Marketing to Parents Guide V1 220620

Marketing to Parents introductory hints, LITTLE ROOTStips and methods MARKETING & CREATIVE



LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 3 - 7 YOUR AUDIENCE C R E A T E A T A R G E T C U S T O M E R P R O F I L E M A K E T H E M T H E H E R O T H E B E S T T I M I N G T H E L I M I T E D W I N D O W 8 - 1 1 ADDING VALUE FOR PARENTS C R E A T E A C O M M U N I T Y F R E E D O W N L O A D S B L O G S V I D E O S P O D C A S T S 12-14 GETTING SOCIAL I N S T A G R A M F A C E B O O K 15-16 OTHER MARKETING I N D U S T R Y A W A R D S E V E N T S & E X H I B I T I O N S 1

LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE INTRODUCTION Becoming a parent is the biggest event that will happen to most families. It’s an old cliche but nothing really prepares you for it. Many parents will spend months, some- times years, preparing for the day they bring their new bundle of joy home, full of the hopes and expectations of how their new family life will be, and not realising quite how little sleep they can survive on. Parenting is a long and exciting journey, full of fun, ad- aptation and challenges. It’s also a time where parents are looking to make the most informed choices. Whatever your product or service, this guide provides an overview of some of the methods that have proven successful during my career of marketing to, designing for and developing products for parents. Whether your brand is pregnancy-focused and you’re targeting customers at the beginning of their parenting journey, or you offer resources for A-Level success and your target customer is preparing for their children to fly the nest, there are many lines of thought and methods which are aligned. Yes, there will be stark differences between different brands’ target customer, but no matter what kind of parent, grandparent, auntie or uncle you are, we all want the best for our children, we all have the same emotive reason to want to enlist the help of the best products and services, and we all want to do the very best job we can. 2

YOUR AUDIENCE LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE CREATE A TARGET CUSTOMER PROFILE Whether you think you product or service is aimed at new mums, dads, grandparents or other family members, it’s still a really useful exercise to create a target customer profile (or TCP!) which gets you thinking of your customer as a real person you can imagine and talk to. It’s impossible to create a marketing campaign, copy or content which appeals to everyone, so really hone in on who your brand is perfect for and then create a profile based around them. Obviously, not all parents think and parent the same. Which type of parent is your brand for? Who are you serving? Don’t worry if you’ve already been in business for ten years and have never conducted this type of exercise, there’s no better time than the present. Consider the following: Are they male, female or other? How old are they? What’s their relationship status? How many children do they have and their ages? Their education level? Their profession? Their parenting style? Where do they live? Their personality type? Do they have any pets? Their level of disposal income? Their hobbies and interests? Their motivations, aspirations and goals? Where do they shop for food? For clothes? Their political and religious views? What assets for they have, cars? Homes etc.? Where do they holiday? Which social media do they use? What’s their style/fashion interests? Information sources e.g. newspapers? You may even want to save an imaginary head shot of what you think they look like to help you really visualise who you are talking to. Download a free template to create this: https://www.LittleRootsMarketing.co.uk/ Resources Once you’ve created a TCP you’ll find your messaging, business decisions and content creation far easier, and everything you create will have so much meaning and reso- nance with your target market. 3

LITTLE ROOTS YOUR AUDIENCE MARKETING & CREATIVE MAKE THEM THE HERO If you have a great offering, parents and grandparents will be interested in knowing what your brand does, what products you sell, service you offer, how your brand was founded etc. etc. But they will be so much more interested in how you can serve them i.e. what’s in it for them? As human beings we’re always subconciously scanning the things we encounter to establish how they contribute to our own (and our family’s) survival. Whether it’s social media, tv advertising, newspapers or simply walking down the street. With every single piece of marketing, messaging and copy you do, ensure you make the parent/grandparent the hero. Put them first. Don’t make it all about you! Put them at the centre of everything. Don’t just simply talk about how fantastic your brand is, show them how it will change their life. Even better, if you can begin your copy with a parenting problem they’re likely to be experiencing you are likely to quickly grab their attention. Identify their pain points. 4

