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Marketing to Mom:
Eleven Ways to Infuse Your Business Establishment with “The Mom
Factor”
How Moms decide where to spend their time and money in restaurants,
stores, theme parks, and other family attractions.
By Nora Lee
Listen to your mother. It’s good advice for practically everyone.
But if you own or manage a store, restaurant, amusement park, sports
arena, museum, or any other location where families go to spend
money, this friendly little admonishment takes on a whole new
meaning. Simply put, mothers control America’s purse strings. And
that truth is reason enough to get them firmly in your corner.
It is estimated that women engage in 80 to 88 percent of all
consumer spending in the U.S. Now, consider that three-fourths of
America’s 108 million adult women are mothers. It doesn’t take a
mathematician to see that Moms make well over half the consumer
buying decisions in this country! That is staggering financial power
. . . so why don’t businesses bend over backwards to attract us?
It’s a good question, and one that needs to be thoroughly explored.
Considering that there is almost no hard data on Moms, per se, this
is a strong reason for retailers and others to take note. What
happens when companies ignore Mom and what happens when they
acknowledge her? Well, it’s what I call “The Mom Factor Checklist,”
eleven elements that make a store, restaurant, or other family venue
appealing to mothers. Here’s the checklist:
1. Health and Safety: Planting the Seeds of a Customer Dynasty. Moms
can see danger around every corner. Spills in the aisle,
cholesterol-laden food, inedible decorative plants, rickety
roller-coaster wheels, bad sightlines at the arcade, and nasty
restrooms at the stadium all represent a very slippery slope. On the
other hand, if a business provides quick cleanups, appetizing
healthy alternatives, barriers to over inquisitive little fingers,
evidence of regular safety inspections and maintenance, a clear view
of the little ones, and sparkling restrooms, it might well have a
customer for life, or, even more important, the beginnings of a
customer dynasty with Mom at the center.
2. Customer Service: The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow. Mom
says, “Pay attention to me,” but often in a soft, self-deprecating
voice. Snooty waiters who prefer adults lose both tips and repeat
business, but the waiter who brings the toddler some crackers and
the first-grader a set of crayons—without being asked—is golden. In
good mall design, service and safety include a well-marked pickup
and drop-off location for the teens who don’t want to be seen with
Mom. The clerk who is empowered to make a decision on a return or a
sale price beats the heck out of “Duh, I’ll have to get the manager,
who might be back after lunch.”
3. Value: Cheap Does Not Always Equal a Good Deal. Some of the
wealthiest among us could be found at Target on a Saturday
afternoon. Mom’s idea of value translates to a balance of reasonable
prices, decent quality, and good selection. Just as Mom will pay
more for good customer service, so will she pay more for good
quality, but it’s always a balancing act. Cheap flip-flops make
sense for one summer of beach-going. But it might be worth it to get
a good, warm, more expensive coat (maybe a size too large) to last
her youngest the whole winter.
4. Efficiency: When Money Buys Time. Efficiency is why grocery
stores now have banks and Jamba Juice, and banks have a Starbucks,
and ATMs sell stamps—for those moments when time is of the essence.
It’s often a little thing. For instance, there are grocery chains in
the United States and the United Kingdom that actually listened when
Moms asked them to remove the gum and candy impulse items from the
checkout areas. Moms were tired of ending their trips to the store
with a battle with the kids over the “I wannas!” Grocery shopping
instantly became more pleasant and more efficient.
5. Social and Community Conscience: Why Pink Ribbons Work. Companies
that hire a range of people, even those who may be disabled, or give
a set portion of their profits to local schools are more likely to
see Mom repeatedly than those that do not. Products displaying pink
ribbons attract attention and dollars because Mom’s mother or aunt
or sister had breast cancer. She’ll drive the extra miles to take
the kids to the family entertainment center that is holding a
fundraiser for the Humane Society because then her role as
cheerleader and as a purse with legs has some meaning. And if she is
so inclined, she has an opportunity to give one of those Mom
speeches about putting your money where your mouth is.
