to Maria Bailey, author of “Marketing to Millennial Moms in a Post Pandemic World,” (Wyatt-McKenzie, 2020). The spike in family road trips means moms- the household CEO, chief shopper and family travel agent- will be spending more on food, fidget toys, technology, and out of home entertainment,” explains Bailey. “More hours in the car means more Little Bite’s and GoGo squeeZ being passed to the backseat as well as additional purchases on books, e-games, and paper products. Smart brands will recognize the opportunity and provide moms with solutions for on-the-go food and entertainment.”

Before Moms pack up the kids and hit the road however, 57% of moms are planning a gathering of people at their homes this summer. Almost 40% are planning an event to reunite family members and friends they missed during Covid while 30% are planning some kind of special dinner. Sixty percent of those events will be backyard celebrations and BBQs, the reason to party are birthdays (55%), 4th of July (37%) and make up events for events missed in 2020 (14%).

With the increase in summer entertaining, the natural inclination is to see opportunity for party supply retailers and snack foods however with new eating behaviors, brands in all categories can prosper. Moms indicate that they will serve more individually wrapped foods out of an abundance of caution even after Covid restrictions are lifted. This means that more snack bars, smaller chip bags and pouched treats will be purchased for backyard celebrations. For birthday parties, moms indicate that they are likely to use cupcakes rather than large cakes with candles. Toys and outdoor entertainment companies who market to mom party planners are likely to see increased sales as well. As in most cases, smart solution based marketing is the key to winning over the buying power of Millennial Moms.

Other research highlights related to post-Covid celebrations include:

Fifty-five percent (55%) of families plan to celebrate a birthday in the backyard this summer.
Thirty-seven percent (37%) of moms say they will host a 4th of July celebration.
Among the 2020 missed celebrations that will receive a do-over party are retirement (14%), graduation (35%) and birthdays (38%).
Twelve percent (12%) of respondents confess to celebrating a ½ birthday for a child whose birthday fell within lockdown in 2020.

BSM Media’s research also asked moms about the new habits they developed during Covid. Many admit that not all of the changes their families made during lockdown will go away after masks and restrictions are gone. Moms says they will keep some of the new habits that became part of her family’s new normal during Covid. Seventy-three (73%) will continue to use hand sanitizer on a regular basis, (72%) will continue to do more with the family outside and (41%) will continue a hobby they learned in 2020.

For those moms who used new means of shopping and dining in, (86%) will continue to use curbside pickup and (31%) will continue to use food delivery services like Door Dash.

If you are interested in learning more about marketing to moms, BSM Media offers a FREE Marketing to Moms CRASH COURSE. 10 minutes a day for 5 days will get you started with some basic insights that you can apply today to your business. It’s as easy as clicking here and we’ll send it straight to your email every day.

If you are a bold and innovative brand who would like to ideate around opportunities to connect your brand with mom consumers, email Maria@bsmmedia.com

7 Little Known Marketing to Mom Tactics to Sell CPG to Millennial Mothers

bsm_admin — Mon, 17 May 2021 16:59:00 +0000

My favorite quote is, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten,” by unknown. I often apply it to marketing particularly when I see a constant cycle CPG tactics each year. Yes, most of them produce the expected sales return but what if you could be the next Chobani or Joybol by doing something you’ve never done? After all, that’s what made those brands homeruns- their creators did something that was never done before.

BSM Media has been connecting brands to mom consumers by creating marketing tactics that leverage generational characteristics, consumer insights and experience. Here’s BSM Media’s list of lesser known ways to sell CPG products to today’s moms.

