Why You Should Get Your App Endorsed By a Mommy Blogger

You may not realize it, but - on average - you encounter product endorsements a couple times each day. Watching TV, walking by into your local mall, launching the Facebook app on your smartphone - these are all places where consumers intersect with product endorsements.

The concept behind product endorsements is an age old one: Using the celebrity of an individual to sell a product or service. Most commonly, you’ll see Hollywood stars or sports stars giving their approval for products on television and in print. This strategy is a mainstream one which has been used in advertising since the early 20th century.

As with any marketing technique, product endorsements can be executed well, so they resonate with a great number of people and bring spectacular results. They also can be executed poorly and the reputation of the endorser can be abused and tarnished due to the product they associate with. We don’t want to influence your personal stance on endorsement, but we would like show you cooperation with Mommy Bloggers can create relevant and strong endorsements for your products and services or apps.

The Mommy Blogger Community

You may not be familiar with who or what a mommy bloggers is unless you are a mommy blogger or married to one. The “mommy blogger” is where lifestyle intersects with Internet phenomena.

In the US alone there are about 4 million mommy bloggers and there many in other countries in Europe, Asia and South America - mommy bloggers pretty much all over the globe. 

A mommy blogger is - for the most part - a stay at home mom who is passionate about sharing the great and not-so-great moments in the lives of their families via a blog. Mommy bloggers also share tips and tricks and lifehacks related to parenting, marriage, managing a household, fashion, decorating, nutrition and countless other topics which are relevant to broad audiences of parents.

As with all bloggers, mommy bloggers have big personalities and unique ways of communicating with their audience of readers. Self-deprecation, a good sense of humor, a clear way of imparting complicated information are all things which make a blog (not just of the mommy variety) popular. These ladies spend huge amounts of time dedicated to sharing information on topics that they are passionate about. And, if they are passionate about your product, they can be a huge boon and dedicated brand ambassador, helping you tremendously with your marketing efforts:

Here are some quotes from mommy bloggers:

“I choose products to endorse based on a two things. One, are they family friendly; I will only showcase products that are suitable for the majority of ages. Second, do they apply to my lifestyle in this moment? Sure, things change daily, yearly, as kids grown, etc. A year ago I was endorsing foods that this year I can no longer, simply due to allergies. Nothing wrong with them, but if it can not apply to me in the here and now, then I can not endorse it further. Now, If I use the brand already, it's already a win/win. Who won't I tell if I like or dislike a product? I see and interact with thousands of people worldwide. If I have it in my hands; that number just increases since I can personally show it off “

Angela Roy

http://mommypr.com 

“As a Mommy Blogger who has been entrusted to review mobile apps for app developers, I feel that product endorsements are a positive experience for both the developer and the reviewer. Sharing my honest opinions as well as experiences with mobile apps has allowed many teachers in my local area to become more aware of educational app options for their students and allowed developers to know of any glitches within their apps before they get into the hands of consumers. Having a Mommy Blogger write honest product endorsements helps the developer reach a larger audience in an efficient, more personal manner."

Brandy Ellen

http://happilyblended.com 

Why Pitch a Mommy Blogger?

Now that you’ve got the picture of who mommy bloggers, the next logical question is how can they help you with your mobile app promotion? As with any advertising technique you may apply to the promotion of your app it is about connecting with users. 

Mommy bloggers are in a position to present apps developed for the education or entertainment, of children or for general family use to the targeted audience for those types of app - to moms and their families. The scope of app topics you can present via Mommy Bloggers is not limited to kid or family apps -  sports, entertainment, education, books, social networking are pretty much all relevant categories for the mommy blogger. The key here is to understand that a review on a mommy blog won’t necessarily skyrocket your app up the TOP charts, like a review on a top news website might, but that is not the point, anyhow. Mommy bloggers are your channel to communicate directly with your app’s target audience and a way to engage new, loyal users. 

There are mommy bloggers whose reach is comparable with sites like TechCrunch, etc, but working those blogs necessitate dealing with third party agencies. (We’ll talk about that a bit later.)

The Pitch

First of all you need to remember who you’re composing a pitch for: Mommy bloggers are most likely non-technical, so you need to present the features you believe make your app stand out in clear, quick, non-jargon-y language. Make sure you attach a set of high quality screenshots and a video demo 30-seconds (or shorter). Highlight the app’s price and category and make sure the banner ads you may have in your app are appropriate for kids and a family audience, like the ChirpGPS family tracking app. You certainly don’t want to end up in a situation when a mommy blogger will reject your app for review because it contains banner ads that kids shouldn’t be exposed to.

Many mommy bloggers like to host giveaways or sweepstakes as a way of engaging their readers. In terms of attracting people’s attention, these are very effective ways of spreading the (positive) word about a product. Do your homework and get a picture of how those contests are conducted on the mommy blogs you’re approaching so you have an idea how you want the blogger to implement it on behalf of your app.

How to Approach a Mommy Blogger

Typically, mommy bloggers will have their approved channels of communication listed in a “contact” page on their blog. In some cases, email might not be the fastest manner to get in touch with the blogger/editor, you may have better luck getting their attention on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or another social media platform.

Good, effective pitches to ANY media - not just mommy bloggers - are short, to the point and have a clearly defined call to action.

You want to make sure you tell the blogger who you are, why you’re relevant to their publication and the desired result you expect from the pitch… the quicker you can get to these points, the better! Keep in mind, you’re approaching a busy mom that has a ton of things to take care of apart from blogging, her schedule may not be as flexible and organized as a tech blog editor or full-time journalist. The more lead time you give yourself to obtain coverage, the better - it’s a mistake to think that because they are interested in your product, that a review will be published as quickly as it would be on a professional tech product review site.

Earlier we mentioned third party agencies as a middleman you most likely will get in touch when you’ll send your pitch to a top mommy blogger. There are several known agencies of this nature, like for instance SwayGroup, in each case the logic for you to follow in communication is that you’ll need to allocate additional time you’ll need for extra communication between you, top mommy blogger and agency that presents her interests.

Compensation is part and parcel of any product endorsement or product review. But, let’s be clear - you are not paying a mommy blogger to get a favorable review for your app. 

It does not work this way.

A good product review presents unbiased, honest opinion, with pros and cons. This model absolutely applies to mommy blogger product reviews. 

Google is a good way to find mommy bloggers, but there are also several good directories/hubs you can use to find relevant blogger targets for your outreach efforts: 

http://www.babble.com

http://www.cafemom.com 

http://www.topmommyblogs.com/pages/index.php

http://www.blogher.org

Part of a General Picture

As we pointed out in our recent webinar, a robust approach is the key to successful app marketing. Getting your app reviewed by mommy bloggers should be one part of your app marketing campaign. Make sure you’ve done your research and found mommy bloggers you want to work with in advance. Allocate a certain part of your marketing budget for this purpose and be ready to pay in advance, because that is the way most mommy bloggers go work.

Last but not least - product endorsements and reviews by mommy bloggers are a promotional technique from the PR toolbox and do not convert into direct sales. PR builds your brand’s reputation and reach, and is essential to your app’s success, but the impact cannot be quantified into sales numbers. It’s important to understand this so your expectations of the results match the reality of what is possible.