Gosh Guys, It's the Little Things...Part 2
At The Risk of Repeating Myself & Boring You

High School Graduation Thoughts From a Mom and Marketer

Well I normally write about promotional marketing, specifically who's doing what online these days. But as I sat down today and tried to decide what marketing to women promotion to write about I just couldn't get my mind off my oldest daughter, Kelsey. You see tonight we'll be going to her high school graduation ceremony and it's already getting the best of my emotions today.

Grad_invitationb_2High school graduation is such a major transitional period in one's life and a very emotional time for the students as well as the parents. The tears and emotions will start to flow for me tonight and continue into the weekend when we'll be hosting a party at our house for her and her best friend, Claire. Invites went out to all their friends on Facebook (see above). So, you just can't help but think, where did all the time go?

Yes, it does seem like yesterday that I grabbed my camera to take a picture of her and her sister, Alex, as they were off to their first day of school. They've gone to Catholic schools their whole life, so each year I would snap a photo with them in their uniforms holding their new backpack and lunch box. Kelsey was always our drama queen and would pose for the pictures while her sister is the introvert and still to this day doesn't like her picture taken.

Well Kelsey will be off to NYU at the end of August to major in drama and I won't be there to take her picture on her first day of class. But I will cetainly take one of her when we drop her off on the campus. She hasn't even officially finished high school and our focus and discussions have turned to getting her prepared for college (and NYC as well)!

College students are a extremely important demographic to a majority of brands and marketers today, and especially the female 18-24 audience. The marketing messages from colleges alone that Kelsey received over the past two years has been incredible. Lately those associated with NYU have been coming in on almost a daily basis. Her and I just spoke last night about the sheets and towels that they've offering students in pre-packaged sets in a variety of colors. Of course the dorm mattresses require the oversized, longer sheets, so you need to purchase new ones. All you have to do is place your order and they'll ship it right to you. We also have the option of renting directly from NYU a mini-fridge or one that has a microwave built into it.

However, Kelsey seems to think these are not very good deals and would rather shop at Target for the sheets and towels and buy a used mini-fridge off of Craig's list. I quickly learned that I'm not really making the purchasing decisions for her anymore and I better get used to it.

Her dad and I had a similar discussion with her regarding her graduation present which we've offered to buy a new laptop that she can take to college. We currently have all Dell's in our household and the former agency I worked with also had all Dell's, so I was assuming we'd get her a Dell. I'm on Dell's email list and get their promotions regulary. So, when I forwarded her one that I thought was a good deal I found out she wanted an H-P, definately not a Dell. Seems a couple of her close friends made that recommendation. More proof that the power of influencers (which happens to NOT be parents) are the strongest marketing messages of all.

While Kelsey has had a part time job for a couple of years and spends her own money, she's now really going to need to learn how to budget and live off her own. There will be many, many more marketing messages thrown at her from all directions and she'll need to choose. That's what it's all about in the world of marketing. You put it out there and make it as appealing as possible to the target market, but it's still the individual's choice to make.

So, Kelsey, you've learned about many different aspects of life from us all and now it's really up to you to take these learnings and apply them to what's best for you. We've been blessed with watching you, your sister and your friends grow up to become beautiful, responsible young ladies and we are so proud of you.

Congratuations to you, Kelsey, and all this year's high shool grads. May you follow the right path and have a life filled with love and happiness.   

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I quickly learned that I'm not really making the purchasing decision and I better get used to it.

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