Single Parents Worth Their Weight in Gold

Selling to Kids, April 14, 1999

One of the largest and potentially most important market segments remains largely undiscovered territory for marketers - single parents.

In our search for corporations who have been targeting and marketing effectively to single parents, we have come up empty-handed. In fact, even after contacting expert organizations on single parenting such as Parents Without Partners and the Children's Rights Council, we found that they have never been approached by corporations for partnership or sponsorship opportunities when in fact they would be open to such alliances.

The organizations contacted also said they have never seen any such programs. Occasionally, a commercial will feature a single parent. Many television shows, of course, revolve around singleparent households. But a carefully considered, ongoing strategic outreach effort is hard to find.

Single Parent Spending

The single parent market offers huge potential. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half of all American families are headed by single parents. And this untapped market continues to grow. Every year, 1million divorces affect households with children. That translates potentially to 2 million single parent consumers of one kind or another entering the marketplace every 12 months. According to Simmons data, 88 percent of single parent consumers are single mothers.

American Demographics reports that affluent single parents spend just as much on their children as affluent married couples. In fact, while the proportion of income devoted to children generally falls as income rises, this is not the case for single parents. Higher income single parents, whose incomes average $47,900, spend 22 percent of their earnings on their children compared to the 17 percent of middle income couples whose average incomes are $42,600, and the 13 percent of affluent couples whose average incomes are $79,400.

Marketers cannot afford to ignore an audience that spends like this! Increased outreach to single parents will only help to increase the dollars they are spending - providing marketers with even more bang for the buck.

Reach The Audience

To reach this audience, go where single parents go. Think about your product/service and determine what benefit it has for a single parent. Following are some ideas about how to reach single parents:

* Through what they watch: As all adults, Simmons data indicates that the majority of single parents (81 percent) watch prime time programs, with 76 percent of single fathers watching ABC and 61 percent of single mothers watching FOX. Single moms are more likely than average to watch television during the day (34%) and late at night (15%). Single moms are also more likely than the average woman to watch the following syndicated programs: situation comedies (50%), talk/interview (42 percent), action adventures (30%), general drama (28%), and science fiction (18%).

* Through what they read: Magazines that best reach single mothers are Better Homes and Gardens (23%), Ebony (23%), Jet (19%), Good Housekeeping (18%), Parents Magazine (18%) and Essence (17%). Magazines that best reach single fathers are TIME (16%), Newsweek (11%) and U.S. News and World Report (9%);

* Recognize unique qualities of their lives: Strategically target single parents by developing public relations/advertising/marketing programs that demonstrate your understanding of the unique nature of their lives (i.e. include visuals of a single dad and his daughter/son; offer single parent discounts and visitation day specials);

* Create strategic alliances with divorced/single parent organizations; and

* Respect them, acknowledge their situation and most of all, offer convenience and value: Acknowledge that you know what their dayto-day lives are like (how busy they are) by providing them with products/services that fit their lifestyle.

Avoid these channels when targeting single parents:

* The Internet: While there are hundreds of single parent/divorce Web sites, only 15 percent of single parents subscribe to an interactive computer service and few single mothers (9%) and single fathers (12%) say they plan to subscribe in the next year.

* Cable Television: While 60 percent of single parents say they subscribe to cable TV only half (56%) have watched at least one cable program in the last seven days.

* Newspapers: Single parents are less likely than average to read newspapers, with only 55 percent reading Sunday newspapers and 38 percent reading daily newspapers.

We can - and should - ponder the effects of divorce and single parenthood on our society. We cannot ignore the millions of single parents who struggle every day to build a good life for themselves and their children. As marketers, we can play a vital role and the potential rewards are rich.

Barbara J. Parsky is executive vice president and general manager, Porter Novelli Los Angeles. She was a 1990 winner of a Clio. She can be reached at 310/444-7000.