Marketing for children. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you are a kids brand looking to raise awareness of your brand. You’re right to be considering the ethics affecting marketing for children! Companies who connect with younger, vulnerable audiences could face backlash if they are careless with marketing campaigns.
However, you shouldn’t be scared about engaging and connecting with your target market; children are an important demographic. Your brand’s marketing strategy just needs to have a solid plan-of-action. You also need a crisis management strategy should things go wrong – which is where we come in!
Using our previous experience marketing for children, we can help you develop a strategy that complies with regulations and gets results.
Here are just some Do’s and Don’ts to consider when raising awareness of your brand:
DO learn to speak the language of children. Figuring out how to approach the younger generation can be difficult. Despite being young, children don’t want to be misled or talked down to! Unlike adults, the younger audience demand authenticity and accountability from their favourite brands, especially as they have grown up with search engines for friends!
Avoid using slang or pop culture references to make your brand look “cool”. These can often become a joke that you’re at the butt of.
DON’T forget about the regulations for advertising/marketing to children. If you haven’t already looked; the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) protect children and other vulnerable groups from inappropriate advertising. They set out several rules and regulations to avoid when targeting children such as:
● Adverts must not contain anything that is likely to result in the mental, physical or moral harm of a child.
● Do not depict children in hazardous situations or encouraging them to engage in dangerous behaviour.
● Your marketing should not undermine parental authority or place unfair pressure on children to buy products.
DO talk to kids about your business. While it may sound obvious, if you’re selling products or services to the children’s market, it’s best to do your research and talk to your target audience. You will find you learn a lot about how they spend their time and where they hang out offline and online, this way you can make decisions as to how you can market your brand to them.
This is particularly useful for assessing older kids interests, who are using social media channels such as: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
DO also communicate with parents- Transparency is key; and this is particularly important in this case! When talking about your brand, make sure parents have access to its safety features and the ability to find out how their kids will be using your product. This is particularly important when it comes to online children’s games such as, Animal Jam, who made their safety features more prominent on the landing page for the parents.
DON’T copy others. If you want to stand out from other kid’s brands, you need to make original and engaging content. Try uploading YouTube videos of your product, share downloadable content, find a way of involving educational materials on your social media; kids like to stay involved and this type of content allows that.
For more information on how your marketing for children can get a higher ROI; get in touch with our marketing and PR agency today. Just click here.