The Good Mother Myth: 3 things marketers can do to create realistic content for parents

The Good Mother Myth is precisely that - a myth. Societal expectations for perfection place unnecessary pressure on parents, causing unhappiness and frustration. Child and family product marketers can become allies of their target markets by communicating realistic images of parenthood. Ultimately, realistic messages must show parenthood’s challenges and frustrations, encourage truth, and embrace a variety of parenting styles.

The Good Mother is nurturing, patient, and selfless. You probably recognize her as the smiling woman pictured in advertisements preparing breakfast in a spotless kitchen, nuzzling her happy baby, doing laundry, baking cakes, or getting the kids to school. The modern Good Mother is not only selfless, but she somehow maintains a sense of self through a successful career in a fast-paced, challenging environment. She smiles when her baby spits up on her freshly laundered suit. The Good Mother is kind to almost everyone; she is not kind to herself.

The Good Mother Myth

Mintel analyst Lauren Bonetto includes pressure to be a super mom as a key trend in the US September 2014 Marketing to Moms report. A Google search for “parenting tips” yields over 8 million news articles, and “mommy wars” are a common theme. In The Good Mother Myth: Redefining Motherhood to Fit Reality, editor Avital Norman Nathman presents essays from highly educated and successful women who fell prey to the pressure of being a Good Mother. They acknowledge the unfair societal expectations which they internalize after becoming a mother and the damaging effects to the happiness of both themselves and their families. The essays suggest reevaluating motherhood and accepting all mothers, whether they choose to work or stay home, breastfeed or formula feed, only use organic ingredients or pick up McDonald’s for dinner. After all, there is only one requirement for motherhood: love your children.

Should marketers join mothers in redefining motherhood? Absolutely. Over-worked, over-stressed, and over-pressured parents will rejoice in messages portraying realistic parenthood. Marketers should follow three tips when communicating with real parents.

1.    Show challenges and frustrations.

How can marketers work against the Good Mother Myth without becoming the bad mother brand? Dr. Laura Oswald, founder and director of consulting firm Marketing Semiotics, Inc., explores this question in her book Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies, and Brand Value. When asked to develop a positioning strategy for a new diaper brand, Oswald and her team were challenged because “it was a dangerous game for marketers to move brands out of the ‘Good Mother’ positioning. They faced the dilemma of competing head-on with Pampers,” known as the brand used by Good Mothers, “with an even ‘better Mother’ image or hovering dangerously at the edge of the opposite pole, the ‘Bad Mother.’” Through a semiotic analysis, Oswald identified a countercultural positioning opportunity which “demystified motherhood and gave vent to the frustrations of mothers in the marketplace.” Parenthood is not all smiles and happiness, and marketers can adeptly acknowledge unfair societal pressures without harming their brand image.

Exhausted parents in Sproutling's advertisement

In a blog post from June of this year, I discuss Sproutling, a wearable baby monitor company. The brand garnered my attention with an amusing advertisement, pictured at left. A Millennial couple has a new baby, and they desperately miss sleep, social interaction, and each other. Sproutling manages to capture parenthood’s chaos while sharing impressively innovative technological specifications, linking the product to benefits sought by the advertisement’s star couple. By showing a montage of parenthood’s challenges and frustrations, Sproutling aligns themselves with their target market. The brand is a friend and encourager during the frustrating days of early parenthood.

2.    Encourage truth.

Bonetto discusses social media in her report for Mintel: “While it can serve as an outlet for moms to celebrate their successes and reach out for help when times get rough, it can also put pressure on moms to have a ‘picture perfect’ life.” In “No More Fakebook” in The Good Mother Myth, hilarious writer Sarah Emily Tuttle-Singer openly contrasts her ideal, Instagrammed life with the true, chaotic life of child rearing. She writes, “Keeping up with the status messages is exhausting… and it turns friends into frenemies.” She promises to be more honest online “for all [mothers’] sakes.”

Marketers can build parents’ confidence by encouraging their audiences to stop staging pictures of ideal parenting. Bonetto encourages marketers to use campaigns which “ensure [parents] that they are not alone and bring societal expectations in line with the realities of being a parent.” Imagine the equivalent of a Dove Real Beauty Campaign in the child products industry. Social media campaigns which encourage truth from parents could send an empowering, too rare message: “You are enough, you are adequate, and you are wonderful, just the way you are.”

3.    Embrace parenthood’s variety.

Similac's "The Mother 'Hood"

Marketers can embrace all parents by incorporating a variety of parenting styles in messages. Similac, an infant formula brand manufactured by Abbott Nutrition, provides an excellent example. In the advertisement “The Mother ‘Hood,” pictured at right, Similac calls for an end to the mommy wars, showcasing a broad spectrum of parents, from organic yogi moms to stay-at-home dads. The advertisement parodies the societal debates about parenting and offers an inclusive message, “No matter what our beliefs, we are parents first.” In descriptions on Similac’s campaign webpage, the brand “believe[s] it’s time to embrace mothers who choose to embrace motherhood” and claims it’s “time to put down the fingers on the subtle suggestions.” This inclusivity is comforting and encouraging to parents and ultimately helps redefine motherhood.

