BY KATRINA MCCARTER
Australian Mums are the powerhouse of the Australian economy – they are responsible for $132 billion in spending every year. Millennial Mums, aged 22 to 37 years, represent a growing and highly influential segment within the Mum market for beauty brands. How well do you know them? And, how well do they know you?
Despite their economic power Millennial Mums feel misunderstood, misrepresented and undervalued. To understand what Mums want from brands, my organisation, Marketing to Mums, undertook a survey of 1,800 Australian mothers and we uncovered that a staggering 54% of Australian Millennial Mums believe advertisers don’t understand them. This represents an enormous opportunity for beauty brands to invest in understanding Millennial mums deeply, get their branding right, and reap financial benefit.
WHAT DO MILLENNIAL MUMS WANT FROM BEAUTY BRANDS?
My research into Millennial Mothers has taken me across the world to New York, Los Angeles and soon, Paris. I’ve travelled to learn from the likes of Google, Kate Spade, essie and YouTube to better understand this powerful consumer segment. I shared five strategies at esprit Magazine’s recent Marketing to Millennials Masterclass, and I am sharing them here to assist you to build deeper relationships and engagement with Millennial Mums to, in turn, drive sales and profit for your beauty brand.
#01 GET TO KNOW HER
Without question, the biggest issue I see when I speak with prospective clients is that they don’t understand their ideal client deeply enough. They lack the depth required to fuel growth. To me, this is the stage which determines success. If you get this section right your strategy is easier to determine, and you’ll derive a much better ROI.
One of the most important things you need to understand in beauty is the work status of the Millennial Mums you are targeting. Fulltime and part-time working Millennial Mums are significantly more likely to spend more on makeup than Stay-at-Home-Mums (or domestic goddesses as I like to refer to them). But, when it comes to skincare, all Millennial Mums are likely to spend the same.
My advice is don’t assume anything about your customer. Ensure you talk to real mums. Engage in social listening on your social media accounts as it can be particularly insightful, and most importantly, demand that there is at least one Mum on your team both internally and within your agency team.
#02 IT MUST BE ALL ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
Forget about discounts, for Millennial Mums it’s all about the customer experience. Be aware that her expectations around customer experience are much higher than the rest of the population. Millennial Mums value time, simplicity and a more personalised experience with beauty brands. She will pay more for products and services which save her time. She wants simple beauty routines so make sure you show her the hacks. It’s got to be quick and easy. And, she is happy for you to collect her data if it’s going to give her a more personalised experience.
#03 TESTIMONIALS WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOU
In the Marketing to Mums study of 1,800 Australian Mums, we found that testimonials were the number one reason Millennial Mums buy. Don’t underestimate their power. Also, Millennial Mums are more likely to share their views more than any other Mum segment. Make sure you have systems in place that make it easy for her to leave reviews.
#04 KEEP IT REAL
Millennial Mums have made it very clear that they feel a disconnect between advertising and their reality. They want marketers to stop portraying perfect lives with mothers who have got it all together because it is just not the life they are leading. More so it is not one they are aspiring to. They really feel like their lives are being trivialised and they will dismiss your marketing messages. You will not build trust or loyalty. Instead, you need to demonstrate that you understand the complexity of a Millennial Mum’s life. She’s looking for authenticity. Be real. Empathise with her. Use humour as Mums love it.
Brands need to shift away from aspirational messages with these idealised visions of family and show the real stuff. Mums want you to be real, raw and honest.
#05 DIVERSITY
Australian Millennial Mums where clear that they want to see diversity of people and family structures in advertising. They will reward brands which embrace diversity. At the M2Mom conference I attended in New York, we were presented with findings from Johnson & Johnson that 80% of mothers like to see diverse family structures in advertising, and 2 out of 3 mothers said brands who reflected diversity in their advertising would be rewarded on the shelf. With an increasing number of families not fitting the traditional family structure in Australia, mothers are becoming increasingly vocal in their desire to see this reflected in the advertising they view.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR BEAUTY BRAND?
Let me set a challenge for you. I want you to ask yourself, after reading this article, what is one thing you can implement into your strategy to better connect with Millennial Mums? Write it down, and check in with yourself that you have done it in a few weeks. Small tweaks can have significant positive impacts for your beauty brand.
Top 5 Success Factors
- Get to know her
- Focus on Customer Experience
- Testimonials will make or break you
- Keep it real
- Reflect diversity of family structures
ABOUT KATRINA MCCARTER
Katrina McCarter is the founder and CEO of Marketing to Mums, a marketing and research consultancy. She is a marketing strategist who specialises in understanding mothers as a powerful market sector, through experience and research. Katrina is highly regarded for her creative growth strategies and her ability to negotiate strategic partnerships and works with both small and big businesses to increase sales and profit selling to Mums. Katrina is the author of best-selling book, Marketing to Mums, and is a sought-after international speaker. An award-winning businesswoman and mother of three, Katrina is about to launch the world’s first podcast on Marketing to Mums.
TO CONNECT DIRECTLY WITH KATRINA
katrina@marketingtomums.com.au
www.marketingtomums.com.au
www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-mccarter
+61 (0) 427 161 677