Nominations Open! Are you a S.T.A.R.?

Are you {or someone you know} a S.T.A.R. {successful, tenacious, accomplished, remarkable} Mom Entrepreneur? If so, Market Mommy wants to honor you for your continued dedication to your business and your family!

Are you a leader? Are you balancing your business and family in a creative way? We want to hear what sets you apart from the thousands of other mom entrepreneurs! Why are you determined to succeed? Have you invented a product that is helping others? What have you done to show the world that you’re confident, remarkable and steadfast? Tell us, and you’ll be entered to win an absolutely awesome prize package.

We know it’s far from easy to balance a family and grow a business at the same time. And, many of you put in hour after hour and jump hurdle after hurdle in the pursuit of success. That’s why we’ve created the first S.T.A.R. Mom Entrepreneur Award. We feel you should be recognized for all the sacrifices you make in the name of entrepreneurship.

Not only will this award garner you the respect you deserve, it also comes with an unprecedented prize package! We’ll be giving away more than $3500 in prizes. Visit our Sponsor Page for a full list of prizes and their sponsors.  Once you’re nominated, you’ll be listed in our S.T.A.R. Mom Entrepreneur Award photo album on Facebook. There, your supporters can endorse you with their ‘likes’ and comments!

Our fabulous panel of judges will review nominations and endorsements and chose the mom who best exemplifies success and tenacity. We want to honor a mom who is accomplished, has overcome adversity to make it and aims to balance her business and family life seamlessly. An all-around remarkable mom!

Is that you? It’s easy to nominate. Visit our Nominations Page to fill out the short form, and then e-mail one image {your logo, headshot, product image or another photograph that represents your business} to star{at}marketmommy{dot}com. Once we receive your nomination form and image, we will post your image in our Facebook album and you will officially be registered. Nominations are being accepted through February 29, 2012. For a complete list of Official Rules, click here.

Award Timeline

Nominations Open: January 16, 2012

Nominations Close: February 29, 2012

Endorsements Accepted on Facebook until: March 16, 2012

Winner Announced: On or around March 30, 2012

New Partnership:: Indy’s Child and Cincinnati Parent

I am so excited to tell you about a new partnership that Market Mommy has established with Indy’s Child and Cincinnati Parent magazines! There are several benefits that you can take advantage of.

First, and most exciting, is free and reduced cost advertising. When you go through Market Mommy to place advertising on their site, you get your first month free and a 10% discount thereafter. A 160x160 tombstone ad on their new ‘mompreneur’ page is just $45/month with the discount!

There are larger sized ads available as well. If you are interested in advertising there in preparation for the holiday rush, e-mail me today. Space is limited!

Along with this partnership, the sites have launched their newly created ‘mompreneur’ section. Market Mommy is fortunate enough to be helping with content via our blog’s feed.

This is another win for you! Whenever you get coverage on our blog, you are also getting coverage on their sites. Your article can now be seen by thousands more eyes with no additional cost or effort from you.

Do you have a product that you are trying to get into the hands of reviewers?  You can easily submit your own products for review on their sites by clicking here or here.

Market Mommy is committed to forming partnerships and relationships that will benefit you and your small, mom-owned businesses. Discounted advertising on high-traffic sites is just one way we are doing that. If you’d like to market your business at a higher level, contact me today!

What? It's Free?

Let's be realistic, there aren't a lot of things in this world that are free. And, there sure aren't a lot of valuable things that are. However, Market Mommy does offer a few things that are free and I encourage you to take advantage of them! All of these things can improve your marketing efforts for zero cost!

The Blog:: You’re here. This blog is updated 3-5 times per week {at least} and includes a lot of valuable information. Not only do we feature various marketing and business tips, but we also profile those mom entrepreneurs that have been successful so we can all learn from them. We also feature the random product review or giveaway. Please sign up for our feed so you don’t miss a thing!

E-Newsletter:: Our newsletter goes out once a month and includes a variety of things. We highlight different partners, include marketing tips, give our readers discounts and much more. Also, if you’re on our list you get privileged information about special promotions. Sign up today!

Directory:: Market Mommy offers a business directory where you can list your mom-owned business in one of several categories. Since we have a Google page rank of 3, this is a great way to help build SEO for your site.

