The Mother Lode: Mother’s Day 2013
April 30, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Just wanting a gift of love from these two!
I love Mother’s Day. Of course, I do. I am a mother. I love spending time with my son and daughter. I love silly cards, I love sweet cards. I love flowers. I love handmade things. I love hugs and kisses. Seems I am not too different from others. A gift is good but love is best.
Market researcher NPD found that of the more than 2,000 moms of kids 18 and younger it surveyed, a handmade gift from their child was on the top of the list, chosen by 14.6%. In the study commissioned by Child’s Play Communications, the second most popular gift was a day off entirely for herself (13.6%), closely followed by a spa day (12.9%). Only 1.3% say they want breakfast in bed.
Spending Trends
In a different study, National Retail Federation’s Mother’s Day spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, consumers indicated they will spend an average of $168.94 on mom, up 11 percent from last year’s $152.52. The survey found 14.1 percent of shoppers – the highest in the survey’s history – will spend more than $2.3 billion on electronics, treating Mom to a tablet or smartphone. And more than one-third (34.4%) of gift givers will buy jewelry, spending a total of $4.2 billion. That’s a lot of glitz! Also setting a record is the fact that nearly three in 10 (28.5%) Americans will buy their gifts online, up from 25.6 percent last year. Mother’s Day can mean purchasing gifts for their wife, daughter, grandmother, sister, mother or stepmother. If you are marketing to women, don’t forget that many of these women are guiding or actually doing the purchasing of these items.
That Takes the Cake! The History of Mother’s Day
Seems honoring Mother has long been a tradition. In 16th century England a celebration called “Mothering Sunday” was held annually—a Sunday set aside for visiting one’s mother. The eldest son or daughter would bring a “mothering cake,” which would be cut and shared by the entire family. Family reunions were the order of the day, with sons and daughters assuming all household duties and preparing a special dinner in honor of their mother. Sometime during the day the mother would attend special church services with her family.
Here in the US, the day was first celebrated on May 10, 1908, when a special Mother’s Day service was held in a church in West Virginia, at the insistence of Anna Jarvis. She campaigned heavily to have the day observed first in West Virginia, then finally the U.S. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill designating the second Sunday in May as a legal holiday to be called “Mother’s Day”—dedicated “to the best mother in the world, your mother.”
Marketing Travel to Women: Get Smart About Apps
April 25, 2013 § 1 Comment
It is becoming hard to say travel without talking about mobile devices today. By 2014, smartphones and tablets are on track to capture nearly one in five travel dollars. And those who are marketing travel to women should take note of some of the opportunities and challenges.
Travel Decisions Made by Women
Some 80% of all travel decisions are made by women and 40% of travel is planned using a mobile device. The tablet is the preferred device for planning travel and the smartphone is the choice for booking trips while on the go. In fact, three-quarters (76%) of us reach for the smartphone when booking travel on the go.
Poor Mobile Experiences
So you know the drill – you are traveling and something happens to cause you to change your airline reservations. You go to your handy app. But you have a hard time loading the information, it gets confusing and then, you just call the airlines or the hotel or the car rental or the restaurant because it was a hassle figuring it out on that handy app. It’s happened to me before – and apparently, lots of others. A ResearchNow study released by Mobiquity shows the top negatives:
- 60% of smartphone owners, 52% of tablet owners found mobile travel sites slow to load
- 51% of tablet owners rated search and selection options on travel apps as complicated
- 20% of tablet owners were disappointed the apps were not integrated with their loyalty programs
Poor mobile experiences can cause travelers to take an alternative course and could result in decreased revenue for travel brands. More than a third (35%) of connected travelers would be less likely to book again with the travel brand after a slow, confusing of non-optimized experience when research or booking travel on a mobile device. Some of the issues in addition to slow load time are complicated search and selection, poor navigation, not linked to loyalty programs or not designed.
Top Mobile Travel Apps
The top mobile websites mostly include airlines and travel aggregators, such as TripAdvisor and Priceline.com. Of the 8% of iPhone users that use travel apps, the top airline apps are:
United Airlines (1.6%)
Southwest Airlines (1.5%)
Fly Delta (1.3%)
American Airlines (1.3%)
JetBlue (0.5%)
Some of the other popular apps for travel are included in the following infographic:
Related articles
- Travel fragmentation is extending to mobile (tnooz.com)
Marketing to Women: In 2016 44% of Retail Sales Impacted by Web
April 15, 2013 § 1 Comment
Whether we buy online or research online, all retail is going to be impacted by online activity. Not ten years from now, but just a couple of years from now. How can that be, you ask, when only 5.4% of retail sales were reported as e-commerce in the fourth quarter of 2012?
