'Mommy bloggers” is the term used to describe over four million women across America: stay-at-home moms between the ages of 20 and 50 who blog about their lives and their families. Many write about the products and services they use in their homes, and their reviews are attracting a vast following, all eager for their recommendations. “I was totally unaware of the mommy blogosphere until some bloggers contacted me when they wanted to review a product manufactured by one of my clients,” says Wendy Hirschhorn, eponymous owner of the website Wendy's Bloggers, launched just over a year ago. Her site is meant to serve as a bridge between the manufacturers, who want to promote their products, and the mommy bloggers who review them. Hirschhorn, who has over 25 years' experience as a public relations executive, maintains a database of hundreds of mommy bloggers. From these, she will recruit a number of women to review a product as part of her client's promotional campaign. One of her most recent clients is Dr. Eli Fischer, co-founder of Fischer Pharmaceuticals, who is in the very early stages of promoting the Dr. Fischer brand in the US. Knowing that mommy bloggers rarely, if ever, get to review Israeli products, Hirschhorn was keen to contact Dr. Fischer when he was in Boston. “He grasped the value of the mommy bloggers immediately,” she says. “He told me that there's no better way to promote products than having women recommend them to other women.” In view of the various anti-Israel campaigns making inroads in international markets, Hirschhorn was particularly excited for the opportunity to promote an Israel-based company. “Working with mommy bloggers is not only a cost-effective and efficient way to create name recognition and generate sales in the US, but also educates mommy bloggers and their followers about Israel,” she claims. According to Hirschhorn, Christianity plays an extremely important role in the lives of many of the mommy bloggers. “Their faith is the glue that holds their families together, and they weave that into everything they do. I knew that they were going to love getting a product from the Holy Land. And I thought, wow, this is such a terrific opportunity to introduce them to a product that's a No. 1 seller in Israel. Some of them included in their review that they were excited to have a product from Israel.” In each campaign, Hirschhorn typically recruits up to 35 mommy bloggers to write reviews. To guarantee that she matches the right bloggers with the right product, Hirschhorn requires them to fill out a questionnaire. “I don't want to sway opinions, but I need to make sure that I'm putting a product in the bloggers' hands that she would normally use. “For example, if my client manufactures energy bars, I want to find the mommy bloggers who eat energy bars, not necessarily those produced by my client, but energy bars in general. There are bloggers who say 'this is not a product that I would eat,' or that 'it contains ingredients I wouldn't give my family' – in which case, I wouldn't approach them for a review.” Every mommy blogger approaches her blog in her own individual way, and Hirschhorn regards each as the editor of her own magazine. “Before working with a mommy blogger, I make a point of reviewing her website to ensure that it meets my professional standards. I assess her ability to write authoritative reviews, to attract a minimum of 5,000 unique monthly visitors to her blogs, and to use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and other social media to attract readers to her blog and to the websites of the brands they represent.” When Hirschhorn sends a product for review, she follows up “to check that they received it together with all the information they need about it. They can then use all the information I give them, some of the information or none of the information. Their only obligation is to adhere to the US Federal Trade Commission regulations, whereby they post a disclaimer stating that although they received the product from the manufacturer, any opinion they express about the product is their own.” When selecting the team of mommy bloggers to review the Dr. Fischer baby products, Hirschhorn looked for bloggers with infants between the ages of one week and 22 months, and especially those with babies with sensitive skin. “I gathered as much information about them as possible, without revealing what the product was. I asked questions such as does your baby have dry skin? What products do you use? Are you open to using a new product? If they say “my baby has eczema and I'm not going to change his skin regimen,” then there was no point asking them to review the product. But those that said “my baby has eczema and I would do anything, absolutely anything to treat this condition,” then I knew I had a blogger who would readily embrace the product. These women authentically loved the Dr. Fischer products, says Hirschhorn, and it comes through in their reviews, They took pictures of their babies using the products, and wrote about how effective they were. “Generally speaking,” she says, “most mommy bloggers have no knowledge of Israel's contributions to the health and security of people around the world, and their familiarity with Israeli food is limited to humus.' “I know they would love to review more products from Israel,” concludes Hirschhorn. Wendy's Bloggers: www.wendysbloggers.com/ Mommy Blogger site: http://yaybabyblog.com/2013/12/12/dr-fischer-baby-products-review-and-giveaway-75-value/