Mommy Monday:: Want to be featured on our blog? Every Monday we feature a different mom entrepreneur and her story. It’s free and can include a photo. You simply have to answer a few questions. If you’d like to take advantage of this service, send me an e-mail.

Forum:: Our newly developed forum is completely free. It serves as a place to network, ask questions and learn from others. But, you can also insert a little self promotion by introducing your business or promoting your specials.

Partnerships:: I’m willing to scratch your back if you scratch mine. I’ll put your button on our site, put you in my newsletter or post about you on Facebook, all for free. The only catch is that you return the favor reasonably. See our partnership page for more details!

And of course, you can follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for free. We love our fans and often promote special pricing and offers to Facebook or Twitter only.

Market Mommy offers a variety of paid services too. But, they are all very reasonably priced! Check out our advertising opportunities and marketing services for more information!

Happy Thursday!

Market Your MoMent with Double Exposure

Market Mommy is SO excited! We've partnered with Abbey at Living My MoMent to bring you an awesome holiday advertising special! This is a great package available just in time for the holidays! The low-cost is just $50 and you get all of this:

• 1 review and giveaway blog post on Living My Moment {value: $10}
• 1 125x125 button and mention in Living My Moment Nov. & Dec. Newsletter {value: $25}
• 1 125x125 button ad on Market Mommy:: The Blog {value: $35}
• 1 Text link ad in the Market Mommy November Newsletter {value: $10}

This ad package will run Nov. 15 - Dec. 24! Great exposure for the holidays!! Reserve your spot today!

Visit our Current Opportunities & Specials page!

Why Jenny Finke {Handle Your Own PR} Advertised on HARO

Jenny Finke, HandleYourOwnPR.comHave you thought about advertising on HARO? Help a Reporter Out offers somewhat expensive ad space. However, the daily e-mails reach more than 134,000 inboxes. That is a lot of reach. Depending on your product, or service, this can be a lucrative audience for you.

Jenny Finke of Red Jeweled Media and Handle Your Own PR recently took the leap and placed an ad on HARO. Her reasoning was solid. I wanted to ask her about her thought process and see how it panned out. Her experience teaches many valuable lessons, not just about advertising on HARO, but advertising to grow your business in general.

Market Mommy:: Why did you want to advertise on HARO?

Jenny:: HARO offers the opportunity to truly get in front of the people I'm trying to reach. Thousands of independent PR people and bootstrapping entrepreneurs are reading HARO every day.

Market Mommy:: What made you decide to take the leap and do it, despite the cost?

Jenny:: I didn't see it as a cost. It was an investment to build my brand and grow awareness for HandleYourOwnPR.com. So many start-ups fear investing in themselves and their businesses. Fear doesn't grow a company. It takes guts, courage and commitment to grow a company and a brand, especially a start-up. I'll need to invest a lot more in my business if I want it to succeed.

Market Mommy:: Would you say HARO hits your target market, why?

Jenny:: Absolutely!  It got me in front of independent PR people and bootstrapping entrepreneurs - the two types of audiences who could most benefit from the PR products and services offered by HandleYourOwnPR.com. It can take hours and hours of your time to build a media list - we do it for you in a few seconds! Essentially, HandleYourOwnPR.com helps entrepreneurs solve a time-consuming age-old problem in a matter of minutes!

Market Mommy:: What results did you see from the ad?

Jenny:: I had 1,400 visitors to my site in one day - and then many visitors in the following days. I got quite a few new people who registered for my site. When you register for HandleYourOwnPR.com, you get a free eBook, "How to Make the Most of Your Media Lists."  These new registrants are people I can communicate with for a long time through my newsletter (my newsletter rocks, btw, I offer all sorts of free PR tips and gets lots of great feedback on it!).  I also got quite a few sales in the days following my HARO ad - just about enough to cover my investment - and then whatever awareness it brought me for future customers will be pure bonus.

Market Mommy:: Why would you {or not} recommend advertising on HARO to other mom entrepreneurs?

Jenny:: It truly depends on your business and if this is the right readership/audience for you. Remember, there are no quick fixes and I've heard of very few overnight successes. Advertising and PR are not one-off activities. It takes commitment and courage. No matter how great your product or service is, if no one knows about it, it's nothing. Have a plan in place and be willing to invest in things that make sense for your business. I'm now figuring out a way to advertise in HARO more regularly now that I got my feet wet and like the results it accomplished for my business.