• by Sara Arnell , April 27, 2012

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are most likely familiar with the controversy surrounding Hilary Rosen’s slurry comment about Ann Romney and her career choice.

Rosen claims that Romney never worked. 

Excuse me? Any woman knows that a wife and mother of five boys works hard -- very hard. Men know this, too. So, why did Rosen make such a polarizing comment when there was bound to be such a backlash? She herself is a mother who has made the choice to also work outside the home. Shame on her.

Smart marketers who target moms know these women work hard. The best among these marketers create and sell products that help make their work easier. Key denominators in products and services that are directed toward an audience of moms are convenience and ease of use. 

Good marketers spend much of their time observing moms on the “battlefield”—in their homes—to observe how they go through their day and then think about what might be missing to make things a bit nicer, more effective, efficient and easier. Great marketers make sure that their products and services also provide ease of mind. It’s a straightforward path to innovate, design and market toward easier-to-use products. But the path to ease of mind is not so straightforward. 

First, marketers have to figure out what moms are lacking at home. For instance, products like washing machines and dishwashers that now operate at a whisper as opposed to their much louder predecessors require a new set of calisthenics to make sure the machine is on -– touching the door, feeling the vibration, or putting your ear to the machine. When you hear the water swoosh, it’s all good. Now you can relax. 

Such ease of mind should be built in with signals that assure you that your cutting edge, über-functional, easy-to-use product is doing just what it’s supposed to do. Ease of mind is peace of mind.

So now that the media and its consuming public are all finally in agreement that mothers who stay home with their children are working moms -- not that we didn’t know this already -- we can conclude that products that tick off chores along with stresses and worries are what every working person needs, both in the home and outside the home. But in the end, the most effective way to provide ease of mind and peace of mind to all working moms is to acknowledge their personal choices and the work they do, from wherever they are doing it.