1. Be a Part of Her Virtual Events and Zoom Meetups

The most powerful way to market products is to have a group of mothers discover it together. It’s the organic behavior that happens when one mom in the bleachers pulls a new flavor drink from her backpack and all the other moms begin to ask her questions about it. We engaged with mom influencers to host the parties with 10 friends and virtually share the experience of a new product. The parties include product favor bags delivered by the host to driveways and front doors and then unboxing activities allow all the virtual guests to participate in the excitement of product reveals. Virtual parties and events can be customized to become Family Movie Nights or Virtual Baby Showers. The parties create great social content that was posted by both mom and child. Zoom parties is the 2021 version of BSM Media’s popular MommyParties.

2. Social Spotters

Brands often focus on getting the word out about a new product but forget to tell moms where to buy it. Moms are busy people and it’s not enough to introduce a new food item or scent of detergent, you have to make it easy for her to find it. This is particularly important when Walmart and Target often test products in limited markets. BSM Media’s Social Spotters tactic sends influencers into the retail location to post a photo of the product in store. This allows a mom to not only see the product but where to buy it when she’s quickly scrolling thru Instagram. Social Spotters then purchase the product and posts again at home while her family enjoys the product. Best of all, sales teams have social media photos to show the retailer the marketing support directed at their stores. Social Spotters can be geo-targeted to retailers or limited markets and makes the perfect launch campaign.

3. Social Sampling

Brands often forget that influential moms online are often also influential in the real world. In her role as the “go-to” mom she’s a scout leader, homeroom mom, team leader and PTO president. BSM Media leverages the influencer of moms with influencers have influence offline as well as online and that’s why BSM Media has an army of Social Samplers. Social Samplers are mom influencers who will share your products with other moms in their groups, schools and neighborhood. It’s a great way to generate buzz about your newest product and receive social posts as well.

4. Reviews

Ninety percent of moms read a review before buying a product yet very few marketing plans include reviews. Now that online purchases have surged, it’s more important than ever to make sure you have plenty of great reviews available when mom go searching. The off-holiday season is the best time to focus on building reviews but remember NEVER purchase reviews. Authenticity is key in building those reviews. For an example of tactics to help generated those reviews, I invite you to read these case studies.

5. Clubhouse

It’s likely that you don’t even know what Clubhouse is and if that’s the case I invite you to read my recent post on it. Clubhouse is the perfect platform to get up close and personal with your customers. For brands or product companies that focus on a lifestyle, it’s the perfect place to lead a discussion with customers. For instance, a company like Joybol, could host a room focusing on the on-the-go lifestyle of moms and bond with customers who potentially are seeking quick, high protein breakfast solutions. Recently BSM coordinated a discussion around Creating Memories for a client with a photo product. It’s a free forum to develop a deeper relationship with your customer- Moms.

6. Pinterest Pinning Parties

Pinterest is the most overlooked social platform when it comes to brands and marketing. Few realize that it’s a search engine where Millennial Moms go to find solutions. They need to feed their family on the run, they search, “quick family friendly snack ideas” or if they are buying food for a backyard party, they search, “great recipes to entertain guests.” It’s the perfect time for a buffalo dip to appear in her search or 10 different ways to serve a new Artisan bread from Sara Lee. Pinning parties engage with mom influencers to help build your exposure on this very important platform.

7. Remote Playdates

Last year faced with shutdowns, Little Tikes partnered with BSM Media to execute their annual World’s Greatest Playdate remotely. Hundreds of families took part in remote playdates united thru technology and online content. The event generated millions of online impressions and thousands of socially shared imaged of families enjoying Little Tike Toys. We call the tactic MommyParties and it was these small but scalable gatherings of toys and kids that launched Zhu Zhu Pets. Today they still prove to be effective.

7 Little Known Ways to Market Toys Outside of the Holiday Season

bsm_admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 14:40:18 +0000

My favorite quote is, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten,” by unknown. I often apply it to marketing particularly when I see a constant cycle of seasonal and tactical campaigns churn year over year. Yes, most of them produce the expected sales return but what if you could be the next Zhu Zhu Pet or L.O.L. Surprise! Dolls by doing something you’ve never done? After all, that’s what made those brands homeruns- their creators did something that was never done before.

