I love Marketing Guidelines for Children because it gives me a great way to talk about marketing to children. I love how it helps me to get my point across without being preachy. I also love that it uses a fun, entertaining game to help my audience understand and engage in my message.
A lot of children will be familiar with the concept of marketing without necessarily having to use it themselves. But as a parent, I can assure you that every parent at least once in their life has had to navigate a complex, non-intuitive, and sometimes painful process of being marketed to their child. As a result, the Marketing Guidelines for Children book helps put that into perspective.
The book is very easy to read and understand. It’s just a collection of a dozen or so guidelines that are all about what to do when you are brand new to marketing your child. The first guideline is “Get started with a clear message”. This is really the same as the “Get started with a clear message” in your online marketing plan—but with kids instead of customers.
There’s no secret message for kids in the Marketing Guidelines for Children book. There is one guideline that you can read for yourself.
Here’s the thing though. Some kids are just more comfortable with marketing to teens. Others are more comfortable with marketing to grown-ups. Some kids want their parents to do all these things. For me personally, I really don’t like to be a marketing expert for my kids. I don’t like to tell them what to do. I just want them to know the basics and the most important things.
There are some things that you should absolutely DO, but there are also things that you should NOT do. For example, you should NEVER use marketing materials that promote alcohol. You should only do that if you can prove that it is safe and necessary.
First of all, what you should NEVER do is promote alcohol. This is not a joke. I am one of the parents of a 16-year-old boy. We got him an alcohol-free soda once at my church and it was a disaster. The boys have now had a few drinks and so far the situation is just the same. It is just an awkward situation for everyone.
Alcohol is a problem for kids and it’s generally a bad idea. It’s not uncommon for them to be under the influence of alcohol and they are more susceptible to peer pressure and other bad influences.
The problem is not that alcohol is bad for children, the problem is that it is bad for adults too. So if you are going to sell alcohol to a child, you should make sure that it is not for that child to be in the driver’s seat. It is irresponsible to allow them to be the driver. It is also irresponsible to allow them to be the passenger.
In a perfect world, the parent would make the decision as to if the child should be driving or not. However, this is not the case. The parent must make the decision, and in most cases, that decision will revolve around alcohol. It is not a very common decision to make, but when it is made, it is usually by the parent, and often, it is not based on the child’s actual ability to drive safely.