Hi folks,

Many of the products we sell are aimed at young children. The obvious target for advertising and marketing is young mums. It's quite easy to target mums as there are LOADS of websites dedicated to women, parenting, pregnancy and mothers. For example, Rollercoaster.ie, Magicmums.com etc.

However, we've just launched quite a few products that dads may be more interested in getting their kids. Like LEGO, meccano, radio controlled toys etc. For example, is a mum going to buy our radio controlled bullet firing panther tank?

So - how to target dads? I've looked at dads.ie - but what else is there? Would be interested in peoples' thoughts.

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Sports websites?
Tech websites?

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A beautiful model in suitable attire eg army combats etc, a blonde with a natural smile is always good for catching dads eye

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Cheers Brian - Online Shop Design | Internet NI

I actually find your question a very good one-being a Dad myself with 2 boys and 2 girls all under 9 (Please don't try and sell me a bigger T.V). Mums will 99% of the time buy for the girls in the house (or want to) but Dads want to be more interactive with the boys. Toys these days are made to break and I've spent a fortune on rubbish that lasts 10 minutes.... The old stuff wins hands down EVERYTIME like a ball,hurl, rubix cube etc. However a trawl through any major toyshop trying to find a decent present/toy for a lad under 9 is bordering on madness. Junk Junk and more branded Junk-same for girls with more selection. T.V/Advertising has had more than a massive influence on many kids/parents unfortunatly.

Actually have had a serious in dept chat with a German buddy of mine (the Germans take a lot of stuff seriously including boys toys but...) he identified a HUGE niche I thought at the time with regards to toys for young boys. I can't remember the actual toy name but it was a figurine type thing but heres the crux-the manufacturer did everything possible to avoid public contact, there were fan clubs for the things, a massive demand on ebay, older models were sold in the likes of Tesco and he did all but break a ball to find the Irish/Eu supplier to no avail. First time in ages I really saw demand WAY out doing supply so was perplexed. Wasn't a toy I'd buy my lads but I found it interesting and a real, genuine, money making niche if ever I saw one.

I think women take more time in deciding on a toy/present wheras Dads just want to be seen to give something. Anyway I'll stick to the old ball, hurl and sliothar and tell my lads each day-Its not the takin part that counts-its the takin them apart.
Going to check your site now BTW and thats just my own ramblings.

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Men's magazine forums? We have askmen*com in the USA. Any .ie men's magazine sites there?

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How To Do Things

the best idea is to use an adword campaign and target the selected keywords that dad's might target when searching for similar products.

Google AdPlanner might help you with some demographic targetting, although the relability of info is nowhere near what I've seen in the UK (due to the availability of that info)

I blogged a bit on it before, it's useful for doing some site targeting.

You could also try facebook ppc as well, personally I'd use AdPlanner to identify websites, as it's a niche you could possible target non Irish websites, but target the Irish IP traffic.

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Barry Hand - Online Marketing & Marketing Blog

+1 Google Ad Planner.

You could also try Custom Segmentation in Google Analytics to determine where your father demographic is coming from. It will involve using a bit of custom Javascript but at least you will know what kind of sites these people come from.

This is a blog post I wrote on the topic a few weeks ago.

Conversion Room: Using Google Analytics to determine your Demographic Bidding strategy

While its not specific to your needs, it could be adapted that way.

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I think Dara is right when he says that mothers take more time planning to buy things. If I'm buying a toy for my little fella it tends to be quite spontaneous and tends to be when I'm in a shop while my partner is probably more likely to buy toys online.

I did however see a cool toy the other day that I really liked and asked another dad where he got it... it's called Like a Bike. I then Googled it and looked at a Youtube video demonstrating it... now I'm definitely going to get one.

So I'd say demonstrating them on Youtube would be one way to go.

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dads like to buy for their kids online... mums like to buy in shops...
as wisely advised above, advertise on adwords on your 'long tail', watch out for the new broad match so you dont pay for clicks you dont need