Marketing

Marketing your Doula Business during the festive period

November 11, 2020

Oooh… there’s a whiff of excitement in the air and it smells like cinnamon and mulled wine! People are officially using the C word… which can mean only one thing. How the jeepers did Christmas creep round so quickly?

Christmas this year – like the rest of 2020 – is not going to be “normal” but no matter your plans for the festivities, the business of birth continues, and doulas keep on working. And to do that we need to keep on promoting our services. How do we do that at this busy time of year?

Well don’t worry! The Nurturing Birth team is on the case and we’re here to share four secrets to keeping your marketing efforts on point so you can slay that festive guilt, and focus on more pressing things, like your next cocktail choice, thinking up creative ideas for Elf on the Shelf or which present to open first!

The secret to staying visible, active and sustaining your marketing efforts throughout the Christmas holidays is to take a more relaxed, slimline approach. This way you’ll still look like you’re blogging, posting on social media, and chatting with your subscribers, but, secretly, you could be lying (totally laptop-less) on the sofa letting your lunch go down and catching up on TV.

Your doula business doesn’t have to take a back seat, just because you are. So with that in mind, here are…

Christmas Marketing for Doulas

Republish your Blogs

You don’t always have to create brand new doula blogs. If you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ve probably got more than enough content to republish some of your favourite older articles instead. Your newer followers may not have noticed a particular blog first-time around (or second or third in fact) so don’t worry! And if you’re sharing great content then that content is still great and is still really valuable to parents. That’s what it’s all about!

Schedule Your Social Media

There are stacks of social media scheduling apps around and some are worth their weight in brandy doused Christmas pud! Scheduling your social media in advance gives you that Superdoula feeling of having everything organised for the entire week by 7am on Monday! Scaling back on the number of posts you write and publish is another way to dilute the Christmas biz pressure too.

Maintaining your visibility is important and if the bare minimum is one post a day, then schedule one post a day on each of your social media platforms. Manage your follower expectations by posting that you’re taking a wee break over the festive season. Many of your followers will likely be doing the same so they will totally understand. This way you’re keeping your doula services visible, supporting people and at the same time drinking wine. Everyone’s a winner.

Create & Schedule Your Newsletter(s)

If you’re a weekly newsletter sender, then ease that festive burden and adopt a monthly approach during December and January. A bumper Christmas edition or two (which also directs your subscribers to your republished blogs) is perfectly acceptable – and sometimes more likely to be read. Save more time by creating and scheduling your newsletters in advance and you’ll know your subscribers won’t assume you’ve abandoned them. Ah… the beauty of automation. We love it!

Decide on a Simple Christmas Content Subject and Stick to it

Another great way to avoid trying to post on Facebook while you’re tucking into your trifle is to think about (and plan) the type of content you want to focus on over the next six to ten weeks. Keep it easy by sifting through your calendar and finding any upcoming National or International days which fit with your interest as a doula. Take a handful of your blogs and weave the same subject thread through your social media pages and newsletters too.

In need of inspiration? Check out:

So go and enjoy your Christmas, make family memories (kids grow up so quickly!) and slay that Festive business guilt.

Come January you’ll feel refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to conquer the world, again!

Updated November 2020 by Emma

How to have sales conversations that feel like Magic! – Part 2

October 7, 2020

By Charlotte Bailey, Nurturing Birth Mentor

This is the second of a two-part series – click here for part one.

Last month Charlotte introduced us to some of her doula sales techniques. This month we share the second part of her article on how to really connect with the right clients.

Skill No. 3 – Sharing the opportunity. During your meeting with your prospective client remember to make them the main focus. They will want to know about you – especially if the meeting has been set up as an ‘interview’ (by the way, I much prefer the terms ‘meeting’ or ‘consultation’ as I believe it evokes a better sense of equality, but you’ll use the terminology you feel most comfortable with). Be mindful about how much you are speaking and how much you are listening. If you ask the right questions, the client will tell you everything you need to know in terms of what they are looking for and why, and thus you can tailor your explanation of what you can offer to their needs. It shows you’re aligned and also that you’ve really heard them. Keeping your language positive, based in facts, and focused on the transformation that your client is likely to experience if they work with you will help. A former business coach of mine, Bill McFarlan, wrote a great book (see below) about how the language we use to describe what we do is SO important and that we often can unconsciously talk ourselves out of a sale by accidentally conveying the wrong thing or simply by talking too much. Getting that balance takes a little practice and reflection but with awareness comes opportunity [E1] !