I was fortunate to be Russ Hornsby’s marketing partner when he launched Zhu Zhu Pets so I know firsthand the power of thinking outside the box. Today BSM Media is fortunate to work with many other innovative brands such as MGAE, Solid Roots and Just Play. Based on experience, consumer insights and years of success, here’s BSM Media’s list of lesser known ways to sell toys outside of the holidays and during a pandemic.

1. Zoom Parties

The most powerful way to market toys has always been creating situations where multiple children enjoy and discover the fun of the product together. It creates desire to own the toy and reassures MOM that the toy won’t end up at the end of a closet. Sometimes it’s necessary to create gatherings of children and toys. BSM Media recently partnered with PlayMonster to host Zoom Parties with SnapShips. We engaged with moms influencers and their children to host the parties with 10 of their friends. The parties included product favor bags that were delivered by the host to driveways and front doors and then unboxing activities allowed all the virtual guests to participate in the excitement of product reveals. Together the kids were able to build and share in real time. The parties created great social content that was posted by both mom and child. Zoom parties is the 2021 version of BSM Media’s popular MommyParties.

2. Social Spotters

Brands often focus on getting the word out about a new product but forget to tell moms where to buy it. Moms are busy people and it’s not enough to introduce a new toy, you have to make it easy for her to find it. This is particularly important in the toy industry where Walmart or Target will often only give brands a limited number of test stores. BSM Media’s Social Spotters tactic sends influencers into the retail location to post a photo of the product in store. This allows a mom to not only see the product but where to buy it when she’s quickly scrolling thru Instagram. Social Spotters then purchase the product and posts again at home while her child is enjoying the toy. Best of all, sales teams have social media photos to show the retailer the marketing support directed at their stores. Social Spotters can be geo-targeted to retailers or limited markets and makes the perfect launch campaign.

3. Sidewalk Sharing

It’s difficult to sample products in the middle of a pandemic but not if you do it differently. Influencers have influence offline as well as online and that’s why BSM Media has an army of Social Samplers. Social Samplers are mom influencers who will share your products with other moms in their groups, schools and neighborhood. It’s a great way to generate buzz about your toy and receive social posts as well.

4. Reviews

5. Clubhouse

It’s likely that you don’t even know what Clubhouse is and if that’s the case I invite you to read my recent post on it. Clubhouse is the perfect platform to establish your expertise in the world of play. For instance a brand like Little Tikes can share their play expertise with Moms in a room about the importance of play. Crayola can host a room about developing creativity and inspire moms to try new products. It’s a free forum to develop a deeper relationship with your customer- Moms.

6. Pinterest Pinning Parties

Pinterest is the most overlooked social platform when it comes to brands and marketing. Few realize that it’s a search engine where Millennial Moms go to find solutions. They need to entertain their toddler for three hours, they search, “toys that entertain for endless hours” or if they are buying for a birthday they search, “best boy birthday toys”. Pinning parties engage with mom influencers to help build your exposure on this very important platform.

7. Remote Playdates

If you are ready to think outside of your box, BSM Media is ready to strategize with you. Shoot us an email about your next product launch and let’s create the next big toy product today. Reach me at Maria@bsmmedia.com

4 Last-Minute Tips to Increase Your Mother’s Day Sales

bsm_admin — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 14:42:36 +0000

According to the National Retail Federation Mother’s Day in the United States is almost a $24 Billion business. However, most brands miss the mark with their advertising and marketing because they neglect marketing to mothers and focus their efforts on dads. According to BSM Media, the premier Marketing to Moms agency, eighty-six percent of mothers purchase at least one gift for another mom for Mother’s Day. In anticipation of Mother’s Day, BSM Media surveyed over 800 mothers on their giving and receiving behaviors around Mother’s Day. You might be surprised by what they told us. Whether your target market is Millennial Moms or Boomer Grandmothers, these 4 tips are certain to increase your bottom line.