Well, here’s the news bulletin. While online retail sales are a smaller portion, many of today’s sales are web-influenced. In fact, 70% of consumers research online before they make an in-store purchase. And the average shopper may be using 10.4 sources of information to make a purchase decision. Social media and mobile continue to become important influencers in this shopping behavior.
Moms continue to be the heavy shoppers and one-third of all moms own a connected device. Moms spend 6.1 hours per day on average on their smartphones – that’s more than magazines, TV or radio. 62% use shopping apps and 46% took action after seeing a mobile ad. Mobile usage is growing among moms. It’s 40% higher today than in 2009 for these mobile moms. The statistics for moms shopping on tablets are off the charts - 97% made a purchase using their tablet in the last month. And 46% actually want to receive information while they are in a store.
Warning to Retailers: many retailers have been shown to be slow to adapt, and are without tablet websites or iPad sites. When you don’t keep up, you are giving the competition the edge and giving iPad shopping startups a shot, like Pickie or Fab.com or others.
For more statistics on shopping, read more here.
Marketing to Women: Women Still Dominate Retail Shopping
April 13, 2013 § 1 Comment
A new report from Nielsen confirms that women still control the spending power in the US. Some people estimate that we control $5-15 trillion annually. Now, I know that saying women still dominate retail shopping is like saying that it still snows at the North Pole, but there are some shifts going on that are interesting.
The report points out that men are taking a more active role in the shopping process than they have in the past. Woo-hoo! Between 2004 and 2012, U.S. women reduced the number of trips they made across most retail channels, while men increased their visits to all outlets except grocery and drug stores.
However women are still spending more money per trip than men in all shopping channels. Women drive the larger stock-up or planned trips and outspend males by $14.31 per trip in supercenters and by $10.32 per trip in grocery stores.
So basically, women are still doing the majority of shopping, but the data tends to suggest that men are beginning to assume more shopping duties beyond the trip to the convenience store for beer and chips.
Talking to the female shopper is more important than ever. So those at Nielsen are concerned, like we are, about the emotional and rational content of marketing and advertising messages.
Women remember more and differently than men do, so talk to both her emotional and rational sides and acknowledge her attention to detail. Layering emotional decision-making opportunities with rational information will increase purchase intent and will have strong “sticking” power. According to Nielsen NeuroFocus, the female brain is programmed to maintain social harmony, so messaging should be positive and not focus on negative comparisons or associations.
In other words, women form value opinions based on both emotional and rational reasons to buy. That’s why the Darth Vader spot for Volkswagen was a game changer. It spoke to both men and women about the special moments of family life yet focused on a buying feature of the car. And yes, women are the buyers of most cars too.
Marketing to Moms: Four Things to Consider Before Developing an App
April 2, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Considering an app to market to moms? A recent study found that 97% of moms made a purchase on their tablet in the last month and they’re spending significantly more time on their tablets than laptops. There’s a huge opportunity for brands to provide value for moms on their tablets.
One way to make the most of moms on tablets is by developing an app for your brand. However, developing an app, especially for the first time, is not an easy task. It requires a big budget, skilled engineers, and dedicated marketers to build a useful, powerful app.
So before you begin, there are 4 key things to keep in mind when planning to develop a new app:
App functionality – In order to be truly effective, apps must be smart, innovative, and provide value to the customer. Know when your customers will be downloading the app and why they need it at that moment. Determine the use case scenario and keep it top of mind throughout all stages of development. Also know that you don’t have to include all potential features in the first release of the app. Prioritize the essential elements and add additional functionality in future releases.
Operating systems – You don’t need to develop an app for all platforms to be successful. Rather, understand the devices before choosing one or a few. First, narrow down your options by knowing which device your target audience uses. For example, about 51% of moms own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, compared to 52% of teenagers owning an Android. Second, understand the pros and cons of the various platforms. Windows is known for its flexibility and provides a great user experience. Apple has fewer models and screen sizes so testing is easier. However, a rejection from Apple’s App Store means more time and money to make improvements. With Android, though, it’s easier to get apps into the Google Play store. On the down side, there are many Android models and testing on all of them is nearly impossible. Finally, testing on various devices requires lots of Quality Assurance (QA), not only for the first release but also to maintain the app as devices update their operating systems. Don’t forget to budget for ongoing QA as you develop your plan.
