Mother’s Day: 3 Segments to Target & 4 Channels to Activate On
- Updated on: 2023-03-24
- Read original article here
March 6, 2023
4 min read
In 2022, consumers planned to spend a record $31.7B on Mother’s Day gifts. 1 This is an increase of $3.6 billion from 2021’s Mother’s Day spending, which was already a record high. Advertisers cannot miss out on the chance to connect with consumers by leveraging this cultural moment.
Now is the time to start planning for this key holiday by creating an omnichannel campaign to surround and reach segments of customers who are actively looking to purchase gifts this Mother’s Day. From husbands shopping for their wives, millennials shopping for their moms, or even Mom’s shopping for themselves, we have some ideas on who you should target and where to reach them.
The Top 3 Segments to Target
1. Dads
Dads are of course one of the top audiences to reach, because dads spend twice as much on Mother’s Day compared to other consumers. Investing in marketing to an audience of affluent dads is a good strategy for brands looking to increase their amount of high-value customers.
Using Data Axle’s audiences, our Affluent + Active Dad audience allows you to reach 18+ men with a household income over $150k who have children.
2. Millennial Children
Millennials are ready to spoil their mothers on Mother’s Day. In fact, 25-34 year-old consumers led in Mother’s Day spend by age group in 2022 – spending an average of over $400 to make this day extra special for mom. 2 Targeting this audience allows you to reach consumers who are shopping for both their mothers and their wives in this stage of life.
At Data Axle, we did the hard work for you by designing a customer audience set of millennials who are between the ages of 25–34 who have purchased popular Mother’s Day gifts in the past – making this audience perfect for your campaign.
3. Moms
As counterintuitive as it might seem, moms – from the affluent to the everyday – are a great audience to target for your Mother’s Day campaigns. Forbes reports that nearly 40% of moms say they are planning to get their own Mother’s Day gift. 3 The top categories they plan to purchase are clothing, jewelry, and beauty. However, there are as many different types of moms as there are stars in the sky – and we’ve found that many moms are interested in arts & crafts, fashion, living actively, DIY, and more.
Consider buying a targeted ‘off-the-shelf’ audience to find the right ‘mom’ audience for your brand. At Data Axle we have a number of audience options including “Everyday,” “Affluent, “DIY,” and more.
Pro tip: Market to Mom wholistically
Want to craft messaging that will resonate with moms? Then you need to understand them as more than a “mom.” Moms are usually performing a tough balancing act between their work and personal lives. Understanding the needs and priorities of mothers at work and at home is key to reaching and engaging them. Consider using a combined business and consumer profile to increase the effectiveness of your campaign. A tool such as Data Axle’s B2C Link , which combines business and consumer data, can help.
The Top 3 Channels to Activate On
Choosing the right channel to activate your Mother’s Day campaign on can be overwhelming. From social media to digital and emerging channels, companies have a large array of options. We’ve selected a few that we have found to be particularly impactful for the above audience segments.
1. Email
Email marketing is still one of the most reliable channels to boost marketing program ROI. 4 From new customer acquisition to engagement and retention, don’t neglect this powerful channel on Mother’s Day. Let’s look at this channel in action. See’s Candies worked with the Axle Agency to come up with a personalized twist on their Mother’s Day email campaign, sharing employees’ personal picks for Mother’s Day products. They also made sure to throw in a discount for expedited shipping for last-minute shoppers (we’re looking at you, Dads.)
Pro tip: Try acquisition email for your Mother’s Day Campaigns
Acquisition email marketing is the process of using email campaigns to grow your customer base or promote brand awareness. This involves sending campaigns to permission-based emails where a third-party marketer can email their offer or service to a prospect they don’t have an existing relationship with. These emails have been vetted to receive third-party solicitations. This channel is often-overlooked, and Mother’s Day is a great time to try to reach new consumers who are ready and willing to buy. Use it to achieve your acquisition goals and move the needle in a meaningful way for your entire marketing program.
2. Social Media
Have you heard the saying “everyone and their mother is on social media?” Well, that’s because it’s true! 4.67 billion people use social media, 5 81% of U.S. moms on social media use Facebook compared to 61% of the total U.S. population, 6 and 80% of U.S. mothers who use the internet use Pinterest. 7 Long story short – if you want to reach U.S. moms, you need to be on social media.
Many social media platforms allow you to select and target based on the segments they have available on their platform. However, they also allow advertisers to upload their own target audiences. We recommend you take advantage of this in order to better target in on your best prospects.
Pro tip: Leverage Pinterest in your Mother’s Day Campaigns
Users visit Pinterest to actively find new ideas and inspiration, which makes it a perfect fit for an impactful Mother’s Day campaign. Using Pinterest’s keywords targeting feature, reach individuals as they search for specific Mother’s Day themes and ideas, like those actively looking for the perfect gift guide and inspiration.
3. Connected TV (CTV)
Did you know that in 2022 87% of U.S. adults own at least one CTV, and almost half of U.S. adults watched CTV daily? 8 Advertisers are increasing their CTV ad spend to meet consumers where they are – experts predict CTV ad spend will reach almost 19 billion by 2026. By incorporating CTV into your advertising strategy, you can ensure that you are reaching your Mother’s Day audience while they’re engaged (e.g. family movie night) with non-skippable ad placements on premium networks like Discovery, A&E, HGTV, Food Network, CBS, NBC, AMC, Lifetime, Pluto, Crackle, Sling TV, Roku, and more! Netflix and Disney+ are also reworking their advertising strategy, so keep them on your radar as well.
4. Display
Display ads can increase brand awareness by 80% 9 and savvy advertisers are increasing their display budgets. In 2019, display advertising spending in the U.S. was about 70 billion, that number has been growing YOY and experts expect spend to reach 107 billion in 2023. 10
Display advertising allows you to reach the right people at the right time as they browse online. This is a great way to build brand awareness, generate engagement and drive high-value prospects to your website. This is a particularly great strategy for DTC E-commerce initiatives around Mother’s Day.
The Benefits of a Custom Audience
Are the off-the-shelf segments not a fit for your marketing strategy? A custom audience might be right for you. Custom audiences give you access to rich, diverse, person-level attributes. They also give you access to data experts who are equipped to provide added value consultation to ensure your data strategy is sound on all channels and throughout your marketing cycles. Data Axle does this by constructing profiles from hundreds of sources, like real-estate data, voter registrations, search and browsing history, purchase history and more. Custom audiences allow you to efficiently devote your time and resources. You can personalize your messaging and home in on what your customers want and need from you.