Skill No. 4 – Following-Up In sales, it is often said that ‘the fortune is in the follow-up’. I think this is SO true. Following-up is doing what you said you would do. If you say you are going to send some info or confirm a meet-up, then do it. My experience as a Doula so far has been that demonstrating reliability and commitment is MASSIVELY important to pregnant women and people. They need to know they can depend on you so show them – right from the get-go – what it’s like to work with you.

It takes the average person 4-6 meetings (or exposures) before they can say yes to an invitation to work together. Therefore, treat each exposure as an opportunity to set up the next expose until you feel you have established a trusting relationship with your prospective client, keeping relationship-building and understanding as the goal of each of those exposures. If you’ve signposted or referred your potential client to some info, you might ask to check back with them to find out how it helped them. Then, instead of asking ‘What did you think?’, you could ask questions that facilitate the development of your relationship whilst demonstrating what it’s like to work with you ie “Tell me what was most relevant for you, which parts weren’t? How do you think you might use this in your labour preparations? What do you feel you need now?”

I can’t remember where I heard it, but I’ve learnt its true; the universe loves speed! So condensing the exposures into the shortest amount of time possible can work in your favour. It prevents your prospective client from being distracted by life or from encountering obstacles that may ultimately prevent them from engaging your services (an unexpected expense or and impulse purchase that eats up their spare funds). Speed also helps you to keep their interest up. There is also the obvious fact that pregnancies are 42/43 weeks in length at the very most; A potential client might approach you in the latter stages of their third trimester in which case, you have to move quickly.

A pattern of exposures condensed into 2 weeks might look something like this:

1 – The first encounter (meeting through mutual friends/ chance encounter etc). Invite them to a PBM group.

2 – Text right away to say how nice it was to meet them. Give them a link to a relevant website/ book/ resource and confirm you’ll see them at the next PBM meeting

3 – 48 hours before the PBM Meeting, call them to confirm the meeting details

4 – Meet at the PBM. Arrange a one-to-one coffee date in 2-3 days’ time

5 – Send a voice message 24 hours ahead of time to confirm the coffee date

6 – Meet for coffee. Ask them about the benefits and usefulness of the resource you sent plus the PBM group. Invite them and their partner to learn more about possibly working with you. Set a time for the consultation. Ask to add them to your Doula Facebook Page.

7 – Call ahead to confirm the consultation and send them some relevant information

8 – At the consultation arrange a time to follow-up. Send them a thank you text after the meeting with any links to references you’ve made and confirm the date/ time of the follow-up.

9 – Follow-up when you agreed to. Ask if they have had enough information/ time to make a decision. If not, ask them what they need in order to do that and/or if there is any way you can further support them in making a decision (do they want to meet you again? Do they need to meet some other Doulas? Can you assist in connecting them to other local Doulas?). Arrange a time to check back with them and repeat until they have either arrived at a ‘no’ or a ‘yes’.

10 – Top tip: If you get a ‘no’, follow-up one last time anyway. Sometimes things don’t work out and having established a rapport with you, they may come back if you reach out. Sometimes feelings of awkwardness or a worry that they may have hurt your feelings prevents potential clients from coming back. Let them know that whatever their decision the door will always remain open. You never know, they might end up needing a back-up so find a creative way to keep in touch.

Now, you may feel resistance in consciously seeking to develop skills to turn conversations with potential clients into actual bookings. This could be because of the stories you hold about [E2] sales transactions or because of a lack of belief in either your ability to support that client or in Doulaing, in general. Spend some time with this. Ask yourself what stories you hold around sales, where they come from, if they serve you and what needs to happen for you to release them. Thereafter, the potential is that you are free to acquire any sales skills that will help to drive your business forward. All skills can be learnt and, with practice, mastered. However, skills – just like relationships – take time to build so be patient with yourself and allow time and space so that you and your dream clients need to build enough rapport that the magic happens. And it will happen!

