… and Daddy-Man too… who does *not* like coleslaw.

I have a hard a time as any mom when it comes to getting my kids to eat anything that is not pasta, cheese or sweet related. My approach is a bit different in that my Fab!Hubby also has a hate/hate relationship with most veggies. Broccoli is pretty much on the banned list… forever… and ever. No home-made broccoli cheese for me… sigh…

Anyhoo, Fab!Hubby does not like the Mayo-laden coleslaw that was one of my all time fav things when I was a kid… and still is today. I found a recipe for oven-fried shrimp that I wanted to try out and what goes with fried shrimp? Well in my family, growing up on the coast, fried seafood of any kind goes hand in hand with hush-puppies and coleslaw. I found a recipe that used lemon juice and mustard for the coleslaw sauce and that was where I began.

Coleslaw that my kids actually ate more than the 3 required bites of:
2 tbsp stone ground mustard
1/4 cup of honey
3 tbsp mayo
Juice from 3 key-limes
3 cups of coleslaw mix (I use the one with the mixed cabbage and carrots, cause carrots are on the “safe” list when it comes to AK and The Z-Man and I can say, “look it has carrots, you like carrots!”)

Mix all the ingredient, minus the slaw until it is consistent. Dump in the slaw and mix till it is all coated. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so… and viola! AK said, and I quote, “I think I will eat more than 3 bites, I think I will eat all my salad.”

Daddy-Man said it was actually surprised he liked it.

Do you think if I served it every single night for dinner they will keep eating it?

I am proud and thrilled and grateful and honored to share Houston with the women who pulled this thing off!

The Mom 2.0 Summit is a shining example of why I love it here.

You gals rocked it! Thanx for making it happen… I can’t wait for next year!

From left to right

Marla Trevino, Carrie Pacini,  Amber Roussel, Monica Dana, Laura Mayes, Gabrielle Blair, Gwen Bell, Laurie Smithwick, Stephanie Bryne, and Maggie McDonald (not pictured (probably cause she was working her ass off to make the conference run smoothly for the rest of us…) even though she is totally gorgeous in all the pictures I have seen of her and I am not saying that cause I work with her and see her everyday.)

Yes, I know it is a bold statement…

… and the answer is a simple one…

… and there is no easy blanket approach to accomplishing it…

Want to successfully market to a woman? Treat her like a human not a statistic – ask her about her, then shut-up and listen.

Here is something to chew on… 83% of purchase decisions are made by women. That’s right… 83%. I think it is easy to say to all the marketers out there who want to increase their sells, successfully marketing to women will do the job.

Need more incentive to focus you marketing efforts on women? Consider this… we are incredibly loyal. If we find a company that will listen, that has a product that does a good job, that has in some way inspired us… we will use it forever and tell everyone of our girlfriends about it (which maybe the 100,0oo+ women who read our blog.) And it works in the opposite as well… blunder an attempt, insult us, do harm… and we will talk about it – A Lot!

Need a little help getting started… one brilliant suggestion that came out of the open dialogs at the Mom 2.0 Summit panels is to hire a successful woman blogger to act as your bridge. If you choose to use this approach, please go back to the top and read this post again. Do not consider all woman bloggers for this… each blog is owned by a woman, who is an individual, who may or may not fit the demographic of you campaign. Get it right and you have advocate for life… get it wrong and there may be hell to pay.

At the beginning of 2008, I had the great fortune to participate in a week long workshop focused on the archetypal energies women call upon in our lives. The mother archetype holds the energy for creation. Anytime we as women focus on bringing something new into the world, whether it be a child or a product or  a book or blog or a — fill in the blank — we call on the mother archetype inside.

Women are positively radiant when they talk about their creations… me included.

The start of many a conversation at Mom 2.0 was like any other networking function where strangers collide under the common umbrella of a conference’s theme… a bit dry, a little awkward, a dash of soooo… what to you do? And time and time again when the conversation turned to our kiddos’/new company’s/new book’s/etc.  latest and greatest milestone the tone completely changed, the woman I was talking to literally shined. I was over-joyed and honored to witness it time and time again this weekend.

Which leads me to my #2 Take Away…

(Thanx to d’n'c’s for the pic)

We have a saying  at Schipul… Content is King… Or Queen shall we say for this post…

And I heard time and time again in the Mom 2.0 panels that GOOD content is what will draw your audience to you. Whether you are an individual women looking to grow your personal brand’s influence and followers or you are corporate marketing looking for ways to connect with the women who buy your product…  content is the number one tool for your success or demise.

Every blog post, tweet, facebook status, email, etc… is an opportunity to stand out.

Be it funny, entertaining, enlighting, or educational… the content you put out there is more important than any crazy hair-brained gimick you come up with.

(Thanx to MarkWallace for the pic)