Marketing to Bloggers of Color: The Hot Topic for 2009?

As women bloggers of color, we know first-hand the importance of brands marketing to our demographic and we also see the disparity between the number and types of invitations we get to company-sponsored blogging retreats. Of course, some companies, like Disney, do "get it" and have been leading the pack in terms of recognizing that their brand cannot afford to exclude (intentionally or unintentionally) bloggers or color. That includes women bloggers of color, and an even more important subset of that when it comes to buying power is mom bloggers of color. We applaud those companies and hope that others are paying attention and plan to follow suit.

Some companies, however, are still missing the boat when it comes to including diversity in their marketing campaigns. Most recently, Hallmark has been criticized as not including any women of color in their recent brand retreat. Not only are brands to blame, but also the mom blogging community as a whole has failed to recognize moms of color are powerful consumers worthy of having their voices heard. More than one bloggy friend (white and non-white) has told me just how "lily white" Blissdom '09 was and how it was mid-boggling in this day and age.

I, for one, am glad to see that this issue is gaining national attention and is not lost on other mommy bloggers, including white ones. Popular mom blogger and PR consultant, Kim Moldofsky, just wrote a thought-provoking post on inviting diversity to the mommy blogger marketing discussions, and she has put out a call for all mom bloggers to insist that brands invite a diverse crowd to their events. A bold move and a thoughtful one.

Looks like this is going to be a recurring topic in 2009. We hope that Blogalicious 2009 will play an important role in shaping the discussion!