Further reading (in no particular order)

Drop the Pink Elephant: 15 ways to say what you mean…and mean what you say – Bill McFarlan
Booked – Josh Turner
Awaken the Giant Within: How to take immediate control of your mental, physical, emotional and financial destiny – Anthony Robins
Playing Big: Find your voice, your mission and make things happen – Tara Mohr
Purple Cow – Seth Godin
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey

Fresh out of University, Charlotte founded a social enterprise in 2005 and was a workshop facilitator for 10 years, running projects in the UK and internationally to foster the empowerment of marginalized communities. She later studied Midwifery with the intention of becoming an Independent Midwife before her final pivot in 2016 when she became a Doula. Charlotte understands that fostering women’s empowerment includes enabling financial independence and has, throughout 15 years of self-employment, taken a keen interest in educating herself and mentoring others on how to achieve this. Charlotte offers Birth and Postnatal Doula services in Hampshire and has recently joined the team of Doula Mentors for Nurturing Birth.

How to have sales conversations that feel like Magic! – Part 1

September 30, 2020

By Charlotte Bailey, Nurturing Birth Mentor

This is part one of two blogs – more coming in October 2020!

Let’s be honest here; for most of us there is a jarring incongruence between the idea of being a Doula and of being a Sales person. The two roles, in my mind, certainly took some time to reconcile but once they did, in a way that felt natural and appropriate, magic happened! I stopped feeling like I was selling and started feeling like I was serving.

Recently, in one of our Virtual Cuppas, a Doula shared her frustration that despite having lots of positive conversations with potential clients/supporters, these conversations weren’t translating into client referrals or bookings. This particular Doula was upset and suspected something was blocking her results. I would like to offer this blog to anyone who relates to this, as a way of providing some possible insight into what those blocks might be and which practical steps can be taken to push through them.

In order to be the best Doula we can, we all have skills to hone…active listening, holding space, appropriate signposting etc. But building a successful Doula business (whatever size of business that means to you) means developing beyond these skills and acquiring new abilities to grow and manage a start-up enterprise. This is where the application of sales skills can be of enormous assistance in learning how to find potential clients, how to talk to them about what you do and how they might benefit, and how to nurture authentic relationships with potential clients until they feel ready to make a decision to work with you (or not!).

In a series of two blogs I will talk you through some of the key skills that will help you to find and connect with your perfect client – and build your doula business!

Skill No. 1- Finding possible clients

In 2018, around 735,000 babies were born in the UK. That’s a lot of babies! And when you consider how few Doulas there are in the UK in comparison to the number of babies that are born, that’s a lot of potential clients.

We know the benefits of working with a Doula, but most people don’t. And so our first job is to help people to understand. This means sharing the facts with enough people and you’ll naturally start to find your clients. So, where can you share these facts?

Pregnancy and Postnatal Support Groups – What a fab way to meet local expectant parents and local birth workers. These are ‘promotion-free’ groups so you won’t be asked to talk about your business but you’ll have a mutual space where you can cultivate relationships with pregnant women and people. Naturally at some point they will ask you what you do for a living and you’re welcome at that point to tell them you are a Doula. They may have more questions, in which case, swap details and offer to meet outside of the group set-up.
MVP Committees – As above, you won’t be invited back if you arrive at an MVP meeting with the agenda of finding clients, but by making valid and stand-out contributions to the meeting, you may find that you naturally attract the attention of expectant and new parents who feel a resonance to you.
Doula Databases – There are international doula directories such as the Nurturing Birth Directory, Positive Birth Movement Directory, Doula UK Directory. There are also national or regional ones, eg Hampshire Doulas. How you write about your services and how you tell your story is really critical here. You might want to work with a Sales Consultant or professional Copywriter to put together an all-singing-all-dancing piece of text that you can adapt for use across your website and directory entries to ensure anyone reading your bio and/or business info really understands what you’re all about and knows how to contact you. Any online presence that links back to your website will help boost your Search Engine Optimisation. The greater your online presence with consistent text which clearly describes what you offer, and links that all point in the same direction (don’t forget to check them frequently in case a site you’re linking to has changed) will mean people searching for someone like you are more like to find a hit with your site.
Online – Facebook groups, Linked In, Instagram, Twitter. Either run your own group or join existing groups that have a cross-over in their target audiences with your ideal client. Make time each week to comment and contribute in those groups – not about yourself or your business, but in relation to what group members are asking for. Offer genuine support without the intention of getting anything back from the interaction. If you show-up in those groups consistently enough, people will get to know you and start to investigate further so make sure your FB business page and your personal page are linked. Adding ‘doula’ to your online name means that people know straight away who you are if they are looking for a Doula.
Networking Meetings – A great environment for sharing your business and opportunity. Everyone in the room is there to hear, share, learn, support and refer. Over time, you’ll cultivate trusting relationships. By investing time to learn about and support others and making appropriate referrals, others will do the same for you. Turning up once and vanishing will not bring results. Go along to a few different groups to test out which feel like the best fit for you and then commit to going regularly and booking 1-to-1 meetings with each member to get to know them better. Gather people’s contact details and find creative ways to stay in touch. This could be by hosting coffee mornings for business owners with target audiences that mirror yours, by inviting them into your FB business page and posting regularly, or by adding them (with their permission) to a newsletter database. Asking for referrals is a key part of networking, or starting a conversation with the question ‘Who do you know who…is pregnant/ had a bad birth experience/ is expecting a grandchild and wants to give a valuable gift…?’ offers a gentle and encouraging way to provoke peoples’ thinking beyond their own needs. If someone tells you they know someone who might be interested, ask them to set up a coffee date so they can introduce you. Ask to set a provisional time there and then in order to secure their commitment and move things forwards (see section on Following Up for more tips here)

