So it's 5:37 p.m. and you're stuck in line at Safeway behind other folks with empty cupboards and stomachs. Your toddler is squirming in the cart, tired of fingering all the produce and begging for the popsicles that were positioned at eye level back in aisle seven.

Your window of opportunity for a swift escape is narrowing. It is now more aptly described as a porthole.

What's a mom to do?

Thanks to a couple of ingenious Dads in California, you simply hand your child your iPhone or iPod touch and let the storyhour begin.

Labels: Book Software, iPhone apps, iStoryTime

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below, even if -- no, especially if -- you don't agree with what I've written.

A recent article in Advertising Age magazine entitled Inside the Mommy Blogger Business is making the rounds on the Internet. No fewer than three colleagues sent it to me independently, leading me to believe I should probably write about it.

But what can I say about this topic that is:

a). news to you and

b). defendable?

After all, the stats quoted in the article aren't really news. 8 million women publish blogs, at least 3.2 million of them who are moms. Since mothers account for $2.1 trillion in spending each year -- and the fact thay they put enormous confidence in the opinions of other moms -- blogs can be a great boost for companies that fall in favor with top bloggers.

What should these mind-blowing stats and game-changing trends mean to you? Simply put: you've got to have at least one toe in the pool. You needn't cannon ball in, but drop your towel and get ready to take a dip.

In situations like this, it sometimes pays to switch into "McDonald's" marketing brain (that is, to build your store next to a McDonald's, which has spent millions researching location and profitability). So what are the big players in the space doing? According to Ad Age, companies like Walmart and BabyCenter are incorporating mom blogger features into their sites to bring useful content to their customers and to stay close to the source of ideas, trends, and the general pulse of moms. I think these "affinity" features are a smart way to acknowledge bloggers as having a voice worth hearing and to develop a positive two-way dialogue with the blog followers.

A more immediate and direct way to connect with mom bloggers is through product sampling. I just received an email invitation to sponsor a MomSelect "Swag Suite" at the annual BlogHer Conference in July. $750 buys you the opportunity to place 100 products in front of influential moms and their keyboards. You don't know what (if anything) they might write about your product, but you are on their radar. This arrangement intrigues me because it sidesteps the conflict-of-interest concern that paid bloggers encounter. Sure, it's free stuff, but the blogger has no pressure to write anything -- let alone anything favorable -- about the products.

And if you're really new to the idea of mom bloggers, spend a little time getting up to speed. Make just one visit to the newly launched site Moms Who Blog and you'll see a group of women -- all with a blogging shingle in cyberspace -- no two of them exactly alike. Which ones might have a flair and a following that align with your brand?

Lastly, whatever your current Mom Blogger I.Q., consider picking up a copy of the new book Mom 3.0: Marketing WITH Today's Moms by Leveraging New Media & Technology. This latest title comes from Maria T. Bailey, the powerhouse behind 2005's popular book Trillion-Dollar Moms.

No time to read? Stay tuned to Maternal Journal. I'm reading Mom 3.0 now and will write a synopsis in the coming weeks.

Labels: Advertising Age, BabyCenter, Mom Bloggers, Walmart

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below, even if -- no, especially if -- you don't agree with what I've written.

The other day, a friend told me about a sign she'd seen posted in a lampshade store. It read: "Don't Bring Your Shade -- Bring Your Lamp!"

How frustrating for the salespeople to see customer after customer coming through the door, toting their dusty, broken, misshapen, faded lampshades -- all in search of something better. Yet without the lamp, a customer can't "try on" the hundreds of new lampshades lined up on the shelves, each auditioning to be "the one."

So to all of you chuckling out there, let me ask you this: how many of you send your "old lampshades" to your ad agency?

Anyone, anyone?

I can't count how many times Maternal Instinct receives requests like this:

"Here's last year's brochure. It's okay. We want to update it and maybe add a paragraph about our new service."

This is an old lampshade.

So is this:

"Here's some copy we wrote for our website. Can you just spend an hour and make it better?"

So is this:

"Here's our most recent Web promotion that isn't getting great response. Can you make it zippier?"

All of these requests are symptoms of O.L. (Old Lampshade) Syndrome.

The cure is simple.

Give your ad agency your lamp. Allow them full access to your products, services, testimonials, complaints, team members. Let them steep in your brand. Then allow them the freedom to create the light and heat you pay them for. The very best work comes when clients bring an agency a challenge and say "solve this."

Those are my favorite two words in the English language.

Labels: Creative Freedom, Good Clients, Marketing Wisdom

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below, even if -- no, especially if -- you don't agree with what I've written.