Creating a Family-Friendly Marketing Strategy: Tips and Tricks

Marketing to families is a delicate and challenging task, as parents are often busy, skeptical, and have high standards for the products and services they buy for their families. To be successful with this audience, brands need to craft a family-friendly marketing strategy that appeals to parents while also resonating with children. In this article, we’ll explore some tips and tricks for creating a family-friendly marketing strategy.

• Prioritize Segmentation:  It is important to understand key sub segments within the family unit that will be crucial for crafting a successful family-friendly marketing strategy. Consider factors such as the balance for prioritizing mom, dad and the kids.  Understanding their individual interests as well as how they communicate with each other is a critical starting point.  It is also important to recognize the evolving family dynamic that includes extended family members taking more of a caregiving role including aunts, uncles, and grandparents. A family-friendly marketing strategy historically could be addressed by focusing on marketing to moms.  Today there is a wider range of caregivers, as well as dads taking a more active role, which adds more complexity for crafting the right communication strategy to reach families.
• Create Emotional Connections: Parents often make decisions based on emotional factors, such as feelings of nostalgia, love, joy and security. To appeal to parents create emotional connections by evoking feelings of childhood memories or family values while celebrating moments of being together.

• Embed into Shared Family Experiences: The most powerful way for brands to connect with families is by being part of their (IRL) real-life experiences.  In-person and real-time family entertainment options, like zoos, aquariums, and children’s museums, offer a rare opportunity for brands to connect with families on a deeper level. By embedding your brand into these cherished moments parents and kids share together you not only create lasting memories but also foster genuine long-term connections that digital interactions struggle to achieve.  
• Involve Children in the Process: Children are often key influencers in the purchasing decisions of their families. To appeal to both parents and children, consider involving kids in your marketing process by conducting focus groups.
• Focus on the Benefits: Parents are always looking for ways to make their lives easier and improve the well-being of their family. To appeal to parents, messaging should focus on the brand benefits prioritizing convenience, safety, and quality.
• Highlight Child-Friendly Features: Parents are always concerned about the safety and well-being of their children. To appeal to parents, highlight the child-friendly features of your brand, such as durability, sustainability, and educational value.

Crafting a family-friendly marketing strategy requires careful consideration and a deep understanding of the needs and desires of both parents and children. By focusing on family segmentation, creating emotional connections, embedding into shared IRL family experiences,  involving children in the marketing process, and highlighting the benefits and child-friendly features,  brands can successfully reach and influence families in a more effective way that will drive long-term measurable brand growth.