Skill No. 2 – Inviting possible clients to learn more

Do you know who your ideal client is? We know that there is a potential for every expectant and new parent to benefit from hiring a Doula, but, egos aside now, not every potential client will feel you are the right fit for them. So, who is it that you are looking for, specifically? Spending time really getting to understand who your ideal client is will enable you to spot them when you see them. And more than that, they will resonate with you, too, and your ‘sales’ conversation will feel so natural and easy. Once you have identified your ideal client and cultivated a relationship with them, the next step is inviting them to have a focused meeting with you to discuss how they might benefit from working with you.

My hunch is that many Doulas will think that they must start off with a great reputation and impressive amount of experience and thus have a lot of influence in order for potential clients to want to have a consultation with them. This is not true. If your invitation to meet is so that you can learn more about them and to share more about what benefits a Doula could bring to them, then you’re more likely to secure a meeting, even if you’ve not attended a birth yet! You’re not hunting for a sale here, you’re looking to deepen your rapport, to build a friendship, and to support that person in deciding if they want work with a doula or not. You might not even invite that person to a one-to-one meeting with you, but rather an event where they get to learn a bit more about you first in a non-threatening way whilst gaining benefits from attending the meeting. I like to invite pregnant women and people to a local support group – usually the Positive Birth Movement Meet-Ups or our local MVP committee meeting. It gives us both a chance to meet again and continue to build our relationship. The more a person knows, likes and trusts you, the more likely they are to say ‘yes’ to working with you.

In either case there are some fundamentals about the emotion of inviting;

You must emotionally detach yourself from the outcome. Remember, our initial goal is to help parents to be to better understand what benefits a Doula would bring to them. It’s not to book a new client. In other words, if you shift your focus away from your own needs onto theirs, away from signing a client and instead to supporting them with their needs, things get a whole lot more enjoyable and lot simpler. Whilst this sounds easy, it may feel difficult to do, especially if you have a strong desire to secure that first client or a real financial need. But being aware of your own ‘stuff’ and choosing not to allow it to cloud your intentions will hopefully keep you in good stead.
Be yourself. Be your best self, but keep it authentic. You have nothing to prove. You are already enough. The more ‘real’ you can be, the more attractive you will be to your dream client and the more comfortable and trusting they will feel in your presence.
Bring the passion, the enthusiasm, the FUN! Positivity is infectious and it’s ok to get a little fired-up so long as the focus remains on the woman or person that you are talking with. If you are feeling nervous before a Networking Event or a one-to-one, why not take a few moments before entering the room to buzz yourself up. Maybe listen to some motivational music to help change your state, something that makes you come alive, or take some grounding deep breaths and envision yourself shining. Remember, you’ve got this!
Check your posture. The way you position yourself physically and emotionally will speak volumes to whomever you are interacting with. Are you someone who is often apologising for things that are beyond your control? Are you (unintentionally or otherwise) dumbing down the value of what you have to offer? Why? Do you believe what you have to offer is of value? Do you believe you can deliver? Have you already mentally decided that this potential client will reject you before you’ve even invited them to meet with you? Is your body language communicating feelings of self-doubt/ insecurity or of assuring confidence? Working on your mindset and your emotional posture here is key. I’ve listed some books below that may help you build your self-belief and confidence.