Key Takeaways

The Good Mother Myth places unfair pressure on parents. Marketers can alleviate this pressure and thereby align themselves with parents by showing that they understand parents’ reality. Showing challenges and frustrations, encouraging truth, and embracing parenthood’s variety are the three keys to creating more realistic messages.

Sproutling: a parent stress reliever

"It's not about numbers, it's about useful insights that help you get rid of guesswork." Making sense of data and communicating insights is any good market researcher's job, so this is a common phrase. This statement was made by Sproutling, a San Francisco based maker a wearable baby technology. Sproutling is a safe, comfortable sensor worn on your baby's ankle with a companion smartphone app. It learns your baby's patterns and lets you know if something is wrong. Is her heart rate normal or high? Is my party too loud - can he hear us? When will she wake up? What mood is he in? She's breathing, right? The device eases parents' stress and provides simple insights into the tricky, anxiety-ridden world of parenting. Here's a 2 minute video about the benefits. 

TechCrunch quoted Sproutling co-founder Matthew Spolin in 2014: "Eighty-three percent of new babies are born the millennials, that's a group that has internet-connected smartphones in their pocket and their technology demands are much higher than previous generations. Millennials are more apt to have a stronger sense of lifestyle and more social activity before and after they have children."

In the above ad, Sproutling successfully targets young parents. The sensor answers the question "So what?". It's not about the tech specs - it's about desperately needing sleep, wanting to reconnect with your partner, and navigating this crazy world dominated by a very tiny being. The comparison between Sproutling and normal baby monitors is likened to the relationship between smartphones and rotary dial phones. Before we thought just talking to our family when they happened to be in their kitchen was sufficient. Before we thought checking the sound or video monitor every so often was all we needed. Now there is so much more.

Sproutlings are currently sold out, but you can join the waitlist here.

Why The Honest Co. is honestly the best at social media

Co-founded by Jessica Alba in 2011, The Honest Company produces beautiful, stylish non-toxic household products and uses proceeds to support baby development and youth education. The founders describe the brand: "We tried to think of all the qualities we would want in a dream brand – savvy style, sustainability, and extraordinary service & convenience all wrapped in a passion for social goodness, tied with a bow of integrity and sprinkled with a little cheeky fun."

Communicating the many facets of complex brands can be difficult, but Honest executes an impressive social media strategy.

Like any good strategy, Honest begins with owned content. The company's blog, Honestly, is an attractive, engaging mix of health advice, recipes, design and style ideas, and inspirational tips on happily living life.

Each social channel pulls content from the blog, always driving back to the company's website. Content across channels includes inspirational quotes, product features, user generated content, and blog articles.

Honest's interaction with customers on Facebook is impressive. The brand recently improved their dish soap based on customer feedback - it is now more concentrated and less costly. Facebook fans loved the announcement post (700+ likes and 30,000+ views) and took the opportunity to become even more involved with the brand. 

Honest's Facebook strategy says to customers: We're listening. We care. We're in this for you.

The company's Instagram strategy is also notable. For some companies, eliciting user generated content may result in unusable content. Fans are usually not professional photographers, and some posts can damage the company's brand image. Honest, however, encourages great user content. Each Instagram post is visually appealing and showcases products in use. 

What can brand marketers learn from Honest? Let your product's style flow into your communication. Be appealing and engaging. Most of all, interact with your customers. Show them that you're in business for them. 

"Secret Garden" Social Success

With a focus on children's play, it is refreshing to consider adult pastimes that are nevertheless youthful and fun. Last week, Alexandra Alter of The New York Times featured Johanna Basford, illustrator of adult coloring books "Secret Garden" and "Enchanted Forest." (click for purchase)

Released two years ago, "Secret Garden" is now a global bestseller with a large following. Alter writes, "Like Play-Doh, jungle gyms and nursery rhymes, coloring books have always seemed best suited for the preschool set. So Ms. Basford and her publisher were surprised to learn that there was a robust — and lucrative — market for coloring books aimed at grown-ups."

The cautious first printing of 16,000 books is dwarfed by the total 1.4 million copies sold. 430,000 copies have been sold in South Korea alone, possibly due to pop star Kim Ki-bum's Instagram post of his colored page. 

The visual appeal of pages begs to be shared with friends. Other fans also use Instagram to showcase completed pages, almost definitely contributing to the hype.

Basford's second book, "Enchanted Forest," was published in February, and initial printing of almost 250,000 is close to selling out. On Facebook the illustrator promised new stock soon, and fans are anxiously waiting.

 
The success of "Secret Garden" and "Enchanted Forest" opens a new market for grown-up coloring books. More importantly, the books highlight the opportunity influencers and image-centric sites like Instagram offer to illustrators and publishers of books for all ages. 

