Even if you don’t have a maternal bone in your body, you need to think like a mom, says Nora Lee, author of “The Mom Factor: What Really Drives Where We Shop, Eat, and Play” (Urban Land Institute). Consider that the nation’s 108 million women are responsible for up to four-fifths of all consumer spending, according to Lee, and that three-fourths of those women are mothers: “It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that moms make well over half of the buying decisions in this country.”
Granted, not all moms are alike, any more than all baby boomers or all Latinos are. But Lee contends that by and large, mothers do share some preferences when it comes to selecting one business or product over another:
* Safety first. As Lee says, “Moms can see danger around every corner.” Something as seemingly minor as a dirty washroom can put a mother off a restaurant for life. Likewise, promoting a health or safety benefit could win her over for just as long.
* Time is money. Finding a mother who complains about having too little to do is about as easy as finding a unicorn. A product or service that promises—and delivers—efficiency is one that will get her attention.
* Educational opportunities. Tying in with mothers’ thirst for efficiency is their desire for every experience to be educational in some way. Just as it’s no longer enough for toys to be merely fun, so it is with trips to the mall or even dinners at a restaurant. Lee suggests tying in some sort of educational value-add whenever possible: A shopping center offering an exhibit on the nation’s presidents is one example.