Once you’ve invited your potential client to meet with you again, confirm the time and their commitment there and then, rather than leaving things open and in their hands. The chances are if you do the latter, the energy of your initial meet-up will be lost. If they’ve told you that they’d like to see you again, confirm the date and the time and add it to your diary immediately, so that they see you are serious and committed. Ask for their permission to contact them the day before and confirm they are still able to meet. Take their number in order that you can do this. If someone has said they will pass your details on to someone they know, ask them when they are next seeing that person. If they say Wednesday, for example, ask if it would be ok to contact them on Wednesday afternoon to find out how the third party responded and what the next steps might be. Again, make a note of the date and deliver on your commitments.

I hope that these tips help you to feel more confident about approaching your sales and marketing. Look out for the second half of this blog in October!

Further reading (in no particular order)

Drop the Pink Elephant: 15 ways to say what you mean…and mean what you say – Bill McFarlan
Booked – Josh Turner
Awaken the Giant Within: How to take immediate control of your mental, physical, emotional and financial destiny – Anthony Robins
Playing Big: Find your voice, your mission and make things happen – Tara Mohr
Purple Cow – Seth Godin
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey

5 important things that might be stopping you getting more doula bookings

October 14, 2019

Ok, so you’ve completed your Doula Course and your fabulous doula business is up and running! You’ve got yourself a business card, a fancy logo, leaflets and even a website. You’ve set up your Facebook page, registered your business with Google to get your SEO started and you tell all your friends and family about what you can do and how much you can help.

And then your first ever client books in, hurray! You’re off to a flying start. And then another and another….

But then… a lull.

You market yourself some more and you wait…

And wait…

You nab a few clients, but you notice that getting more doula bookings is becoming harder and harder.

You’re spending more and more time and money on marketing that isn’t bringing you enough clients.

You start to wonder… what’s gone wrong?

You stress and you worry. This self-employed malarkey is so much tougher than you thought it would be!

Don’t panic lovely doula. It doesn’t have to be like that. You have amazing talents; you just need to make a few tweaks to get those clients flowing into your booking diary.

To get you started, here are 5 important things that might be stopping you getting more bookings.

1. You’re throwing your net too wide

As the talented doula you are, you can probably help with many things, you might even offer other services such as placenta encapsulation or sleep consultancy BUT marketing yourself this way could actually be losing you clients. People tend to shop for one solution at a time so if you’re trying to sell them several at once then you risk overwhelming them. Coming across as a jack of all trades and a master of none might not be the best way to convince potential clients of your capability.

Getting more doula bookings comes down to three simple marketing rules… be super clear about who you want to help, what they are struggling with and how you can make it better.

If you offer multiple services, make sure your marketing of these is clear cut and not jumbled up together. Be mindful of what stage your potential client is at and focus on the service that best suits her needs at that time. Help her at the stage she is at NOW and save the upsells for later down the line.

Once a client has bought from you once they are much more likely to choose you over a competitor in the future. Get them booked in before you start to throw a list of services at them.

2. You’re focusing too much on the letters

So, your doula training and registration with professional bodies is SUPER important. But ironically, focusing on these in your marketing could actually be putting potential clients off. Your training and CPD is important because it’s what makes you the talented doula you are, but will clients really know what that training is? Or which of your long list of services they need to help them with their thing?

In most cases, all the client wants to know is that you can make them feel better.

Your training and qualifications is your toolbox. You carry it everywhere because it helps you to do your job. But it isn’t what makes you great at your job.

Think about it this way. Every doula out there is carrying around the same toolbox as you… So how are you going to stand out?

How are you going to take your clients from the place they are in now where they are feeling overwhelmed and under-supported (otherwise they wouldn’t be looking for a doula in the first place) to that place they wish they could be, where they feel informed, empowered and positive about pregnancy and birth.

That’s what you’re selling. A great way to do this is to feature customer testimonials and case studies in your marketing. These help your potential customer to recognise herself and her worries and start to see how you are the perfect doula to support her.