Context and utility

In a Harvard Business Review paper published in March 2013, Jeffrey Rayport discussed a new advertising medium - human experience. Human experience includes "one's online and offline travels, social interactions, group affiliations, and thought processes." According to Rayport, successful marketers base advertising on the context of the target's experience and utility to the target. For example, Duracell sent out Rapid Responder trucks in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, providing charging stations, WiFi, and free batteries. 

Rayport summarizes how brands should use human experience: "To win consumers' attention and trust, marketers must think less about what advertising says to its targets and more about what it does for them."

How does Rayport's advice apply to child product marketers? Mintel's 2014 US report on marketing to moms provides information on social media use:

• Moms especially use social media for photo sharing, particularly of early milestones. Visual content, particularly content focused on milestones, is therefore a likely means of encouraging engagement.

• Less than three in 10 moms say that they like to receive discount offers though social media, and even fewer watch “how-to” videos or post feedback on social media. 

Ultimately, moms use social media to connect with friends and family. How can brands advertise on the platforms without appearing intrusive?

Fisher-Price shared the above Shutterfly with Facebook fans last week. It in no way pushes Fisher-Price products - it is a helpful hint for a friend. In fact, many moms were probably surprised the post was shared by a brand, not a fellow couponing friend. The post is especially useful to a target who enjoys photo sharing and has lots of milestones to capture. It builds trust, linking to Fisher-Price's goal of helping parents create happy childhoods.

Using Twitter when catering to tots

While Twitter has arguably declined in popularity in the public mindset in recent years, it remains a strong digital platform. Twitter boasts 288 million monthly active users and 500 million tweets sent per day. In 2014, the percentage of online adults using Twitter increased by a statistically significant amount. Also in 2014, female internet users on Twitter increased to 21%, and users aged 18-49 represented an overwhelming majority of Twitter users. Clearly, adults, particularly females in parenting stages of life, are still using Twitter. How can child product companies utilize the platform to reach their customers?

Twitter offers several content marketing suggestions for brands. Key principles include:

• Use the 80/20 principle. Only 20% of your tweets should be sales messages like promotions. Focus on interacting with followers. It's about what they want to talk about - not what you want to sell. 
• Be personable. An overly formal tone, even for a corporate account, isn't fitting for Twitter. Be sure to use a unique voice and always consider entertainment value. 
• Establish a regular cadence.

Twitter also offers a sample Tweet calendar which should be altered to the size and needs of each company.

• Monday: Promotions
• Tuesday: Behind the scenes
• Wednesday: Helpful tips
• Thursday: Customer spotlight
• Friday: Feature industry experts or news
• Saturday: Community or industry spotlights
• Sunday: Employee spotlight

These general tips are easily applied to a child product company. Following several industry leaders on Twitter, I've complied a few specific tips. 

• Image centric posts are best. I am much more motivated to look at a post with an in-feed image than click on a tiny url.

Toys 'R' Us does a great job providing engaging, visually appealing content.

• If using Twitter for customer service, be sure to disperse entertaining posts amidst your string of answers (apologetic and kind, of course) to customer complaints or questions. You don't want consumers to only associate your brand with negative complaints. 

After considerable scrolling through Fisher-Price complaints, I finally reached a piece of content, published 3 days ago.

• Cadence, cadence, cadence. 

Bright Starts' last tweet was more than a month ago, and there is similar cadence between January and February. However, the company tweeted almost daily during the December holiday season. Yes, the holidays are a time for increased advertising, but Twitter is about regular engagement with followers, not just during a time of increased spending on toys.

Fisher Price Giggle Gang Toys

While getting my tires changed at Walmart recently, I browsed the toy aisles to pass time. Fisher Price has remarkable shelf space - an entire aisle and at least one end display. One product in particular caught my eye - Giggle Gang plush toys. When squeezed, the round characters play a baby's giggle. Each character has a different giggle. The toys made me laugh out loud in the middle of the store - they are absolutely adorable. Priced at just $12 and possessing especially adorable qualities, Giggle Gang has the potential to produce huge sales numbers - if only people knew about it. I ran a quick Google search of the product's current marketing activities. Here's what I found:

Fisher Price provides a sound clip with the product listings, an effort only reaching those who directly search for the product or browse product listings (for Fuzzy, product listing)

Gameplay of the Giggle Gang app. This is a great marketing effort, but it is likely targeted towards current users, not prospective customers. 

A sponsored mommity.com post from 2012, a great marketing effort but with little reach

How can Fisher Price improve their digital marketing strategy? Video. 

Because Giggle Gang characters have both adorable visual and audio characteristics, video is especially fitting. Further, video is growing in popularity. Instagram and Snapchat both have video capabilities, and Facebook and YouTube are ideal platforms for sharing video content. A short video of a laughing baby with a laughing Giggle Gang toy is attractive content for a news feed and would likely incite sharing, garnering earned media. Ultimately, video would illustrate enjoyment of the product and outperform previous marketing efforts in capturing Giggle Gang's adorable essence and spreading awareness of the product.