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How To Successfully Market Kids’ Products Online

Polygon 18

Advertise To The Purchaser

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Kid’s products are unique because it is rarely the end-user making the purchase. Kids aren’t buying their own toys – that’s the grownup’s job.  When marketing children’s products online, the key is to appeal to the purchaser. This purchaser is usually a parent or grandparent. 

Beyond the fact that kids don’t have their own money, there are strict regulations on collecting and using children’s data and websites ban users under the age of 13. This makes targeting kids with advertisements tricky. Marketing to the purchaser bypasses these problems and ensures a better return on ad spend. 

Inspire Parents

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Childhood is a time of curiosity, imagination, and unlimited possibilities. Parents thrive off of this energy and nurture it. Having a kid around brings rise to deep nostalgia and memories of one’s childhood. Appealing to nostalgia and parental aspirations are winning strategies for marketing your children’s product online.

Appeal to Nostalgia – The current trend of ’80s and ’90s throwback fashion, interior design, and branding speak to the fact that nostalgia has a significant impact on purchase decisions. If your company carries brands or unique products that your purchaser is familiar with from their own childhood, emphasize them. At Right Left Agency, we lean heavily on this for our client FAO Schwarz. They are the nation’s oldest and most well-known toy company, and they carry many toys that parents played with as a child. 

Gifting something that is treasured for years to come, or bonding through playing with a cool toy are ways adults get to recreate their treasured memories in their children’s lives. Phrases that spark nostalgia in your marketing include “create treasured memories together” or “Spark the childlike wonder”. Even a retro color palette can be enough to induce warm and fuzzy memories in consumers and attract their attention.

Appeal to Imagination and Aspiration – Part of being a kid is facing and overcoming new challenges. Give adults the power to help their kid grow by emphasizing mental and creative development. The exploding popularity of STEM products for kids speaks to the fact that parents want purposeful play that sparks imagination and problem-solving. Phrases that like “Ignite their imagination” or “Inspire your little mad scientist” tap into an adult’s desire to nurture their child’s talents.
Remember to keep it fun! – Children’s products are about having fun! Your purchaser should visualize the fun and excitement of gifting a fun new toy to the child in their life. Bright colors, emojis, and upbeat language are a must. Inspire them with the idea of how happy their child will be using the product. Videos of happy kids using the product are a great way to do this.

Stand out from the crowd!

Children’s toys are a saturated market, so what can a brand do to stand out from the crowd? Our agency has found that variety, brand leverage, and exclusivity successfully drive ad performance. 

Variety – Tastes vary from kid to kid, so cast a wide net by featuring different types of toys that can appeal to many interests in your advertisements. Carousel ads, videos, and slideshows that offer variety are more likely to catch the purchaser’s eye. Experiment with mixing different product categories and toys suitable for a variety of ages in advertisements. 

Brand leverage – Emphasize your brand’s value propositions. When parents are purchasing for their children, they pay even more attention to brand values. Values like safety, sustainability, education, and charity should be communicated.

Exclusivity –  In a saturated market like children’s toys, exclusivity promises something new and unique. If your brand is vertically integrated, meaning you produce the toys you sell, exclusivity is built into your business model. More prominent brands can even leverage their brand recognition to have exclusive toy lines produced, like FAO Schwarz’s signature Barbie line. Find ways to offer something no other brand can offer and emphasize this in your marketing.

Beat the odds with diligent testing and targeting

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Children’s products are a competitive market. With so much variety and so many different consumer tastes, it is rewarding to invest time in finding the strategy that works best for your company. By testing many variants of copy and ad creatives, the data can then tell you what the market wants. The data may surprise you. 

While working with FAO Schwarz, ads for plushies were not predicted to do well because they weren’t considered “exciting” enough compared to more innovative, new toys. Regardless, we did our due diligence. After testing, we realized that plushies are one of our best performers!

Constantly improving targeting is also key to standing out from the crowd in a saturated market. Always be investigating new groups who may respond a little better to your brand. While your strategy may be successful as it is, always be testing different groups so you can stay ahead of the competition.

Our expertise comes from experience.

Right Left Agency’s work for FAO Schwarz has led to a fifteen fold increase in return on ad spend online. Our expertise comes from experience. If you’re interested in executing any of the ideas we highlighted above, let us know and we would be happy to talk about your digital marketing strategy.