Don’t forget moms are buying Mother’s Day gifts too!

Many marketers focus on marketing to dads as the sole purchaser for Mother’s Day, but research shows that moms are the largest consumers of gifts and cards for this holiday. It’s not too late to refocus your digital content and social media on moms by engaging micro-influencers like mom bloggers or social media moms. Encourage these influential mothers to post photos of your product and suggest it as a great gift moms can buy for besties, extended family, and her own mother.

Use Pinterest to get her attention.

Not only do millennials love Pinterest for fashion trends and event planning, but they also use this social outlet for creative and original gift ideas. Seventy percent of moms pointed to Pinterest as their go-to resource for gift ideas. To make it even easier for you, we’ve compiled a list of the most commonly searched terms she’s using on Pinterest to find the perfect Mother’s Day gift. Posting branded photos linking to your site is a simple way to put the digital spotlight on your products.

Promote new ways to create clever gifts with your product.

Mothers love handmade gifts, and todays’ DIY enthusiasts like to turn everyday items into something original and customized. Brands like Nouno’s Greek Yogurt and Duck Tape have reaped the benefits of this by demonstrating new ways to use their products. Recently, BSM Media engaged millennial mom influencers to create original and fun Easter baskets with Mayka Tape and generated over 1 million views of the DIY project driving sales ultimately to Walmart. Millennial moms in particular love to discover new ways to use old products that they love already.

Promote product reviews.

Reviews. Reviews. Reviews. These are one of the most important marketing tools for any company. Millennial moms live by reviews. According to “Millennial Moms: 202 Facts Marketers Need to Know to Build Brands and Drive Sales” by Maria Bailey, almost every millennial mom reads a review before purchasing a product. Make sure your brand reviews are authentic and numerous during key buying seasons like Mother’s Day, graduation, and Father’s Day. Remind your existing customers to leave a review when they purchase your product online, and always respond to any negative reviews.

6 Little Known Ways to Market Toys During a Pandemic Outside of the Holiday Season

bsm_admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 13:32:03 +0000

My favorite quote is, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten,” by unknown. I often apply it to marketing particularly when I see a constant cycle of seasonal and tactical campaigns churn year over year. Yes, most of them produce the expected sales return but what if you could be the next Zhu Zhu Pet or L.O.L. Dolls by doing something you’ve never done? After all, that’s what made those brands homeruns- their creators did something that was never done before.

I was fortunate to be Russ Hornsby’s marketing partner when he launched Zhu Zhu Pets so I know firsthand the power of thinking outside the box. Based on experience, consumer insights and years of success, here’s BSM Media’s list of lesser known ways to sell toys outside of the holidays and during a pandemic.

1. Zoom Parties

The most powerful way to market toys has always been creating situations where multiple children can enjoy and discover the fun of the product together. It creates desire to own the toy and reassure MOM that the toy won’t end up at the end of a closet. BSM Media recently partnered with PlayMonster to host Zoom Parties with Snap Ships. We engaged with mom influencers and their children to host the parties with 10 of their friends. The parties included product favor bags that were delivered by the host to driveways and front doors and then unboxing activities allowed all the virtual guests to participate in the excitement of the product reveals. Together the kids were able to build and share in real time. The parties created great social content that was posted by both mom and child.2. Sidewalk Sharing

It’s difficult to sample products in the middle of a pandemic but not if you do it differently. Influencers have influence offline as well as online and that’s why BSM Media has an army of Social Samplers. Social Samplers are mom influencers who will share your products with other moms in their groups, schools and neighborhoods. It’s a great way to generate buzz about your toy and receive social posts as well.

3. Reviews

Ninety percent of moms read a review before buying a product yet very few marketing plans include reviews. Now that online purchases have surged, it’s more important than ever to make sure you have plenty of great reviews available when moms go searching. The off-holiday season is the best time to focus on building reviews but remember NEVER purchase reviews. Authenticity is key in building those reviews. For an example of tactics to help generated those reviews, I invite you to read these case studies.

