As 2015 winds down and the New Year is almost here, it's time to dust off my crystal ball and offer my predictions on marketing to moms in 2016. Here are a few top-level thoughts for what's new, what's hot, and what's "so 2015".

For marketers, 2015 has been a year of evolution-of media habits, smartphone usage, online content, and generational focus. Moms, as usual, are at the forefront of these changes, since they tend to lead online trends and control the family's finances. To help make sense of it all, we've pulled together our top five observations from 2015 and summarized our recommendations for marketers in the year to come.

Millennial moms are among the most sought after consumer groups, holding an estimated $3.1 trillion in spending power and accounting for 77% of the purchase decisions within the household in general, according to eMarketer. They're also more digitally savvy than marketers might realize, as evidenced by Hallmark's recent targeted holiday campaign that sponsors a branded geo-filter on Snapchat, a platform where Millennial moms are actually among the highest-growth audiences.