“Mothers are increasingly hard to reach through traditional mass media, such as the daily newspaper and network television,” wrote Lisa Snedeker, Media Life.

Nowadays, mothers are at work, juggling children, family and careers: they’re not the easy-to-reach target they used to be.

“They are no longer a given, and that has made them a more valued demographic,” said Snedeker.

On the other hand, mothers are still one of the largest demographic categories, and they share enough in common to interest advertisers. So newspapers have everything to gain by trying to reach out to them.

"Every mom will tell you that the best source of information for moms is word of mouth," said Laura Gordon senior vice president for marketing at the Dallas Morning News.

"They get information from other moms. Mass media is trying to replicate that credibility through niche products."

Part of the reason moms were long ‘forgotten’ by newspapers and advertisers comes from the fact that they were still – wrongly – considered as accessible readers. Only now are editors adapting to the massive evolution of mothers in society.

The most successful example of these mom-targeting publications is the Examiner chain, which publishes free dailies in San Francisco, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. The Indianapolis Star launched IndyMoms.com last year just before Thanksgiving: it was such a success a complementary print publication is to be launched in March. The Atlanta Journal Constitution offers a special low introductory price to new parents, and in Charleston the Post and Courier are collaborating to target 16 zip codes where they hope to find new reader families.

There are many more publications studying how to reach moms and families better. It’s time to stay ahead of the trend and target those categories, before they are taken for granted again.

Source: Media Life