Parenting and Marketing: A Grand Combination
Do moms make better marketers? I've been told by a reader (ok, this could be my ONLY reader for all I know) that it's cool I'm a marketer and a mom.
I do believe that parenthood has made me better at marketing. Here's why:
- I can relate - Moms world-wide have no time to be "all that they can be." While Martha and Rachel and all the kitchen divas tell us we can whip something up and bring down the hosue with some special recipe, I barely have time to open a box of Cheerios. That's real life I'm talking about. I can relate to most families' dilemmas.
- I have an innate BS meter - I can immediately tell when homework hasn't been done and teeth haven't been brushed. I can smell falsehood just as I can smell a backpack full of old gym clothes. I know when the message just ain't right.
- I understand grunts - My 14-year-old has foresaken all language skills for grunting. That's cool. I have become sensitive to the tonality of the grunts -- that's how I understand the mindsets of teens, pre-teens and certain folks who never progressed beyond this age.
- I have hopes - No matter how much I make fun of my kids, I still think that they are destined to be presidents, rock stars, brain surgeons and poet laureates (yes, they can be all
four if they so choose). That's what being a parent and a marketer is about. It's about grand possibilities.
