In the lead up to our event 22nd May 2019, here is my sit down interview with the inspirational Katrina McCarter the Guru of Marketing to Mum’s. Please, e-meet (though I’m sure you may already have heard of her) Katrina McCarter, International speaker, Founder and CEO of Marketing to Mums
- Katrina has over 18 years sales and marketing experience working across diverse industries including grocery, hardware where she was always targeting mum as the purchaser this drove her to create the Bestselling book “Marketing to Mums’
- 2018 Finalist in B&T’s Women in Media Awards (Marketing category)
- 2017 Finalist in B&T’s Women in Media Awards (Entrepreneur category)
- #1 on Booktopia’s Business Best-seller list
- Book listed in ‘Must Read Australian Advertising and Media Books’
- Regularly speaks internationally – Moms & Marketing Conference (Paris 28/9/18) and M2Moms Conference (New York 3/10/18).
I am aware of the huge success you had with your online shopping website for mums called Bubbler.com.au. I believe you grew to a community of 150,000 mums before selling in late 2016, (amazing)
- What were some of your key learnings? What was the main focus of your business to grow it to such a large community?
Great question. I think I was only successful in growing my first business to such a large community of mothers was because I could really relate to them. I was in their shoes with three young children at home. I recognised their problems, motivations and wants. This enabled me to demonstrate a level of empathy which other big brands couldn’t. I was very connected with my community and this allowed my stay relevant with what we offered on our website. This deep level of customer understanding was an important factor in my success.
- What motivated you to start Marketing to Mums?
When I was running my first business, I quickly learned that brands were really struggling to understand mothers. They would lump them all together in one big group, perpetuate old stereotypes and wondered why their creative wasn’t being well received. I saw mothers becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the way they were being communicated with brands and, with that, I spotted a gap in the market and launched my marketing and research consultancy in late 2015. I now support brands with education around mothers, research around their mothers and help them build a strategy which delivers sales growth and market share gains.
- What are some challenges facing marketers in 2019?
I think there is a great deal of pressure on senior marketers to deliver growth and this can be extremely challenging when your customers are changing so quickly and there are so many tools you could use. I see increasing overwhelm in the market as to where to start and working out what strategies will perform best for a brand. There is also increasing pressure on marketers to be able to demonstrate ROI for their marketing investments. Successful marketers today are great storytellers who deeply understand and are connected to their customer. They are also happy to do things differently and are happy to take some risks.
- You teach at ADMA what are you seeing as the key areas of interest for students and companies?
Yes, I am the Instructor for the Digital Marketing Certificate and Digital Marketing Essentials courses for ADMA in Melbourne. Our first class always kicks off with understanding what the student’s current challenges are. In many cases, they’ve done their marketing degree but their digital skills are not up to date and this is what motivates them to enrol in the certificate class. In other instances, they are a senior marketing manager and managing all the marketing function but there are current areas they don’t feel strong in and I aim to fill that gap for them over the ten weeks we spend together. Much of their initial interest lies in learning about the more technical aspects of paid advertising and search marketing however I feel that over the course this really expands.
- Can you please give us some insights into how you see the current digital landscape?
I’d like to answer this question from my client’s perspective. Clients say to me that they find the current digital landscape overwhelming. Many don’t have strong digital skills and they are finding it tough to keep up to date. These issues are particularly highlighted when these people are managing a market team. They feel that there are so many different tools and strategies which could be used but they need help understanding what will be most effective. I always bring them back to their customer. Typically, I start with an assessment to better understand where I think they have gaps or unmet opportunities. Then I undertake a research project to identify and understand their most profitable of the Mum market. I take my time in this stage as I need to understand their customer very deeply. I want to also understand their journey to finding the brand also. Once this is identified I can assist them to work out what are the best digital strategies they can employ as I have strong expertise around communication preferences of different segments of mothers based on my ongoing research into Australian mothers.
- What are the top trends for 2019/2020?
We are seeing kids and dads getting a growing voice in large purchasing decisions as younger Millennial families adopt a more egalitarian approach to parenting. Many brands need to be considering their strategy to reach these segments as well as mothers now and this means considering different digital marketing channels. A classic example is in the travel industry. Kids are shaking up the family travel market as we know it. They are heavily influenced by You Tubers they follow (from around 9 years of age) and they want to travel to places they’ve seen in their favourite You Tubers videos. So, we are indirectly seeing travel being impacted by You Tubers targeting tween and teens. Most travel companies aren’t considering this factor at all.
Amongst mothers, we are seeing a growing use of Podcasting which represents a great opportunity to get her uninterrupted attention. Brands could be sponsoring or looking to be featured on podcasts to build stronger, deeper relationships with mothers.
Another trend we are seeing is the return to minimalism. Marie Kondo has really led to enormous change as mothers are looking to simplify their lives. It’s about quality over quantity, particularly amongst Gen X mothers in Australia right now.
Mums are also rewarding brands who demonstrate diversity, sustainable business practices and bring more fun and playfulness into their brand communications. It means there needs to be a rethink about how you are communicating with mothers.
Digitally speaking Mums in Australia are still lovers of Facebook, although we are seeing increasing use of Instagram as younger women become mothers. YouTube is overlooked in my opinion and I am also seeing a return to greater use of Google advertising as brands become dissatisfied with their results from Facebook advertising.
- Last we spoke you had recently returned from a speaking tour in Paris and New York – what were some of the key global insights you can share?
I am writing about this at the moment in my book. I speak in the US each year and last year I also had the opportunity to share my research about Australian mothers. I have found that there are some insights which are universal. Brands still don’t understand mothers in enough depth and this means they are wasting much of their marketing investment with poor marketing channel selection. Many brands are continuing to perpetuate old stereotypes. There is a growing dissatisfaction with brand communications amongst mothers across the world which many brands have not woken up to. Globally, I see that opportunities within the Mum market abound. Whether that be in exploring poorly catered for sub-segments of the Mum market, to launching into other geographic markets, there are plenty of opportunities for brands to drive sales, profit and market share.
- What’s next for Marketing to Mums?
I am currently writing my next book which is pitched at Board Directors, C-Suite and Senior Marketers. The book helps answer the question of ‘Where can I get growth for my brand over the next decade?’. I highlight the enormous financial opportunities which abound in key sub-segments, geographic locations and industries. It will launch in October.
I’m also very committed to my podcast which I launched late last year. Marketing to Mums the Podcast helps marketing professionals improve their communications and sales to mothers around the world. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to interview global brand leaders, leading researchers and best-selling authors to share the latest insights about mothers.
We are delighted to host at Digital Women’s Network, Katrina McCarter on the topic of the ever-changing digital landscape! On the night we will explore what all business should be doing digitally, unpack the landscape, explore design thinking and its application. Discuss the digital trends, tools, service design, digital innovation and customer data strategy. Hope that you can come along and hear more from Mark and our incredible line up of speakers including;
- Mark Cameron Digital Strategist, keynote speaker, media commentator and CEO W3 Digital
- Katrina McCarter, International speaker, Founder and CEO of Marketing to Mums
- Lisa Wade Founder and Principal of CareerXD.com
- Angela Mellak MCIM, Top 3# Australia Linkedin Influencer, Anthills Judge top 100, Marketing Strategist Co-Founder and Digital White Space and Founder of Digital Women’s Network.
Join us to network the evening away, meet like minds and enjoy the Grossi hospitality.
- Arlechin.
- May 22nd 2019
- 6-8:30 pm
- Mornane Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000 (in the alleyway just behind Grossi Florentino)
- Nibbles provided by Grossi!
Looking forward to seeing you there!