6. Story: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of. At a zoo, establishing
a personal connection with an orangutan named Clyde, who’s 22 years
old, loves blueberries, and has a jealous mate named Audrey, helps
both Mom and child immerse themselves personally in Clyde’s story
and, more broadly, in the story of a Southeast Asian forest habitat
in danger. Story helps not only in theme parks, zoos, museums, and
attractions, but to a lesser extent in malls, stores, restaurants,
and sporting events. Even the flashing lights and thunder that
accompany the misting of produce in many grocery stores represent a
kind of storytelling.
7. Comfort: Now, It’s Personal. OK, my feet are killing me, and I’ve
spent $213 for bags full of stuff that are now dragging me down.
Where do I sit for a minute? How about my kids, who of course have
all the energy I lack? Mom wants to be comfortable. She wants clean
restrooms and plenty of them, good ventilation and smoking control,
effective queue management, tables that don’t smash Dad’s knees when
he sits down, room to maneuver around racks of merchandise, and
maybe even a peaceful place to retreat to for a few minutes, before
tackling the to-do list again. Invest in her comfort and she will
invest in you.
8. Learning and Teaching Opportunities: The School of Mom. Mom looks
for education everywhere: the milking display at the county fair,
the furniture factory tour, the traveling display on the life of Ray
Charles at the mall, the hayride outside of town, Great Moments with
Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland, and Hall of Fame displays at the football
stadium. Even restaurants can offer lesson opportunities, if Grandpa
draws on the paper tablecloth while the little ones watch, or the
décor consists of World War II flyers’ memorabilia.
9. Fun: The Pursuit of Amusement Equality. Whether the destination
is a family entertainment center, museum, local mall, sporting
event, or the beach, Mom aims for the most fun for the most people,
and all too often sacrifices her own enjoyment for that of others.
After all, she knows firsthand the cost of disappointment; it’s
written on the faces of those kids. The destination that helps her
in her quest will win her dollars and her loyalty. The one that
considers her own pleasure and then delivers will win her
devotion—and a small shrine on which she will place generous
offerings of chocolate and comfortable shoes!
10. Continuity and Change: Baby, Don’t Ever Change . . . Much. The
paradoxical appeal of both change and continuity has a special fuzzy
place in the Mom Factor. Mom likes variety and a degree of cool to
keep the kids interested. So the new ride at Disneyland is a good
thing. So are an array of choices on the café menu, and spring
fashions, and the new joey at the zoo. But you’re in peril if you
mess with the Tiki Room and its animatronic birds, or white Jockey
Classics in the boys department, or the meerkat habitat that has
always been at the entrance to the zoo. A balance between change and
continuity is necessary to keep Mom and her family happy. If change
is for the better, then make sure better is really better.
11. Connection to the Heart: A Moving Experience Doesn’t Mean
Installing an Escalator. Care, concern, conscience, community,
wonder, engagement, love, comfort, fun, enjoyment, loyalty,
pleasure, delight and passion. These words all denote a personal,
emotional connection between Mom and her world. In an increasingly
impersonal, technology–addicted society, Mom is the touchstone for
matters of heart. Even in commercial transactions, Mom takes things
personally. If a business demonstrates disregard for the safety of
her kids, or inattention to its own responsibility to her community,
or disrespect for her or her family, she won’t just turn away—she’ll
get angry. Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned.
There’s one more undeniable reason to cater to Mom: she has lots and
lots of influence. She’s doing the purchasing not just for herself
but for an average of three additional people. Make her happy and
she’ll see to it that those additional people continue to be loyal
customers for years to come.
You know the old adage, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”?
Stitch it on a sampler and hang it over your desk. Mom should drive
every business decision you make if you want to entertain her and
her family. It’s simple. If you build it so that Mom will come, she
will bring everybody else with her and they will love it, too. If
it’s good for Mom, it’s good for others. And it’s especially good
for your bottom line.
About the Author:
Nora Lee, catalyst/principal of Nora Lee et al, has been observing
and writing on the family entertainment market as a professional and
as a Mom for many years. As a content developer, she has contributed
her story ideas to clients as diverse as the AOL Time Warner
Experience, ObieCo, BRC Imagination Arts, and the Rochester Museum
and Science Center.
About the Book:
The Mom Factor: What Really Drives Where We Shop, Eat, and Play
(Urban Land Institute, 2005, ISBN: 0-87420-944-7, $19.95) is
available at bookstores nationwide, major online booksellers,
www.bookstore.uli.org ,
or directly from the publisher by calling (800) 321-5011.
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