The Mother Lode

By Wendy Hirschhorn When it comes to winning over the hearts, minds and appetites of millions of food shoppers, mom bloggers carry much influence. Kings Food Markets understands the importance of connecting with mom bloggers to get its message to the communities in which its customers live and shop. “Kings has held different blogger events focused on new store offerings, such as wine and spirits, as well as seasonal catering offerings, like its ‘Holidays on the Hudson’ event,” says Judy Spires, president and CEO, Kings Food Markets. “We’re putting together a blogger network and look forward to enhancing our relationships with mom bloggers through the activities we have planned this year.” Barb Webb, mom blogger of Rural Mom, contacted Aldi and proposed an idea to create a quick, easy and healthy recipe using ingredients found in the store. Impressed by Webb, who has 145,000 online followers, Aldi asked her to create two recipes. Today, Webb is about to post her fourth Aldi-inspired recipe. In 2013, LaTonya Lewis, mom blogger of Detroit Mom & Her Views, was excited to learn that Whole Foods Markets was going to open in Detroit. “During construction they held monthly informational meetings,” says Lewis, who got to know the Whole Foods public relations and marketing team. So when it came time for the grand opening, they asked Lewis to help promote the store to her 75,000 followers. When Bottom Dollar Food was seeking bloggers in Pittsburgh, they contacted Angie Beechan, mom blogger of Luv Saving Money. “I live two hours from the closest store but agreed to work with them,” says Beechan, who has more than 38,000 followers. For an Easter-inspired post, Beechan shopped the store, took photos and wrote about deals on hams, eggs to “dye” for, as well as other popular holiday treats. Bonnie Gowen, mom blogger of WEMAKE7, was invited to shop four times at Shaw’s Markets using its ‘MyMixx, My Savings’ app and write about her expeditions. “I took plenty of in-store pictures and blogged about the money I saved,” says Gowen, who has 25,000 followers. “Since every mom blogger on the planet goes food shopping, why wouldn’t supermarkets want to work with us?” Dallas/Ft. Worth-area food chain Market Street invited Tammy Litke, mom blogger of Three Different Directions, to join its ambassador campaign. Each month Litke, who has more than 17,000 followers, received a variety of blog topics to choose from—then shopped the store and created a post. The campaign was meant to last six months, but United Family, the chains parent company, was so pleased, it is continuing the campaign throughout 2015. “Working with Market Street allows me to promote a business in my community and to post organic content that is useful to readers everywhere. By leveraging key words for SEO and producing evergreen content like recipes and shopping tips, Mom Bloggers can raise your visibility,” says Litke. Building Relationships Yuri Iskhakov, CEO of Nano Web Group, an e-commerce agency, says that there are many ways supermarket chains can ramp up their relationships with mom bloggers to help unlock revenue. “Simple resolutions like providing a landing page for mom blogger promotions can help track click-throughs and allow retailers to incentivize mom bloggers to bring more shoppers into their stores.” There are thousands of mom bloggers waiting in the wings and Webb would like to see more supermarkets reach out to them. “Check out the blogs you wish to work with to make sure the blog aligns with your target audience,” she says. “Each blogger should know her audience and will likely have great ideas that resonate with her readers. Collaborative efforts between the supermarket and mom blogger always produce the best results.”GHQ Wendy Hirschhorn is CEO of Wendy’s Bloggers, a bridge for brands to create valuable relationships with mommy bloggers and their followers. She can be reached at [email protected].