— Karen Brennan, Attorney
Mommy Bloggers are an ever-growing group of women, estimated to number well into the millions, connecting over the Internet and sharing stories, tips and information relating to all aspects of motherhood. There is no doubt Mommy Bloggers are impacting the on-line advertising and marketing world. BusinessWeek recently ran an article dedicated to pitching products and services to Mommy Bloggers and many major companies are attempting to wield the Mommy Blogging economic power. For example, Wal-Mart’s web site now includes a blogging hub for moms (Elevenmoms) and General Mills has a new blog, written by hundreds of moms recruited to blog about free products they are asked to review, in the hopes the bloggers will spark interest in the products they like.
As a new mom, I wanted to know why mommy blogging has created such a stir in the marketing world. After just a few minutes of research, I found myself remembering the countless February days of my maternity leave spent without interaction and wishing I had spent more time reading these blogs. I laughed, I cried, I was horrified and happy, but the most predominant feeling was comfort. I related to almost every Mommy Blog I read, even those that had nothing to do with motherhood. These blogs are written with so much personality, heart and raw emotion that I was easily hooked and quickly realized therein lies the marketing power of the Mommy Blogger. Women are generally the purchasers of most products and services for their family and home. When in comes to purchasing decisions, we trust the opinions of other women who have done the shopping and blogged about it and we want to know which products are the best and the worst. In fact, one on-line resource found that 96% of moms value recommendations they find on Mommy Blogs. Given the fact that there are over 36.5 million moms in the U.S. with children living at home, Mommy Bloggers are marketing gold.