YOUR AUDIENCE LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE THE BEST TIMING Do you struggle to know the best time to post on social media, or the best time to send an email? If your product or service is aimed at parents with younger children, 7-8pm is your sweet spot. This is the time a lot of parents (if they’re lucky!) will sit down after putting their children to bed. And even if they’re not sitting down right at that time, they will be soon after. Or, they’ll be laying on their child’s floor pretending to be asleep while they scroll social media on their phone. If you sell a breastfeeding or sleep-related product or service, the early hours of the morning are also a great idea since you’ll capture a lot of parents that are perhaps a little desperate and eager for a solution, they’ll also be looking for support, a connection and comradery so it’s a great op- portunity to build a relationship with them. For those targeting parents or grandparents who work and perhaps have older kids, first thing in the morning (i.e. around 7am) is typically the best time to post and gain the most attention. Also, if you have over 100 followers on Instagram and have switched your account to a business account (if you haven’t, do it! It’s free), you can tap “Insights” and “Audience” and see, by hour, the most popular times your audience is on Instagram. This will identify the right time to post for your brand. Many automated email services can also provide you with analytics to discover the most popular time your recipients open the marketing emails you send them, look into this if your platform offers it. 5

LITTLE ROOTS YOUR AUDIENCE MARKETING & CREATIVE THE LIMITED WINDOW It’s a good idea to think of the window of time that your brand will be relevant to your target customer during their parenting journey. Can you put a figure on it? E.g. preg- nancy brands will be relavant for nine months (although you could potentially add a chunk of time to the start of this for those TTC and already researching the brands they will engage with). The good news is the average number of children each mother has is roughly two so once your window has “closed” with those parents or grandparents, it may reopen again in 2, 3 maybe more years down the line, highlighting the importance of develop- ing a strong and memorable brand, and a meaningful relationship with them. Try to plot your marketing based on the window of time you think your brand is rela- vant for. Think about what they will be doing and at what stage of life they will be at when they start to think about and look for your type of product or service. Where will they be going? What will they be doing? What will their mindset be? What will their financial position be? Brainstorming all of these things will really help in understanding how, and where, you can reach your customers. Think beyond this window of time, will these customers recommend you to friends and family? How will your marketing change throughout the journey to be sending the right message at the right time? 6

YOUR AUDIENCE LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE THE LIMITED WINDOW CONTINUED A question I am always asked is “How do I reach customer at the right time for my brand?” i.e. how do you know how old their children will be right now? How do I know if I’m relevant now and in two years time? A few points and methods to consider: • A lot of the “whether you’re relevant” has to be placed in their hands i.e. if you’re no longer meaningful to their life stage you have to trust that they will unfollow you or unsubscribe from your marketing. Of course, no one wants that to happen but for some brands it’s just not realistic to think someone will follow you for a lifetime if, for example, you offer pregnancy yoga and nothing else. • Use their friends and family: running competitions and asking followers to tag a friend that would be interested is a great way to gain relevant followers. If you know a friend’s child is starting school this year and they’ve been looking for resources to help them, run a competition with messaging “Know a little one that’s starting school in September?”, for example. Competitions can be wildly successful, par- ticularly on Instagram, so use this as a way to gain relevant followers. But don’t be suprised if you lose a number of followers after the competition has run its course, you’ll always get a certain number of people who are just looking to win prizes. • Partnerships and affiliations are also a great way to build a relevant audience. Really thinking outside the box on this one could mean you don’t need to spend lots of maketing pounds to get the right partnership. Like-minded brands may be willing to team up with you and share your message to their relevant audience if you can offer something in return. 7

