360i’s Sarah Hofstetter Dishes Dirt with Mommy Bloggers at OMMA Global

360i’s SVP of Emerging Media and Client Strategy Sarah Hofstetter spoke on a mainstage panel at OMMA Global this week, “The Mommy Bloggers – What It’s Like When Marketers Really, Really Want You.” Below are excerpts from the session.

Moderator
Catharine P. Taylor, Columnist, MediaPost

Panelists

• Carol Cain, Travel Writer, Managing Editor, NYCityMama.com
• Yvonne DiVita, President, Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC.
• Liz Gumbinner, Publisher, Editor-in-chief, Cool Mom Picks
• Sarah Hofstetter, SVP, Emerging Media & Client Strategy, 360i
• Kate Thorp, CEO, Real Girls Media

Cathy: What do you like or dislike about the term “mommy blogger?”

Liz: It feels like it’s a diminutive, but it’s the only term that describes the author and not the audience. Tech bloggers and gaming bloggers describe what they write about. I call myself a parenting blogger. In a way it does us a disservice because it’s a very complex and very different audience.

Sarah: The challenge is marketers what to get engaged with moms. I could keep running my 30-second spot and not have a conversation, or I could build these relationships with bloggers and get engagement and scale. The problem is they say, “Let me go buy an email list,” then blast out emails and offer free products and hope bloggers love them.

Carol: If I get a pitch for baby food, I’ll make the extra effort to say I don’t cover that but I can let you know bloggers who would. For me, “mommy blogger” limits me.

Sarah: You represent a mom now because you are. How can moms have the opportunity to work better with you to have a better experience? What’s your recommended way to exchange value?

Carol: I get so many hits when I write about date night. Any time I write about anything that excludes my kids – people love it.

Kate: Brands aren’t doing much to understand who’s coming to the blog and seeing who the blog influences.

Yvonne: Women as a group influence over 85 percent of purchases, whether they’re moms or not. Moms influence everything from the garage to the basement.

Sarah: There’s an element of looking at any blogger as a matchmaker between the brand and consumer. There’s a courtship that needs to happen. If you don’t treat the matchmaker well, you’re going to have a crappy setup – a really bad date. If a marketer goes to bloggers and says, “Help me figure out what to do,” bloggers will be a lot more receptive to working with you on programs that will get you much greater results.

Liz: Over the last six to 12 months, there’s a whole new group of bloggers who try to get stuff for free, the people who used to write companies and enter contests. That’s a different kind of mindset than the original bloggers like Dooce who have been writing to share their life stories.

Cathy: What motivates you?

Carol: I started my blog because I stopped working and didn’t know what to do with my kids.Then  I wrote about what I did and focused on lifestyle and travel and people liked it.

Yvonne: Four years ago I wrote a book about marketing to women online, “Dickless Marketing.” I wrote a blog based on that. The blog was supposed to be about marketing to women online but now it’s about marketing for women online.

Liz: When I started Mom 101 it was like having a column without an editor.

Sarah: I started the 360i social marketing team with David Berkowitz to show brands they can get more value out of what they’re doing, and blogging was a part of that.

Cathy: Can you share some marketers who really respects what you’re about? What are some marketers not doing as well?

Kathy: We had some really good experiences with ConAgra and Mercedes-Benz. They had good expectations set by their agency.

Liz: There’s a site called Mighty Girl, and through her partnership with Federated Media she got this Intel sponsorship. She has a life list of things she likes to do and they’re working just with her. On the other hand, there are some blog consultants who work with marketers to send out a ton of free product, and that brand will feel burned. Brands should look at the blogs they’re engaging with to get a sense of that.

Sarah: The more authenticity and transparency the better. If you’re using creativity along with PR and marketing best practices, you can do something so incredible.