• by Maria Bailey , Columnist, January 6, 2010

With every New Year come waves of change. We make resolutions to do things differently, whether it's changing our eating habits or the manner in which we manage our money. For marketers, January presents the opportunity to evaluate the goals of the year past, test new initiatives in the coming year and re-evaluate insights of their target market. When it comes to mothers, I've tracked consumer behaviors that the team at BSM Media feels will lead to the "Mom Marketing Trends of 2010."

Marketing to Moms becomes Marketing WITH Moms: Resolve in 2010 to market "WITH" rather than "to" moms. Gone are the days when brands can push out marketing messages to moms and expect that they will regurgitate it to their peers. Social media have given rise to a new generation of mothers who customize and personalize everything from coffee to your product information. These empowered women want to share in spreading the word about your products; however, they want to be partners in this relationship.

Video Puts a Face to Bloggers and Mom Mavens: Skype, VID and Vlogging have opened the door to a whole new dimension to the relationships mom bloggers and podcasters have developed with other mothers many miles away. With webcams and Flips in hand, moms can now communicate face-to-face with other friends, family members and companies. For marketers this means that it's time to come out from behind your brand and put a face to your product. You can do this by engaging moms to be online "spokesmoms" or by uploading product videos to mom video portals such as Newbaby.com or Facebook fan pages. More ambitious companies such as Logitech have found success in hosting shows on MomTV.com and doing product placement in mom produced shows as well.

The Mom Frugalista is the New Chic of 2010: During 2009, the economy forced moms to explore coupons and discounts like never before. In fact, 60% of moms who claim to have never used coupons prior to the down economy admitted to now using them while compiling their grocery list. Saving money has become chic and cool among moms, even those with disposable income. It's a game and, in some circles of moms, a badge of honor. Stockpiling, insert previews and blog posts highlighting sales will continue to be a growing trend. Companies launching new products or attempting to increase sales will have to entice moms to try their products with coupons, samples and special offers. Moms have felt the excitement of saving money at the grocery store and few intend to give it up regardless of the economy.

Taking Online Mom Mavens Offline: Moms have enjoyed making friends online, in what I call the virtual playground, for several years; however, they are now looking to bring these friendships to life in the physical world as well. This means great new opportunities for marketers because, as these online influencers expand offline, their networks and influence will expand as well.

A recent example of this were the 300 Mommy Parties BSM Media orchestrated for Zhu Zhu Pets. Moms across the U.S. invited moms and kids into their home to play with Zhu Zhu hamsters making it the No. 1 toy of this holiday season. Attendance of mom bloggers has also spiked at local Mom Mixers. Companies can capitalize on mom's desire to interact face-to-face with other moms while creating a platform for them to experience products and brands in an intimate and fun manner by sponsoring Mommy parties, Mom Mixers and local meet-ups.

It's a new year and, as a marketer, it's up to you to stay up with the times. Push aside your old CPM models and online impressions benchmarks and explore what can happen when you engage moms as your marketing partner.