4. Clubhouse

5. Pinterest Pinning Parties

Pinterest is the most overlooked social platform when it comes to brands and marketing. Few realize that it’s a search engine where Millennial Moms go to find solutions. They need to entertain their toddler for three hours, they search, “toys that entertain for endless hours” or if they are buying for a birthday they search, “best boy birthday toys”. Pinning parties engage with mom influencers to help build your exposure on this very important platform.

6. Remote Playdates

If you are ready to think outside of your box, BSM Media is ready to strategize with you. Shoot me an email about your next product launch and let’s create the next big toy product today. Reach me at Maria@bsmmedia.com

3 Ways Brands Can Use Clubhouse to Connect with Mom Consumers

bsm_admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 13:39:10 +0000

It’s taken social media by storm with over 12 million users in just 11 months but if you are scratching your head as to what to do with Clubhouse, you aren’t alone. A lot of people being invited to join Clubhouse- it’s currently by invitation only- wonder what to do once they join. I’m personally addicted to it and spend hours jumping from room to room learning everything from Bitcoin investing to Instagram tricks and tips. In fact, I host a Clubhouse room titled, “Selling Products to Moms” typically on Tuesday nights at 8pm EST. The easiest way to find it, is to follow me (MariaBailey) on Clubhouse and turn on the notifications for my rooms.

For brands who want to connect with mom consumers it may be the next big thing in marketing to moms but includes no impression numbers or engagement KPIs. Even without the tradition measurement benchmarks, the platform may be a gem for marketers. In the simplest terms, it’s like having a seat around the sandbox at the park or a spot on the bleachers at a little league game. Moms are hosting rooms and discussing everything from starting a business to solutions for getting a full night’s sleep and they are doing it with words, no posts, videos or stories- real conversations. This is perhaps what’s fueling the rapid growth of the app- people rediscovering the power of speaking to each other and discovering common interests.

It should come as no surprise that I’ve immediately identified 3 ways that Brands can use Clubhouse to connect in a meaningful ways with potential mom consumers.

Establish yourself and your brand as the expert. Host a room that focuses on the solution your product provides and be the bridge between subject experts and moms. For instance if you sell a sleep product, host a room around the discussion of sleep with one of your in-house sleep experts. Promote your room on Facebook and Twitter (Instagram limits the promotion of Clubhouse for some reason) and invite moms to join in on the discussion. Once inside the room, invite your audience of moms to ping and invite other moms who would benefit from the conversation. Suddenly you have a friendly introduction between new moms and your product or brand. One word of advice, don’t make it a commercial for your product. Stay focused on the topic and earn the trust of mom consumers through your expertise and passion to solve their problem. BSM Media can help you manage your Clubhouse room and promote them to over 50K mom influencers.
Utilize your brand ambassadors to host rooms on the same topics they are posting about on social media. For instance, Party City has party planning experts and DIYers that are brand ambassadors. Party City can engage their ambassadors to lead a discussion on Successful Birthday Party Planning on a Budget. Clubhouse members come from a wide spectrum of demographics so a broad topic will attract a larger audience who is specifically interested in what you have to say.
Use Clubhouse for consumer insights and trend spotting. There’s a lot to be learned by listening to your consumer and Clubhouse presents brands with open forums of mom chatting together. Even better, brands can select the rooms and topics to participate in by associating topics with titles of Clubhouse rooms. A food brand might find benefit in joining “Food prep 101” to learn about trends in family meal planning or a financial institution could learn about the money management needs of families by joining “Moms Making Money” which happens every Monday at noon EST on Clubhouse.

The Clubhouse community is growing and will likely change as all emerging social platforms do however in the meantime, it offers brands a spot at the table with mom consumers. Best of all you can do all of this without a camera on, in your sweats or while you’re in the car.