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ADDING VALUE FOR PARENTS LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE CREATE A COMMUNITY Creating a community adds value as it gives parents something useful to engage with and somewhere to go to talk with like-minded people. If you can and it’s not too obscure, think about what form of online community you could create for your target customers and create a Facebook group (there are other useful platforms but FB seems to be the go-to for parents). As we all know well, when it comes to parenting everyone is willing and ready to share their advice, so parent- ing-related groups and communities work well for this market. Are you a breastfeeding brand - create a breastfeeding support group. Do you offer swimming classes? Create a group for your classes where parents can share progress, questions etc. If you’re setting up a community however, be sure to be open and honest about who’s hosting it i.e. that it’s your brand but you are offering a service and adding value. This community should be non-salesy, but it does give you an opportunity to build a following and keep your brand at the top of your customers’ minds day-to-day. It’s also a great way to “socially listen” and get a feel for the words and language your custom- ers are using, and the issues that are important to them. FREE DOWNLOADS Giving parents something for free adds value to your brand, gives customers a posi- tive, memorable experience and can potentially give you the authority voice on your product or service area. Some free downloads to consider: • Kids craft activities • Fun quizzes • Recipe ideas • Game or activity ideas • Colour in posters (baby/child milestones, achievements etc.) • User guides • Hints and tip sheets/mum hacks • Calendars/important dates • Weekly/monthly magazines No matter what you choose, ensure it’s highly relevant to your brand and audience. If you have a particular idea in mind, you could even put it out to your followers via a poll or survey to see if they like it and what the potential uptake would be, passionate followers love to feel involved. 9

LITTLE ROOTS ADDING VALUE FOR PARENTS MARKETING & CREATIVE BLOGS Even if writing isn’t your strong point, it’s a good idea to host a blog on your website, 1) it’s brilliant for SEO and every post you write will naturally include a lot of key words that your customers will be searching for, 2) it adds value and gives customers infor- mation beyond just a shopping experience and 3) it allows you to showcase your skills and experience in your market area. Hosting a blog on your website also gives you the opportunity to network with parent- ing professionals (i.e. in the form of guest blog posts) which further adds value to your brand and helps out your customers. TIPS, HINTS, “MUM HACKS” AND INSPIRATION Along the same lines of making your customer the hero, ensure you are regularly shar- ing posts geared towards hints, tips and useful information. If every post on Instagram or Facebook and every marketing email is sales-focused it’s the fastest way to switch parents off. Sure, there will be followers who are completely in love with your product and service, are brand loyal and in their eyes you can do no wrong. But particularly those followers who are yet to buy from you (or warm up to you), you need to build a rela- tionship with them and show how your brand helps them rather than just sells to them. 10

ADDING VALUE FOR PARENTS LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE VIDEOS Many people cringe at the thought of getting in front of the camera and talking about what they know, but it’s worth noting that in 2019 video accounted for around 80% of the world’s internet traffic so if you’ve got something to talk about which you feel will add value for your customers, do it! Your videos don’t need to be professionally shot and edited, far from it, just ensure you have good lighting, that you’re as comfortable and genuine as possible (i.e. just be you) and that you edit out the bits at the beginning and end where you reach to turn the camera on and off. It’s also handy to invest in a small desk-top tripod to achieve an angle you’re happy with. Videos are also a really quick and effective way of getting your message across instead of thinking for hours on how to write the best copy/produce the best design for a so- cial media post. Videos are particularly useful when targeting parents because they can digest your content with minimal effort, i.e. you’re making it really easy for them. Think about what topics would be useful for your target customer? Maybe they’re pregnant and you want to talk about what to include in their hospital bag. Maybe you want to do a demo on how best to introduce phonics? Whatever the content ensure it’s useful, relevant and non-patronising. If it works for your brand, they can be really informal, perhaps share your current parenting stuggles? PODCASTS If you really don’t want to put yourself out there in video, a regular podcast might be more suited to your brand. Another media form which is on the up, plus putting one together is a little more simple than a video. Podcasts are also fantastic for busy par- ents that like to listen on the run. Key to a good podcast is for it to have a certain amount of humour and to keep it regu- lar - don’t be disheartened if you don’t get many subscribers to begin with, keep it go- ing and if you’re enjoying it you’ll find your listeners will grow - just enjoy the process! Your could also offer webinars or live workshops, but whichever way you choose to add value to parents, ensure you’re doing it consistently and regularly, you’re looking to maintain a long term relationship with them and so need to keep on offering the free stuff to keep them interested. Offering free content also opens the doors to charging for some content in the future, this needs to be planned carefully, but if you’re getting a lot of success with the free stuff and a paid for service or download aligns with your brand it’s worth considering, especially if it helps you develop a passive income. 11

