Mommy Bloggers: Hear Them Roar!

An article in today’s Ad Age Online caught my eye.  It’s an article on how advertisers are wooing mommy bloggers.  Were not talking about small advertisers, were talking P&G, Pepsi, Kodak, and Walmart.

The BlogHer conference was held last week in Chicago.  These big league marketers were lining up to get their brand in front of the 1,500 mommy bloggers that attended. 

I have heard of BlogHer.com but until today had no idea how big and marketing powerful they are.  The BlogHer website states they reach 14 million women through a network of 2,500 women bloggers.  Besides the tons of content on the website and a great forum for mommy bloggers, they host conferences that sell out quickly.  Why wouldn’t they when advertisers treat them like Hollywood celebrities.  The swag bag at this year’s conference included a new digital camera from Kodak valued at $100. Walmart had Paula Deen at the conference.  I know for a fact she gets big bucks for an appearance.

If you are in the family show business or trying to reach the female market, you should be moving some of your advertising budget to non-traditional marketing including mommy bloggers.   There are mommy bloggers in every major city in the U.S.  As you route your tour, you should budget comp tickets for every one of them.  If your PR people don’t have the mommy bloggers on the media release list, get it done today. 

If some of the most powerful brand marketers in the world see a huge value in mommy blogging then so should all of us in the event & entertainment marketing business.

Did You Know? – Thursday

Did you know that scout groups represent $1 million a year to just one touring family show?  Group sales peeps for all shows and events really need to go after the scouts.  I bet you could find scout interest in almost all your shows?  Just make sure you give them a patch or a pin. 

Did you know you have a better chance of getting media attention if you can spin your event to the economy?  The media loves any story about the recession (good or bad).  Make sure you have at least one story to pitch that ties your event into the recession.

Did you know Ticketmaster has a program called PaperFast?  Promoters and venues can use this service to distribute tickets (papering the house) free (except service fees) through a special code on Ticketmaster.  I discussed this back in January. I brought this up again at the conference last week. Most in the room were unaware or they didn’t want to talk about it. 

Did you know Ticketmaster has an affiliate network that is tied into social sites and the mommy blogs?  With this system they can get the word out on special offers to niche groups.  How come they didn’t offer this to me when I was promoting the Thomas and Friends Live dates?

Did you know that cable companies are always looking for On Demand content?  Why not give them a video of pre-produced show to offer free to cable customers? Use it like an infomercial.

Did you know that face to face communication is still the best way to seal a deal?

Did you know this blog celebrated its 200th post yesterday?