These days, most parents grew up with computers or even mobile devices, which means they’re a lot more likely to get their information online instead of by reading magazines or books.
These younger parents are different from their older counterparts simply because technology became a crucial element of their daily lives, and companies that don’t cater to that element are going to lose out.
That means companies that want to reach this target audience of parents have to invest in developing a website, as well as a strong social media presence, and provide parents with useful or valuable information to grab their attention.
Function and Appearance
The way that a product that’s made to cater to parents looks is just as important as how it functions and can help solve their pain points. Parents these days are smart and sophisticated in their tastes, and design is a key factor when they’re making a purchasing decision from a business.
Additionally, whatever they decide to purchase should be of high quality and serve a purpose – most parents want high-quality items without the companies they’re purchasing from taking advantage of them on pricing.
Sustainability
Parents these days care about various lifestyle and environmental issues, which means they tend to look for products that are made with sustainable and natural materials, that are organic, and healthy.
Companies that want to grab the attention of those consumers should look toward saving parents time, and some of the best strategies to achieve that is giving consumers the ability to add reviews, comments, and attach photos after they make a purchase.
This way, the company will save its customers time when they’re trying to research and learn more about a product, and seeing past reviews and photos of a product is going to make their decision-making process a lot faster and easier.
Ecommerce
Between a career and a family, most parents these days don’t have a lot of free time that they can choose to dedicate specifically to shopping, like parents in the past used to do.
In fact, most parents tend to make purchases late at night from E-commerce websites, which means companies that are able to provide that option to their customers are going to achieve a lot more success.
This strategy is all about meeting the customers where they are and catering to their needs, which means parents will get to make informed purchasing decisions easily and at their convenience.
Public Relations Strategies for Parenting
Most PR professionals, advertisers, and marketers put a big highlight on brand loyalty, which makes parents a great promotional demographic.
Between TV channels like Parents TV, magazines like American Baby, and websites like Babycenter.com, most parents’ attention these days has been primed for promotional messages.
There are plenty of beneficial strategies that companies can use to target this demographic and turn potential buyers into loyal consumers and even brand advocates.
Mothers
Companies should be following various popular parenting blogs and figure out which one of those blogs should work with the company as brand ambassadors to figure out which messages resonate with parents better.
This is because over 70% of mothers have stated that most companies don’t understand them or their needs, unlike other like-minded parents.
With families being one of the largest consumer segments in the US, they also tend to buy a lot more clothes, food, and overall products, especially once children come along. The best way to target mothers more specifically is to work with industry influencers, and blogs written by other mothers.
It’s also important for companies to understand the differences between different parenting generations. For instance, millennial parents, which are currently the youngest parents, tend to respond to emotional ads and products that can enhance their well-being.
On the other hand, the next generation of older parents, Gen X tend to look for products that provide them with straightforward solutions to any pain points, while the baby boomer parents that have kids that are in college, or even young grandkids have their own parenting needs.
When companies are able to work with parenting blogs, they can take advantage of their habit to be early adopters of whatever technology is currently changing the way that consumers tend to shop.
Emotions
Another way that companies can reach parents as a demographic is by promoting a topic or a cause that’s close to many parents’ hearts while still being relevant to the product is being promoted. Most parents are a lot more likely to make a purchase from a business that has shown to be socially responsible or supports a cause.
This is because most parents want to support businesses that have similar values to their own.
There have been plenty of great examples of companies marketing to the emotions of parents, such as the Tide Loads of Hope campaign, the General Mills Box Tops for Education campaign, and the TOMS Shoes One for One campaign.
All of those campaigns are very visible examples of companies that were able to directly speak to concerns that parents have had by promoting a cause that improved their public image.
Lastly, one of the most effective strategies that most brands tend to use to reach parents is highlighting the emotion of guilt.
When companies tap into the feelings of inadequacy or the insecurity of parents and put pressure on them to purchase a coveted or popular product, which usually promises to bring more happiness to their child’s life, they’re able to grab the attention of more parents and convert more customers.
Discover more from Ronn Torossian
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