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GETTING SOCIAL LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE Although we’ve touched on some aspects of social media marketing to parents in the previous two sections, below are a few further tips relating to the different platforms. Also keep in mind, particularly if you don’t have a large team, that there’s nothing wrong with focusing on the platform you enjoy the most and feel you are getting the most success and engagement with. Everyone will have their own preference over which platform they spend the most time on and it’s very difficult to do an amazing job on every single one. Focus on that which is most closely aligned to your own values. If you’re enjoying it, it will show. INSTAGRAM In my opinion, Instagram is an ideal platform for appealing to parents simply because it’s so visual. Every parents wants to be the best they can be, every parent or grand- parents wants the best for their child or grandchild and, through emotive lifestyle photography and aspirational product or model shots, you can show them how using your product or service will make them a better parent, rather than having to explain it. Even if they don’t directly engage with your post, by making it really attractive and lifestyle-based you’ve subconciously told them “this is how doing business with us will make you feel” or even better “this is how it will make your children feel”. A couple of really useful tools to use with Instagram: Instablank.com: the better laid out and readable your post captions are, the more likely followers will engage with them. Instablank is a really simple, one-page website where you type in your captions and insert line spaces (rather than having to use those annoying full stops to start a new line). You then click and button to copy your caption over to Instagram. Metahashtags.com: using the right hashtags is key to growth on Instagram. Meta- hasgtags is a great site for searching for the right ones for your brand and it gives you stats on their popularity. Remember not to always use the most popular hash- tags, particularly if you’re just starting out, these are the hardest hashtags to com- pete against. Note: posts with around 11+ hashtags tend to perform the best. Also, don’t neglect your bio (the few lines of copy that appears under your handle on your Instagram profile page). The best bios state clearly what you do (particularly if you have a more obscure brand name), why parents should follow you and a call to action/link to your latest content. Experiment with your bio, if you’re getting lots of profile clicks (in insights) but not many new followers, could you try switching it around to be more appealing? 13

LITTLE ROOTS GETTING SOCIAL MARKETING & CREATIVE FACEBOOK As mentioned earlier, Facebook is fantastic for setting up a community for parents. It’s also a great platform for trialling some paid advertising with a small budget, you can start really small and experiment with what works and doesn’t work for you. You can directly target your target customer profile. Just make sure the posts you’re pro- moting are really attractive and make your potential customers the hero. Facebook Audience Insights (Google it) is a fantastic tool which is free to use, it can provide all sorts of insights into what your target customers are doing on Facebook, other pages they like, groups they’re part of etc. It’s definitely worth spending some time on it to see if you can glean anything of use to your brand. You can view insights based on the age of users children which is really invaluable. Facebook is also an amazing place to engage with your potential customers. While you shouldn’t join parenting-related groups and try to sell (you’ll likely get booted out), there’s no harm hanging out in those groups and providing value where you can, give opinions and offer advice if it’s a subject you know about. If you’re a specilist, build a reputation for being the authority on your specialism. It can prove a goldmine for new connections and opportunities. It’s also worth noting that a lot of grandparents are Facebook users (more so than any other social platform) so it they’re your target market it’s worth investing more time here. 14

