Introduction to Mom PR

It's Saturday morning and I'm stumbling around my house in the way many moms do. I've just put a load of laundry in, my youngest is napping, my eldest is watching Saturday morning cartoons, my husband is napping - he took the early shift by getting up at 6am while I had a lie-in, and we have both been picking through the Globe and Mail and will continue to do so for the next 4 days.

We love our weekend edition of the Globe (Canada's largest national daily newspaper) because it lasts the week; taking us 4 days to read it cover to cover. It's the perfect size and offers a great range of articles - current affairs, fashion, business, that fit into our time-crunched lifestyle.

Between the both of us, we read a lot of newspapers & magazines. Probably way more than the average Joe because we both work in/with the media. He is an ex-CBC'er, taught radio journalism at our local college and now works in the Public Affairs Bureau for the Province; I own a PR firm that specializes in the mom market and monitor a huge range of media from blogs to TV programs. We read most newspapers online or via our Blackberry but we do enjoy the tactile feel of a newspaper on a weekend.

I think we are a typical example of today's generation and that's why many of today's media outlets are struggling to survive. We are reading more newspapers online. I don't think the printed edition will completely disappear (for the sanity of our Saturday mornings let's hope not!) but I think media oulets will continue to focus more towards online content because that's where their current and future readers are.

The other impact on the media is advertising revenues, which are down dramatically and today's recession (or talk of recession) will ensure that this trend continues for a while.

So what does this mean and how does it impact you? Well, look at what happened in the last month alone

- the National Post has recently decreased the amount of printed editions in order to cut expenses. Suddenly we see the Financial Post (a business column that originated in the National Post) being included (or taking over) 1/3 of the Business sections in a lot of the Canwest chain newspapers. In my backyard this affected the Victoria Times Colonist and Vancouver Sun who both ran 2-3 pages of the Financial Post pages.

- Canwest Global cut 650 jobs across Canada. Most of the cuts were felt in small communities which continues to push this centralization of coverage to specific larger markets.

- CTV are cutting expense budgets which means no more travelling. That means if you are not located in the top Canadian cities - Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal - then getting some of the larger media outlets to attend and cover your event may require a budget for airfare, hotel and transporation costs. That is if they are allowed to accept those 'perks', which many of them aren't thus you may be better off pitching freelancers who can accept free things but there's no guarantee of coverage....but I digress.

The fewer reporters available to pitch and decreased amount of pages dedicated to local coverage means more opportunities and barriers when tying to get press coverage for your company. And you want press coverage because it increases sales when its part of an overall marketing plan.

Now combine that with today's online, technology-driven mom and you will have what this blog is going to be about.

This is the intersection between the media and moms.

(We) moms control 85% of every household dollar. We want value for our dollar, we research online, and best of all we chat with our networks and tell our friends what's 'rockin' our lives right now' - be it a product, a service or the latest Method product (thanks Oprah!).

Moms are synical of ads (on a personal note, my husband and I love the Berenstein Bears No More Commercials book), we read 4 magazines a month, look to the internet to network, shop, bank and book vacations. We are the most powerful consumer group in the world.

My goal is to provide you with useful information that you can apply to your business as well as understand how to tap into the influential Mom Market.

So, welcome and thanks for reading.