Dear Savvy Doula,

I want to thank my friend and colleague, Lisa Houser of Mommy’ Needs for this marketing tip. I called her recently to find out her secrets for finding clients, and she shared what she’s been doing.

One of her most successful methods for word-of-mouth marketing has been through doing public speaking. Lisa made the following suggestion: search for mother’s groups on Meetup.com. Find some interesting groups, especially those related to pregnancy, and email the organizer. Let the organizer know you are available for public speaking opportunities and would like to do a presentation at an upcoming event.

I thought I’d try that out, so I went to Meetup.com and emailed the organizers of a few groups. So far I’ve received one response and we are making arrangements for me to do a presentation for the group. That was easy!

Lisa told me that she gives the group leaders suggestions of topics that she’d be willing to speak about based on her expertise. So for me, I gave it some thought and made a list of topics to offer, such as Comfort Measures for Labor, Self Care Ideas During Pregnancy or Creating Your Birth Plan. I’ve even offered to speak about Attachment Parenting - Babies through Early Childhood, to offer my experience and feedback with this type of parenting.

When you speak to a group, your primary purpose is to deliver useful information and to connect with your audience, not to sell your birth services. Of course, you do want to let them know what you do and provide your business card and brochure. If you have handouts, add your name and contact information in the header or footer of the document.

If your audience learns to trust you and like the great information they’ve received, you’ll be seen as an expert. When it comes time to use services you offer, you may hear from them. If they have friends who needs your services, they’ll remember the great information you gave them and give your contact information to their friends. This is the power of word-of-mouth advertising. The more often you speak, the more visible you will be in your community, and the greater the trust factor will be. Not to mention that the more we teach, the more we learn ourselves.

Savvy Challenge:

My challenge to you is to:

1. Create a list of topics you could talk about. Remember that you don’t have to do all the talking. You should have some points to cover, some useful facts and tips that attendees will be happy to receive. Draw in your audience by asking them questions and making your sessions interactive. They will bring up more material for you to discuss.
2. Go to Meetup.com and find some potential groups you can speak to. Consider groups that you could get passionate about and relate to. Are you a single mother? Find some single moms groups. Are you a strong Christian? Find some groups that are for Christian moms.
3. E-mail the organizers. Introduce yourself, offer your services to attend one of their meet-ups, and let them know some of the topics you can speak about.
4. You may not hear responses from anyone. Keep trying by contacting other groups. Celebrate when you receive a positive response and set up a speaking engagement. Congratulations, you are now a public speaker!

I would love to know how you find speaking engagements, topics that you’ve spoken about, and how this method of marketing is working for you. Please share with the community by making a comment, or email me your story to Darlene@SavvyDoula.com. I’ll share it with the Savvy Doula community in a future blog post!

With great appreciation for the important work that you do,

Darlene

Tags: become a doula, doula marketing tips, Marketing, meetup, public speaking, word of mouth advertising, workshops

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