The BSM Media is currently hosting Clubhouse rooms with large diverse groups of moms at all stages and phases of family. For more information on how we can help you establish a footprint on Clubhouse, please email us: Maria@bsmmedia.com We hope to see you in our next room.

Party like Its 2021 and Cash In on New Opportunities with Moms

bsm_admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 18:04:16 +0000

Say good-bye to blowing out the candles on a birthday cake, big bowls of chips, and slumber parties, celebrations are getting a new look in 2021 thanks to Covid-19. In a recent survey by BSM Media, the leading Marketing to Moms agency, 89% of US mothers indicated they will be changing the way they host parties, family gatherings, and celebrations with the birthday cake being the first to go. One of the biggest changes is the replacement of a single birthday cake with individual cupcakes in an attempt to control the transfer of germs.

BSM Media conducted the survey of 454 moms nationwide who self-identified as the household party planners was conducted in November 2020. The 2021 Celebration Survey focused on carry-over (from 2020) parties and event planning behaviors from 2020 to measure the affects they will have on 2021 celebrations. Additionally, the survey attempted to identify trends and predictive behaviors as it relates to family party planning and celebrations.

It’s not only 2021 events that Moms are looking forward to planning. Sixty-eight percent of Moms surveyed expect to host previously cancelled 2020 celebrations in 2021 with most agreeing that they will take on a new or modified style.

“Party planners are cautiously optimistic about holding events this year. The good news for brands is that many of the modified party behaviors present new food category growth and the opportunity to repackage products to fit mom’s new entertaining needs,” explains Maria Bailey, CEO of BSM Media and author of “Marketing to Millennial Moms in a Post Pandemic World (Wyatt-McKenzie, 2020). “Demand for individually wrapped snack foods, outdoor entertainment items and catering delivery will increase as moms move their parties outside and eliminate buffet tables. Smart brands will begin preparing now to capture these new sales.”

Party Planners are cautiously optimistic.

Almost 75% of respondents feel it’s somewhat to definitely likely they will be canceling an event in 2021 while another 23% predict they will cancel parties and events for 2021.

Parties and Events will take on a different look.

Sixty seven percent of moms will plan smaller events with 50% indicating they will plan more events outdoors. Forty six percent intend to hold virtual parties, 43% drive-by parades and 6% will eliminate young children and elderly or sick people from their event. Forty-eight percent will celebrate outdoors in backyards and parks over living rooms and rented entertainment centers.

Food will be different in 2021.

Seventy percent of moms will eliminate blowing out candles at a birthday party and substitute this tradition with a cupcake. 58% will serve more individually wrapped snacks and foods. 35% intend to eliminate food buffets from their parties. 85% will serve something other than a traditional large cake at a birthday party. Home baking will also be impacted. Thirty two percent surveyed feel their home baking will be down because of fewer occasions that require homemade treats. Twenty-six percent indicated that their child’s schools will now only allow packaged foods or treats reducing their need to pull out the pans. Seven percent of respondents said they will purchase more store bought baked goods in general over fears of germs and home cooked products.

Moms are looking for solutions to meet their new needs in entertaining. Brands who introduce products that meet those needs like Party City who now sells virtual party kits will come out winners this year. Earlier this year, Party City partnered with BSM Media to create digital content that makes it easy for moms to plan virtual birthday parties. Using Mom Select, BSM’s influencer network, Mom Instagrammers posted images of their own child’s virtual parties while other mom influencers created DIY Pinterest content that linked back to Party City’s products. Leveraging moms to demonstrate how to use Party City products to adjust to this new style of celebrating generated millions of online impressions and shared content.

The best marketing plans are those that are built on consumer insights. Knowing how moms are adapting to a pandemic impacted lifestyle will allow you to tap into new sales channels while driving new purchases.

BSM Media invites you to explore our case studies and see how we’ve helped our clients tap the mom market. To learn more, email Maria@bsmmedia.com.