3. You’re expecting customers to jump too soon

You spend hours at your computer crafting that perfect Facebook post, you post it, you might even pay to boost it and you sit back and wait for all those new clients to get in touch… But nothing happens.

Is Facebook broken? Are you rubbish at marketing? Is anyone actually reading anything you post?

It might be that you are expecting clients to jump too soon.

Marketing is a journey. It’s so much more than just social media. It’s being on different social media platforms, it’s blogging, it’s having a website that connects with clients, it’s having case studies that showcase your excellent doula talents, it’s building your mailing list, and nurturing and building your relationships with potential clients and other local businesses.

All of these things help to lead potential clients to your diary.

So, posting on social media and then expecting that post to turn into paying clients is asking people to make a HUGE leap. You need to get those marketing steps in place so, through regular contact they can get to know you, like your stuff and trust that you are the person to help them. Only then will they make that booking with you.

4. You’re blending in, rather than standing out

Do you know how many doulas there are in your local area?

Let’s say there are loads… Does that mean you should give up and get a day job? Absolutely not! What it does mean is that you need to stand out in that sea of doulas, because if you blend in you will struggle to get clients to notice you.

The easiest way to start standing out is simply to be you. Yes, there are loads of doulas out there, but there is only one you. Potential clients can be drawn in or put off by your personality, the way you talk, the language you use, even the way you dress. You can’t attract everyone, so use your personal skills to really stand out to those who get you.

No more hiding behind a logo or a brand. Use photos of yourself in your social media and on your website. Create videos of you – yes, it’s scary but it’s a great way to stand out. Don’t be afraid to find and use your voice – there is no ‘right’ way to speak or be as a doula and every woman out there is looking for a doula that fits with who she is too! Your vibe attracts your tribe they say so if you are being you, you’re more likely to attract clients who really value what you do and how you work.

5. You’re staying local

As doulas we are often taught that the client relationship should be a face-to-face one, but that limits you to those people who live in your local area or align with your working hours.

Does all support need to be given face-to-face? If not, why limit yourself when there is a whole world of people out there who could benefit from your help? If you can’t provide a whole support package online then which services could you bundle up and offer remotely?

As well as remote consultations and support you might also consider creating online products; taking your doula skills and turning them into an online programme that clients can buy and use without you even needing to see them one-to-one.

Online products enable you to help more people and allow you to earn an income even when you’re not working. Yay!

So, no more struggling to fill your diary and build the business of your dreams! Just making a few tweaks to the way you work and market yourself could make a massive difference for you. Why not give it a try!

Why you should absolutely be blogging to promote your doula business (and how to get it right)

August 22, 2019

Let’s talk blogging…

We know, you’ve probably heard this one before right? Blogging is an essential part of your marketing strategy. But when you’ve got a million and one things on your to-do list, is blogging really worth it?

As a doula, working within a limited geographical area and with a limited number of clients, do you really need to be blogging? Isn’t it just a mammoth waste of time?

Absolutely not! And here’s why…

Four reasons you should absolutely be blogging to promote your doula business

1. Blogging showcases your professional knowledge

Writing a regular blog that addresses common problems or queries your potential clients may have makes you look super profesh and helps to reassure them that you really know your stuff. This can be crucial if a reader is comparing several potential doulas. Blogging regularly helps to boost the know, like and trust factor of your website, increasing the chances of a potential customer getting in touch.

To make sure you’re blogging about the right topics start a file of subjects that you see pregnant women asking about or discussing. Your emails, social media and newspapers and magazines can all be great sources of information.

At the end of each blog make sure it’s easy for the reader to take the next step and get in touch. You could provide a call to action along with contact details, for example…

Have you been affected by xxx during your pregnancy? Get in touch to find out how I could support you. Email me: sophie@totallyawesomedoula.com

2. Blogging helps to boost your SEO

SEO is incredibly important for small local businesses. Put simply, if someone types ‘doula in Tewkesbury’ into Google and your website comes top of the results then there’s a really good chance that person will click on the link to your website (where, of course, the fabulous blog you just posted is ready to wow them!) Posting and (importantly) promoting a regular blog help your website rank higher in local search results.

Google spiders regularly crawl your website. When they find a new page or post they add this to their index. The first part is done; the rest is up to you.

