This week was an election week. I’d like to say I brought my daughter along with me to the polls to teach her about civic duty. But in reality, I did it because I didn’t want to drive all the way to daycare to drop her off and then back to the polling place a few blocks from our house.
Of course, this meant straying from our usual routine, which inevitably resulted in an interrogation from my three-year-old, Nora. When I told her we were going to vote, I was met with a confused look and a “what does that mean?” Sigh. There was no escaping this teachable moment.
How does one teach democracy to a preschooler whose whole life is ruled by a collection of dictators?
I explained to her that this is the time all the adults in the land get to decide who they want to make the rules for the kingdom. One can never go wrong with a Sofia the First reference, right? I actually got the idea from Nora, who always tells me she “loves me the most in the kingdom.”
Either this resonated with her or she just lost interest in the subject when she learned about the prospect of a sticker as a reward for her patience. It’s amazing how powerful those “I Voted” stickers are, for adults and children alike.
After a 20-minute wait in line, including a solid five minutes of her holding my finger to twirl like a ballerina, we were out of there—proudly displaying our stickers.
As my daughter gets older I’m realizing the really difficult part of parenting is just beginning. Just this week, along with the electoral process, I’ve attempted to explain everything from God to what causes the smell of engine exhaust—topics I’m not exactly well-versed in these days.
As a marketer, I’ve experienced similar challenges translating technical concepts to something more digestible for the end-user. Throughout my career I’ve worked for clients in a variety of industries, from agrochemical companies to concrete pump manufacturers and everything in between. Explaining the science behind a new termite treatment or the engineering behind a multi-million-dollar machine takes some ingenuity, especially when you yourself aren’t intimately involved with the development of the products.
Like my strategy of explaining voting through a Sofia the First reference, the key is to consider your audience and translate the information in a way that makes sense to them. If my daughter were a few years older I would have likely tried to explain the process in a different way. Similarly, in marketing, if I was trying to convey a complicated concept to two different audiences with different levels of familiarity with a topic, I would modify my word choices, use of jargon, etc.
Clear communication that resonates with your audience is one of the most important aspects of marketing. In my opinion, it’s also one of the most important aspects of parenting.
Marketing Like a Mother 