Last weekend, I stopped into Target to pick up some sunblock. As I stood in the aisle scanning my options, I noticed a mom next to me with her daughter who appeared to be around 12 years old. The mom was also looking for sunblock but she had another digital tool at her disposal to help make her selection.

If there's one universally accepted truth about contemporary moms, it's that they are not the same as the mothers we grew up with. Whether you're a Baby Boomer, Gen Xer or Millennial, the woman who raised you differs significantly from today's moms.

How Millennial moms see themselves ... and how they want to be seen.

Last weekend, I stopped into Target to pick up some sunblock. As I stood in the aisle scanning my options, I noticed a mom next to me with her daughter who appeared to be around 12 years old. The mom was also looking for sunblock but she had another digital tool at her disposal to help make her selection. The mom handed her daughter three difference sunblock bottles all from three different manufacturers and she said, "Scan these on the Target app on my phone and see which one has a coupon offer." Her daughter obliged and when one of ...

It's May, a time of year when moms are looking forward to the end of school, the start of summer and a more relaxed schedule. However, May is a slightly different story for the moms of more than 3.2 million high school students who have graduated or will graduate over the next couple of weeks. Brands that target moms of college students and their Gen Z co-eds have a valuable opportunity to tap into this enthusiastic consumer segment.

When marketing budgets were booming with no end in sight, advertisers ran dedicated ads for kids as well as for parents. After all, children need to want and love your brand, while parents need to be convinced that your brand is right for them.

Upheaval continues across the food industry as brands struggle to appeal to moms' desires for their families to eat healthier. But what do today's moms see as healthy eating? Low carb. Gluten free. Vegetarian. Low sugar. Paleo. "Clean" eating. What's next?

There's a noticeable lack of fashion designers and retailers specifically targeting moms and working women who are in the peak of their wage-earning years. These are women whose multi-faceted lifestyles require broader wardrobes and whose bodies may be changing, but still want to look sexy.

Finding the right influencers to work with your brand is only one of the challenges. Ensuring that influencers create content that has the potential to move moms to action is another.

When marketing to moms, most marketers think about a sales calendar and plan for the obvious peaks. However, there are many more opportunities to tap into moms' spending budgets other than Christmas, Back to School and Easter. By knowing what's on moms' minds and what's on to-do lists now, you can open up opportunities to grow your brand's bottom line. There are many tactics that don't require a huge spend on ad campaigns or a long lead. The inherently fast and flexible options available through social media also let moms know that brands understand the "mom calendar." Therefore, these brands ...