Blessings Abound

I have to admit—I have been a very sheltered blog reader, but to be fair to myself—I think the web creates that ability to filtered out unwanted or maybe just unrequested sites. So when I started to toss my search engine net out wider to explore in the Marketing Mommy Blogger sea I found something I really was not looking for. Like Jesus teaching people to fish—my net came back full of Christian Consumerism. I had a feeling it was all connected...and apparently I was right. WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) is clip coupons, stay at home with lots of kids, enter giveaways and make the perfect ribs using a slow cooker and a can of Coke.

I know...scary, but it is true. It is whole different world out there. NYC is not the rest of the country and let me tell you—the NYC rules do not apply out there. I think the epitome of this type of Mommy Marketing blog—is Blessings Abound.

http://www.akblessingsabound.com/about/

This is a site of a mom who is Blessed to live in Alaska with her best friend husband and their four (home-schooled) kids, one name Liberty. She has a “passion for product reviews” and “hosting blessings” which I believe are giveaways...but my innate fear of religion stops me from clicking through to investigate further.
I know people must go to this site, but who are they and what are they getting from it? No one can really believe the product reviews since they are sponsored by the companies...
I know there must be better sites out there for moms marketing to moms. My search continues.

What Fresh Hell Is This?

Marketing through Mommy Blogs? It seems so cheesy, like Amway...like Pampered Chef Parties or Tupperware gathering from the 60s.
As I delve into the Mommy blogosphere to look at attempts to market to moms-- Dorothy Parkers’ comment keeps on coming to mind: "What fresh hell is this?"

I must admit--I love a few mommy blogs..the ones with smart, deeply sarcastic writers like Dooce by Heather Armstrong and the blogs that take up strong and unpopular opinions on childrearing such as Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy.

But there is a whole other world out there with people who discuss ad nauseam--stain cleaners, the new M & M favors, vacuum cleaners--this world, I am almost certain, is the making of Madison Avenue and the Stepford Wives inventor combined.

I had NO IDEA until I entered a communications masters program that Mommy bloggers are a marketing force and moms in general are a HUGE market. Although moms as a huge market is not complete surprise to me (because god knows men can’t be bothered to go grocery shopping), I am very skeptical of how much influence a mommy blogger has on other mothers. You will not see me clicking through on an ad for Mucinex or Febreeze as I read my favorite blogs and for the most part the blogs I read are not discussing their taste-test of Pop Tarts....

With this blog I plan to explore the world of the mommy blogs to better understand their appeal, what they can do for mothers and, more importantly, what they can and cannot do for marketers. Can mom blogs REALLY start a buzz or are they just the new Tupperware party of the 21 century?