Studies have shown that the mothers of small children spend more time on blogs and social media sites than any other customer group and are far more likely to buy from a brand they have connected with in this way. Bearing in mind that generally women buy everything for their households and children, it is their opinions that really matter. Retailers who want to sell to mums need to be active on blogs and social media platforms - and the best place to start is by running a blog of their own. This presentation, originally delivered at the Harrogate International Nursery Fair 2014, explains how to set up, write and promote a blog that attracts a readership of mums and receives links from other established blogs in the parenting sector.

1. Blogging: The Key to the Mummy
Market
Harrogate International Nursery Fair
24th March 2014

2. About Me
@emilyhill1982
@writemysite
uk.linkedin.com/in/emilyjanehill/
emily.hill@writemysite.co.uk
• Set up Write My Site in 2006:
www.writemysite.co.uk
• A lot has changed …
• … but some things have
stayed the same

3. Contents
• Understanding the Mummy market
• Writing your own blog
• Blogging and social media
• Reaching out to other bloggers
• Conclusion
• Q&A

4. Understanding the Mummy market
There is a huge appetite across the social web
for parenting opinions and advice:
(Following stats from Advertising Week Europe 2013 and
The Next Web Europe Conference 2013)

5. • 75% of women identify themselves
as the primary shoppers for their
households
Where’s Dad?

6. Mums and the Internet
• 88% of Mums use the Internet as their key
source of information …
• … and 68% make more purchases online
than offline

7. Mums and blogs
• In 2014, 63% of all online mums will read
blogs.
• 42% of UK mums view parenting blogs as
more independent and impartial than
traditional media

8. Mums and blogs (cont’d)
55% of active (daily) social media mums said
they made their purchase because of a
recommendation from a personal review blog
(Stat from Diffusion infographic)

9. (Stats from Tots100 index)
Write your own blog – there’s
room in the market!

10. Blogging is a lot of work – why
bother?
1) It’s great for SEO
2) It’s great for PR

11. Great for SEO because:
• Extra pages for your website
• Great opportunity to use long-tail keywords
(e.g. ‘toy for 3 year old boy’)
• Links and traffic from other websites

13. How Google treats blogs
Websites with blogs get 55% more traffic than
static websites.
They also get:
• 97% more inbound links
• 434% more indexed pages
(Stats from Hubspot)

14. Great for PR because:
• No corporate-ese
• Free advice
• Stuff to share
• List/ community building

15. What to write?
“I’m a retailer:
I’ll blog about my products!”

17. Content for your blog
Yes No
Tips and advice Sales copy
Exciting updates Boring “news”
Opinion pieces Bad-mouthing
competitors
Multimedia Plain text

18. Know your market …
have an angle!

19. Blogging and social media
• Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram,
Tumblr and YouTube all offer opportunities for
retailers.
• Use your blog to tie them all together.

20. My blog about this presentation

21. Blogger outreach: tapping into
influence
• Thousands of UK parenting blogs, all hungry
for things to write about.
• … so ask them to write about your products.

22. When you say your products are
amazing:

23. When Mummy bloggers say your
products are amazing:

24. Remember …
55% of active (daily) social media mums said
they made their purchase because of a
recommendation from a personal review blog
(Stat from Diffusion infographic)

25. (Stats from Tots100 index)
Approaching bloggers
Make it personal, be friendly … but
be careful about asking for stats.

26. If traffic doesn’t matter, what
does?
(Stats from Tots100 index)

27. “The main thing is will the blogger enjoy working
with the brand and get something out of it? I’d
rather do something with a blogger who has a great
experience because it’s relevant to their life than
squeeze out a samey experience with a top blogger
who’s not that interested.”
- PR representing brands who engage
in blogger outreach.
(Quote from Tots100 index)

28. Blogger outreach: Easy as 1,2,3!
1. Make your own blog really awesome
2. Follow other bloggers on Twitter
3. Start talking!

29. Conclusion
To reach the Mummy market:
• Write your own blog
• Get social
• Reach out to other bloggers

30. Emily Hill, CEO, Write My Site
Thanks for listening!
@emilyhill1982
@writemysite
uk.linkedin.com/in/emilyjanehill/
emily.hill@writemysite.co.uk