OTHER MARKETING LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE INDUSTRY AWARDS The great thing about marketing to parents is there are a whole heap load of industry awards which you can enter to gain exposure, credibility and invaluable feedback. I’ve noted just a few below, the deadlines for which are usually around spring time but it’s best to check individual websites for the most up to date deadlines and add them to your marketing calendar. The cost to enter each award varies but, as a form of cost-effective marketing, I’d highly recommend them. Just be sure to put adequate effort into your submission (and of course ensure you have a fantastic product or service to ensure you win!) Mother & Baby Awards The Good Toy Guide Loved By Parents Awards Creative Play Awards Right Start Awards Junior Design Awards Made for Mums Awards The Educational Resource Awards (ERA) Dads Net Awards Be sure to look into any awards that are relevant to your specific area and if you win be sure to capitalise on this with plenty of PR, marketing, stickers on packaging etc. EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS Although events and exhibitions aren’t taking place right now I wanted to still include them as they will hopefully be back on soon. Depending on your budget, exhibition and/or event attendance is an invaluable way to not only make sales, but to also get to know your customers inside and out. Unless you own a bricks and mortar shop, it’s likely to be one of the only ways you will meet your customer face-to-face, often with their family and children in tow. Over the years I’ve found the conversations I’ve had with parents while exhibiting have stuck with me when I come to formulate my marketing to them. The words they use, the problems they face, the things that are important to them. Next time you decide whether you have the budget to exhibit, think beyond whether the sales or bookings you make will cover the stand cost (although that’s always handy!) and think of it as a market research exercise. Also think of it as a chance ot put the face of your brand (you) in front of your target and explain your story, from the heart. 15

LITTLE ROOTS OTHER MARKETING MARKETING & CREATIVE EMAIL If you do nothing else after reading this e-guide, make sure you set up a pop-up on your website to begin collecting the email addresses of the parents that are interested in your brand. This can be done for free on most website platforms or added relatively cheaply if you use a web developer. The sooner you can build an email list of interested parents, the better. There are several schools of thought that email is becoming outdated and being re- placed by social media, however in my experience this is definitely not the case. Email works. Viewing a brand’s post and liking it on social media requires zero effort, where- as signing up for a brand’s emails and then actually opening them means your interest- ed and engaged. These are the parents you want to appeal to, they’ve already warmed to you. It takes time to build a good email list, so start doing it now. Think about ways you can build it e.g. parents enter their email to access the free content we talked about earlier, to enter a competition on your website etc. FINAL THOUGHT Even though this is a quick overview of some the key marketing to parents ares, I hope it has proved useful and given you some food for thought in the kinds of activity you could undertake to really stand out. No matter what stage of building your business you’re at, remember not to compare your year 1 to another brand’s year 10, building a strong brand takes time and con- sistancy. The best advice I can give is to learn from every post, learn from every email, learn from every customer conversation or feedback. Use analytics and insights as much as you can, be flexible and adapt to what the data is telling you. No brand has it all figured out in the beginning, but the more you learn along the way, the stronger you will be and the quicker you will grow. 16

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LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING & CREATIVE ABOUT LITTLE ROOTS MARKETING AND CREATIVE You’re a parent, many of your friends are parents, you run a “parenting” brand and feel you know “parents” inside and out. But when it comes to your marketing plan you stare at a blank screen and the ideas, methods and words just don’t come to you. You know why your brand exists, you know you have a great product or service, but you’re just not sure how to “brand” it. You have limited time, your budget is important and you know your business has the potential to be huge. Little Roots has over 15 years experience guiding brands just like you. We specialise in evolving brands to make them meaningful, give them impact and allow them to reso- nante and be remembered by parents. Through marketing, strategy, design and prod- uct development we can help you create the super brand you know you really have. We’re based in the fine city of Norwich but love working with baby, child, parenting and education brands globally. Find out more at www.LittleRootsMarketing.co.uk, get to know us better through our social media platforms, or contact us at conatact@ 18