Pricing model – Will the app support your core business or will it be the sole revenue stream? If your business has other revenue sources, you may offer the app for free because it builds mobile presence and authority for your brand. If this will be your main revenue source, the app itself might be free but perhaps it will generate revenue through an eCommerce engine or paid membership. While some paid apps are very successful, tablet users have been shown to prefer free apps with ads to paid apps. Paid apps accounted for only 23% of all tablet app downloads in 2012. Does your app offer something that customers will pay for or does it offer another value to your business?
Download strategies – Marketing your app and getting customers to download it provides a huge challenge. Make sure your app is searchable within the app store. You can do this by choosing the most relevant keywords. What will customers be looking for when you want them to find your app? Find out and use those keywords. Note, you are limited a specific number of characters for keywords. For Apple, keywords must be less than 100 characters. Another download strategy is through email marketing. Email your existing customers and include a direct link to the app store so they can download the app immediately. Make it easy for them to find and download. Also consider integrating a social sharing element into your app so users market the app for you.
Creating an app may or may not be worth it for your business, but after thinking through each of these topics you should have a better idea of your approach and strategy. For more insights on the habits of moms on tablets and how to build the best app strategy for your brand, download the white paper, “Tablets 101: A Primer for Mom-Focused Brands.”
This guest post is by Katie Petrillo. She is the B2B Marketing Manager at Punchbowl, where she writes about marketing to moms for the Punchbowl Trends blog. Follow her on Twitter @PunchbowlTrends and find her on Google+.
Marketing to Women: Get Ready! New Face for Facebook!
March 9, 2013 § 2 Comments
When Facebook announced its new design for the Facebook newsfeed, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was their goal to to give everyone in the world “the best personalized newspaper.” Who is everyone? The 67% of online adults that use Facebook — 71% of women and 62% of men. Read on to see what it means for consumers and marketers.
What does this mean for consumers?
Larger Images. Well, it means there are larger images in your feed. According to Facebook, photos make up 50% of all news feed stories. So the new news feed takes up more of your Facebook page. They call it putting a spotlight on what friends are sharing. The shared articles also feature larger images and more information like longer snippets. Check-ins are also more visual with large map images, as is content from third-party sites like Pinterest.
Multiple Feeds. Content specific feeds will allow you to sort between a range of different categories: Close friends, all friends, music, photos, games and people and brands you “follow” (as opposed to friend). And you can still see the chronological news feed.
Continuity in Look across All Devices. Instead of a different interface on all media, Facebook has figured out how to incorporate the same look across smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Okay, how do I get it? Well, there’s a site for that and it’s pretty simple. But don’t hold your breath, it’s a rolling conversion so you may have to wait awhile. First, go to facebook.com/about/newsfeed. Second, click the big green “Join Waiting List” button at the top of the page. Done!
What do marketers need to know?
Good news here: Ad Are Much Bigger! Even the sidebar ads look bigger. The larger canvas is good news for creative – but will it by annoying to users? It will need to be engaging.
New Opportunities for advertising. Promoted Posts, Sponsored Stories, and Page promotion ads can be visually engrossing - to flow with the rest of the news feed.
Filters for content are a question mark. Facebook says there’s been consumer demand for filtered content like photos and music. But will users use the filters.
If the filtered feeds are used, it could make for a splintered, hard to reach audience. If people use the feeds, it will fragment the audience. And, if they only use their friends feed, advertising will be lost to them.
Filtered feed might become sponsorship opportunities. No real news here but if the music feeds and other entertainment feeds take off, sponsorships might follow.
Marketing to Women: Get a Mobile Mindset for 2013
January 8, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Nielsen has released a new report containing facts on how US consumers use different forms of media and devices. The information on the top 8 activities performed on mobiles is fascinating, or at least I think so.
The top activity is texting, consuming 14.1% of our time. Messaging (texting, email and instant messaging) compose 14.1% of our time, or one-fifth of our time on our mobile devices. The lifeline for most of us is our texts and emails.
The second most consuming usage is social networks because we evidently all have FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), so we spend a whopping 10% of our time on social networks. Actually dialing someone up and having a conversation only consumes about 5.5% of our time. The other usage is consumed with browsing the internet, listening to music, using maps and our camera. The mobile usage differs from our computer usage – which is geared to a variety of other activities. One thing is the same – we spend a lot of time on social media. Computer usage of social media is 20.1%, versus 10% of our mobile time.
