In 2014, there were about 123.2 million households in the United States. If your association needs to reach the consumer, it requires a disciplined and strategic approach. In recent years, JPMA has undertaken product category educational campaigns related to baby monitor cords, crib safety and baby bottles, each with their own unique URL. Not only was it costly to develop these websites, but the association had to start from scratch each time, driving traffic to a new site, and each time, JPMA missed the opportunity to capitalize on the consumer traffic for future interaction after the campaign’s heavy promotion period ended. JPMA recognized the need for a plan to centralize the campaigns under one comprehensive website, which could prominently feature campaign content when individual hot topic issues arose. As a result, 2014 welcomed the birth of the Baby Safety Zone, JPMA’s comprehensive consumer platform.
JPMA’s 2015 goals for this campaign focused on driving consumer awareness. A task group was formed of industry volunteers who specialize in marketing to consumers for their own company. They provided engaged and disciplined leadership, and staff executed on the task group’s strategy with a number of tactics.
- Partnership with Destination Maternity, a maternity retailer, to promote the Great Baby Gear Giveaway to consumers. The partnership yielded 10,185 unique contest entries and increased our consumer contact list for ongoing e-mail communication.
- Distribution of a series of consumer infographics, featuring safety tips for strollers, bath, and car seats. These infographics were housed on the Baby Safety Zone blog, distributed via social media and e-mail, and were combined with Pin It to Win It contests, which led to high engagement on our blog and Pinterest account.
- Development of a consumer content library for JPMA members to access safety materials for their content marketing needs.
- Introduction of an industry guest blogger program on Baby Safety Zone which features a member guest blogger each month, and promotion of their blog on social media and e-mail. These are often combined with product giveaways.
- Release of a Baby Safety Zone awareness video, which closed out JPMA’s annual awareness month (Baby Safety Month), and resulted in approximately 24,000 unique views on Facebook.
- Introduction of a Baby Safety Zone Ambassador Program to develop a group of supporters that JPMA can push consumer content to for distribution through their channels.
- Partnership with Gugu Guru, a customized online registry solution. In exchange for a JPMA membership and promotional opportunities to manufacturers, Gugu Guru features and links to Baby Safety Zone content through their website and social channels.
“Baby Safety Zone website sessions and users have more than doubled in 2015 as it grows into an ongoing resource for parents and product safety education,” said Lauren Pfeiffer, JPMA’s director of marketing. “At the conclusion of the Baby Safety Zone's inaugural year [2014], sessions numbered 23,416, while users totaled 19,596. At the end of 2015 those numbers have increased to 64,548 and 52,647 respectively. This represents a 175 percent increase in sessions and a 168 percent increase in users.”
