With the right product, marketing to parents can be a breeze. Parents represent a very large demographic and many have similar spending patterns. If you have a product that is suitable for parents or kids, it's best to target your advertising to parents.

When creating a marketing campaign to parents, be sure to think about:

1. Who your real target audience is. Parents purchase things for both themselves and for their children. If you have a children's product that you are advertising to parents, make sure you stress what your product can do for their children. Most parents tend to purchase educational products.

2. The value of your reputation. Word of mouth advertising works particularly well when you target an advertising campaign to parents. Parents listen to other parents, which influences their decision. Negative word of mouth can be harmful.

3. The importance of cost. Many parents consider cost to be a main factor in their decision making process. If possible, create a product that is low cost or has a significant amount of value compared to the cost of the product.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find resources for your advertising campaign to parents

Thinking about the types of problems that your product solves will help you to determine where you should advertise. Take advantage of online resources, hard print resources, and other solutions when marketing to parents.

I recommend: Reach thousands of parents when you place your ad on the popular website Parenting.com. If you're interested in mail order to reach your parental audience, investigate resources from the National Mail Order Association. Join the organization or buy one of the many marketing publications there.

Get specific when marketing to parents

Being able to market to a target audience of parents, by gender or ethnicity, will benefit your next marketing campaign to parents.

I recommend: Target women by race with The 85% Niche. Download a report with three years of research results about Dads to gain insight when marketing at MindBranch.

Hire a consultant to help you with advertising to parents

If you don't have much experience with advertising and marketing, it may be best to leave things up to the professionals. An advertising consultant can help make your product a success.

I recommend: Check out Lucid Marketing, which has worked with such clients as AOL and eHarmony. Marketing to Moms provide a myriad of marketing resources and services.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Giving out free samples is an excellent way of marketing to parents. It allows them to try your product and if they like it, they will be willing to spend money on it.

Companies large and small spend billions of dollars every year marketing their products to children. They work hard to make their products fun, their packaging cool and their sales messages hip. The most successful marketers, however, know that to seal the deal with young consumers, they’ve got to win over their parents, too.

Parents are discerning consumers. They shop carefully with one eye focused squarely on value and the other on quality. They’re not just prudent customers, though; they’re also active spenders. They control purchases for themselves, their spouses, their children and, more and more, for their own aging parents. With so much spending power in their control, it pays to cater to their needs. Win over moms and dads by:

1. Helping them save time
2. Helping them save money
3. Helping them protect their families
4. Making them feel special

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Deliver deals and discounts

Parents are bargain hunters. Successfully marketing to them, then, requires an attractive value proposition. Two-for-one coupons, deep discounts and anything involving the words “sale” or “clearance” will effectively pique parents’ interest in your business and drive their dollars to your bottom line.

I recommend: It’s not enough to offer a great product. You must offer that product at a great price, too. Learn the ins and outs of coupon planning at CouponInfoNow. Then, create, manage and distribute custom coupons to your customers at CouponBuilder.com.

Keep convenience top of mind

Parents are busy people; business owners who can make their lives easier are the ones who will ultimately win their dollars and earn their loyalty.

I recommend: The best way to find out what parents are looking for in a business is to ask them. Consider conducting a survey with The Survey Company, which specializes in creating customer surveys for marketers. Or, gain further insight into the parent psyche by subscribing to free parent newsletters from sites such as Busy Parents Online, momready or 4Parents Network, or from magazines like Parenting and Parents.

Zero in on moms

Market research shows that mothers control approximately 85 percent of household spending. Still, 70 percent of moms feel companies are doing a poor job marketing to them. Businesses that can successfully reach moms—and make them feel special—can therefore claim an easy share of a $1.7 trillion market.

I recommend: Marketing companies such as BSM Media and Lucid Marketing specialize in reaching the mom market and can help you create and deliver messages that will truly matter to your parent customers. Meanwhile, events like the Marketing-To-Moms Conference will expose you to valuable case studies and research with which to inform and inspire your efforts.

Don’t forget dads

Moms aren’t the only ones staying at home with the kids these days. There are 25.8 million married fathers raising children under 18 in the United States, according to U.S. Census data, and 2 million single fathers doing the same. The result is a growing niche market of fathers to which the savviest companies will market.

I recommend: Study dads’ favorite stores, such as The Home Depot, during holidays like Father’s Day for ideas on reaching male consumers. For further insight into how dads think and purchase, read blogs like Rebel Dad that are written by and for them. Finally, take the National Fatherhood Initiative’s Father Friendly Check-Up for Business, which measures the degree to which your company is helping fathers balance work and family.

Earn word of mouth

Parents like to talk. When you impress them with your products and services, they’ll almost certainly tell their friends—all of them. Embrace positive word of mouth as a low-cost, high-value way to attract new customers and retain old ones.

I recommend: Social networks are making it easier for parents—who sometimes feel isolated from their peers—to interact with one another, and to therefore spread word of mouth for your business. Market within networks such as GotKidsNetwork.com, Maya’s Mom, Minti, MothersClick, Dad Daily and ParentsConnect—all geared toward parents.

Target tech-savvy parents

Parents are no longer bound to dinner tables and soccer practices. Modern-day moms and dads are thoroughly plugged in and spend just as much time at their computers as they do at the grocery store. Smart marketers will sniff them out in both places.

I recommend: A 2005 survey of Internet-savvy mothers found that 69 percent of them subscribe to between one and five retail emails each—86 percent of them in order to get discounts and coupons. Companies like Vertical Response and Bronto can help you create and manage an email marketing program to connect with parents.

Protect children

Even more than cost and convenience, parent consumers are driven by the desire to protect their families. Next to less responsible competitors, kid-friendly businesses that promote children’s health, safety and well-being will always rise to the top of parents’ lists.

I recommend: Build trust with parents by supporting kid-friendly charities such as Save the Children, Toys for Tots, Parents Action for Children or Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Avoid wearing “baby blinders.” Savvy marketers realize that parents buy more than diapers and dolls; they purchase high-end services and luxury goods, too, including travel, apparel and electronics.
• •  Actions speak louder than words. Instead of purchasing advertisements, consider investing in services that will simplify parents’ lives, such as changing tables in your restrooms or free lollipops and balloons for their children.
• •  While parents appreciate family-friendly messages, they are not kids; speak to them like the smart, sensible, adult consumers they are.
• •  Diversity should be top of mind in any marketing effort; remember alternative families—single parents, gay and lesbian parents, and other guardians—when you are reaching out to mainstream moms and dads.
• •  Parents tend to most trust other parents; they’re most likely to buy from them, too, so consider recruiting already-satisfied parent customers as spokespeople.
• •  Certified experts—doctors, educators, etc.—are trusted sources for parents seeking information; their endorsement can do wonders for your marketing efforts.