Searchby Ellen Creane
With children at home so much because of the pandemic, the time is right to focus on how newspapers and their advertisers can help overwhelmed moms.
A Forbes magazine column reports that moms “control 85% of the household purchases and have a spending power of $2.4 trillion.” The key is understanding how the Millennial Mom makes buying decisions—decisions about buying products and services as well as your newspaper subscription.
Moms, and dads, are rightfully worried about their children’s education more than ever. School leaders are finding that “learning” at-home instead of from teachers in a physical classroom setting is lowering achievement. And parents working at home worry about “junk” screen time capturing their children’s attention in the other room.
Advertisers and newspaper executives are discovering that if they understand moms and their complicated world, they see increases in sales.
Katherine Wintsch is a leading Marketing-to-Moms consultant to Fortune 500 companies. She works with companies to help them understand that these Millennial Moms receive advertising and make buying purchases differently. Wintsch has found that “Parents today spend 2x more time with their kids than previous generations.”
It makes sense then, that moms and advertisers both benefit from having a newspaper in the home in two major ways:
First, a wealth of studies determined that the newspaper at home helps develop children’s reading skills and knowledge. Most parents aren’t professional reading teachers. So, the local community newspaper provides quick and easy ways to keep children engaged in reading at home, which is what all educators encourage.
The Kid Scoop youth feature, which appears in more than 300 community newspapers, offers reading activities that look like fun on the surface, but actually provide solid educational content. The puzzles, word searches, and fascinating information propel children into other parts of the newspaper. For example, a short report on kangaroos teaches geography, science, and vocabulary. Then, children are prompted to find names of towns in their local area plus finding datelines for other places in the world.
Reading the Kid Scoop page often happens while mom or dad is making a quick dinner. And Wintsch’s research reports 80% of moms don’t know what’s for dinner even by 4 p.m. in the afternoon, so it’s really a frantic pace at a time when children are bored and hungry. Kid Scoop provides a calm, engaging atmosphere.
Second, when local businesses understand how working moms are stretched in many different directions, they can advertise using language with empathy. “Need more time?” an ad headline can ask. Then, answer the question with how your product or service can actually give mom a break or make a purchase quick and easy.
Newspaper house ads can take the same approach, but with different words. For example, a headline like this: “Want to help your kids succeed in school?” Then cite the value of reading—and talking about—the local news. More reading at home promotes gains in school.
Kid Scoop gives families many ways to use your local newspaper with children as young as kindergarten and up through middle school. Adults learning English use Kid Scoop because it is colorful, visual, and helps with vocabulary acquisition. Kid Scoop helps moms and other adults in the household become literacy coaches … supporting teachers in the classroom and creating the next generation of lifelong news readers.
Advertisers can become sponsors of your newspaper’s Literacy Campaign as well. Car dealerships can support a campaign to stop cellphone use by teens who drive distracted. Grocery stores can approach busy moms with grab-and-go meals in a convenient location. Every advertiser understands that moms don’t respond to a lot of bells and whistles. Just get their attention with ways your product calms their lives.
Moms are very mobile. They’re carting their kids to the doctor, picking up internet orders everywhere, and when this awful pandemic finishes, to sports practice, games, and music lessons. The Kid Scoop page in print or online can be carried everywhere moms go. The Kid Scoop page is a handy way to keep children happily occupied while mom accomplishes many, many tasks—like visiting and buying from your advertisers.
