Being a Mummy has it's plus sides

Apart from the obvious and being blessed with a beautiful son who is an absolute pleasure, being a Mummy has some other positives when it comes to selling my wares.

My Tom and his little friend Felix who we met on the Essex Mums Forum

Since I fell pregnant nearly 4 years ago now I have been a member of quite a few parenting forums. They are a great place to meet fellow mums, discuss the gruelling tasks of weaning, potty training and later schooling. But since I have been using them I've noticed a real increase in Mums who run small businesses not only using them to form friendships but to promote their products.

Some like myself do it in a small way, simply preferring to take small orders from a few customers yet others go about things in a big way, paying to advertise on sites that have now cashed into the Work at Home Mum (WAHM) and opened shopping guides and service directories.
I have been very fortunate to make some fantastic friends from these forums, but have also made some regular customers and as well as selling, I've found posting on forums a great way to bounce new ideas of fellow Mummy's.

For those of you in Essex, pop along to Essex Mums and log into the forum, introduce yourself and then take a look around the sponsors thread. For a minimum fee you can promote your wares as much as you like. If you want to go for it big style speak to Louise about promoting your product in the shopping guide or even advertising on the site itself.

If your not in Essex I can highly recommend Netmums. Netmums is a national site with a very active forum. The Noticeboard is a great place to pop up information on product launches and newly listed items. Alternatively your can pay to advertise on the site as well.

There are loads of other sites you can visit on the net, lots of parenting forums and even some that are more specific if your product suits, such as cloth nappy forums & pram forums. Spend some time looking at what area your product best suits and then pick one or two forums and start posting.

The only bit of advice I would give is if you cant afford the paid advertising route, do not spam. I chatted on both forums for a long time before I started to promote my products and built a relationship with the other Mums first. I gained their respect and even now as a paid sponsor I try not to fill the board up with my products, despite how lovely I think they are!

Happy Mummy networking.