You see indexing and ranking are two different things. When a potential customer types a query into Google they are essentially asking Google to show them all the results in the index that match their query. Now as you might imagine there can be hundreds even thousands of results for each query and ranking is how Google sorts them. Their goal is to show the most relevant and useful content first.

To show Google that your content is worth ranking you need to get eyes on it. The more the better. Each time you post a blog, be sure to promote it widely and if the subject matter is evergreen, keep promoting it on a regular basis.

>> Want to know more about SEO? Read our blog: Search Engine Optimisation – A TOTAL beginners guide!

3. Blogging ensures that your website/business looks active

Having a website is super important, but the problem is that you can never really tell how old a website is, or how active. There are thousands of abandoned blogs and websites out there, so how can a customer tell if yours is up-to-date? Posting a regular blog is one way of letting potential customers know that you are actively promoting yourself. Find a blogging routine that suits your business lifestyle, even if it’s just once a month.

4. Blogging gives you much more to talk and post about on social media

Do you sometimes struggle with what to post on social media? You’re not alone. It can be super tough to think up fresh ideas for your social channels, but blogging provides a regular source of interesting content. It’s super simple to turn your blog into dozens of social media posts. Here’s how…

Let’s take this blog for example, we might…

Post a quick video letting our followers know we published a new blog and why we’ve chosen to cover this topic on Instagram.
Write a post with a quick intro and link to the blog on Facebook.
Create a series of memes, each one focusing on an individual tip and post them on Facebook and Instagram.
Pull out key sentences and use them as tweets.
Use the blog topic as a social conversation starter, and ask our doulas how often they blog and why.

So what do you say? Are you ready to start blogging to promote your doula biz? You can do it!

The MOST important content you need for your doula biz (it’s not what you think!)

May 15, 2019

Let’s talk about words… From the carefully crafted content on your doula website to the attention grabbing social media posts, what you write can influence every part of your business growth.

But what is the MOST important content you should be using? Is it the can’t look away headlines? The all-important calls to action? Perhaps a perfectly crafted blog post?

Actually, it’s none of those… lean in close and we’ll share a little known secret with you. The most important content on your website and social media isn’t the word that you write.

It’s the words your customers and client write. Your testimonials.

In a world where consumers are clever and discerning about the health and well-being services they choose to invest in. Good customer testimonials can give you that all important edge in a crowded and competitive market.

By sharing the ways in which you have already supported your clients and made them super happy, you’re immediately reassuring potential new customers that you can do the same for them. So are you using them?

Asking for testimonials

It can be tough to ask for testimonials, especially if you’re a bit shy. But as such an important part of your marketing we’d really love you to take a deep breath and start asking that question. Below are a few ideas for how… but first a super top tip!

Don’t ask for a written testimonial via email, instead ask clients to review you either on your:

Facebook Page
LinkedIn profile or
Google MyBusiness account

if you have them. Why is this important? Because once a customer has left you positive feedback in these places you can easily copy and paste the text and add it to your website.

You CAN’T do it the other way round. Plus, positive reviews in these locations will also boost your search rankings, hurray!

>> Want to know more about boosting your SEO. Check out our recent post Search Engine Optimisation – A total beginners guide.

So how do you get happy clients to give you positive feedback? Well you could…

Ask them straight after a consultation: “I’m really glad you enjoyed your treatment, if you have a spare five minutes later I’d really appreciate a quick review on my…”

Email them a few weeks after you’ve finished working together:

Hi there!

I hope you and your new baby are both doing well. It was such a pleasure to support you through your pregnancy and birth and to be there for the arrival of little XXX. I’d love it if you could support me by leaving a quick positive review on my xxx. Here’s the link: xxxx

Many thanks and I hope to see you and xxx again soon!

So once you’ve gathered a few testimonials, the next step is to share them everywhere! You could:

Create a testimonials page on your website
Add a single testimonial to the bottom of each page on your website
Copy and paste them into a social media post
Use them in a case study
Share them in your next newsletter
Make a meme and share it on social media, take a look at the video below to find out how.

Creating memes and graphics for social media – Nurturing Birth testimonials from Nurturing Birth on Vimeo.

Remember, trust is a powerful thing. If a prospective client sees that you’ve already created wonderful results for someone with similar wants, needs or issues to their own, they’ll feel more confident that you can do the same for them.

Happy Testimonial Gathering!

Marketing your Doula Business during the festive period