And in terms of usage, 56% of mobile users have smartphones. Eighty-five (85) million of us use social media apps on our smartphones, compared with 164 million have access to social media from their computers.
The bottom line is that each month, consumers are spending more time with more media, across all devices, and smart marketers need to understand the role of mobile in our daily lives. We use mobile to stay connected, to manage our schedules, and the shop. Some 78% of us use our smartphones to find a store, 63% check prices online and 22% comment on purchases.
Marketing to Women: Merry Mobile Christmas!
December 6, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Deck the halls with boughs of deals as the shoppers start out on their annual shopping sprees. Some 54% of mobile shoppers who have used a coupon on their device look to retailer websites for mobile coupons. According to Nielsen’s recent survey, retailer websites are followed by deal-of-the-day websites (such as Groupon and LivingSocial), retailer apps and third party websites.
The smartphones are leading the way in shopping navigation. According to Nielson, smartphone owners are dominating daily deal app usage, exceeding tablet users across all daily deal apps used. Groupon is the most widely used daily deal app among users of the apps, with 91 percent indicating that they have used the app on their smartphone and 60 percent stating they’ve used it on their tablet. Ranking second in daily deal app usage is Living Social (48% smartphone/29% tablet), followed by Google Offers (18% smartphone/9% tablet).
According to Nielsen, 63% of the smartphone users are using their phones to check prices, compared to 56% of tablet owners. A little more detail about the habits of smartphone mobile shoppers: looking up a store, used by 78% in this group, using them for shopping lists (40%), pre-purchase research (63%) and using a mobile coupon (39%).
Santa’s definitely mobile this year.
Marketing to Women: Is the iPad mini what women want?
October 29, 2012 § Leave a Comment
For those who were speculating about the success of the iPad mini, don’t speculate anymore. It seems that the iPad mini may be sold out online based on the two-week delay in shipping currently.
But who is buying it? According to Quartz, Apple is targeting women. The advertising planned for the iPad mini is being placed in women’s magazines and television shows that cater to women like the Today Show.
While the iPad has been embraced by consumers, men seem to prefer the iPad (53% ownership) versus women’s 57% preference for e-readers (such as Kindle). Women embraced the Kindle for its size, portability and usage as an e-reader. But the new iPad mini seems to level the playing field.
I carry big handbags so my iPad fits in nicely, but for many women, the handbag test would rule out the regular iPad. But the new iPad mini is just like Goldilocks said – “It’s just right.” So watch out, this holiday season, as women are charging through their holiday shopping, it may be on an iPad mini.
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Marketing to Moms: Smartphone Moms are Apple Moms
August 28, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I have been writing for some time about how smartphones are a Moms best friend. And of course, my phone of choice is the iPhone. Oh, and the iPad for Facetime and Skype. And of course, my MacBook Pro for Facetime. I have long believed that these are the tools of choice for Moms and recent new research reinforces this maternal love of Apples!
So here’s how the Apple rolls – as expressed by Arbitron and Edison Research Moms and Media 2012 Research:
• 92% of Moms own a cell phone
• 61% of Moms own a smartphone. The number of Moms with smartphones doubled from 2011 to 2012. In 2009, only 8% of Moms had a smartphone. By the way, the iPhone celebrated its fifth birthday this year.
• 51% of Moms own an Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod
• 25% of Moms own iPhones, and 32% of Moms own those Android phones. Yes, Android did have a growth spurt as they modeled their phones after iPhone functionality.
• iPhone users exhibit more loyalty than non-iPhone users. When asked which they couldn’t live without – the iPhone or television – 70% chose their iPhone!
• Yes, we sleep, eat and go to the bathroom with our iPhones. 93% say their smartphone is always nearby.
What does Apple love have to do with marketing? Well, I am glad you asked. Moms know a thing or two about purchasing. They have a buying power of $2.4 trillion in 2011. And mobile devices are part of their purchasing behavior. A new report from Mojiva shows that 97% of tablet-owning Moms made a purchase using their tablet in the past month. I know, I was one of them. I purchased plane tickets, shoes and books. When you look at all connected moms, you find that 62% use a shopping app and 46% want to receive information while in a store.
Can you imagine how many more Moms will jump at the chance to have the new iPad mini and iPhone 5 coming out this Fall? It will be a GREEN Christmas for Apple.
