85. Talk to Mums

Founder: Sally Durcan
Founded: May 2016
Website: talktomums.co.uk

After having kids, Sally Durcan found that she was struggling to find the time to read magazines, browse the news or even read “the stream of messages coming from friends”, yet she still wanted to be in the know about new and highly-reviewed children’s products.

With 22 years’ experience in marketing and communications, Durcan sought to create a solution that would “give all mums the opportunity to easily find out about new products” and let them spread the word to other mums in a place where they would see it.

Her solution? Talk to Mums; a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketing platform which connects brands to thousands of ‘everyday mum influencers”(those mums with a following on social media) via sampling and survey opportunities.

Targeted at mums with children aged two to teenage, Talk to Mums enables brands to let mums promote their products so that the brand conversations start and finish with the mums themselves – free samples are given out by the mums and online while other mums then share their reviews with their social connections.

With brands charged on a pay per use basis, Durcan’s start-up venture is already profitable and has attracted big brands to its service including Ecover, Knorr and Kettle Chips.

Durcan believes Talk to Mums is making headway in the market as it appeals to both businesses; helping them connect with a niche audience that is often hard to engage past infant years, and mums; who benefit from the social aspect and “have something free to try and talk about”.

Having grown organically since launch last year with a team of three, Durcan’s vision for Talk to Mums is clear – “to become the go-to influencer marketing platform for brands targeting women aged 20-50 years old with dependent children”.