I’ve been exploring a better-defined niche for my doula business. It’s evolved over the two years of my work with women, and it’s about to be transformed again pretty shortly. Today I’ll share with you what a niche is and why you should consider one for your birth business.

So you’ve worked on your elevator speech and you have a powerful statement about what you do for your ideal client. What will you say if the response you receive is “Tell me more”?

What do you say when someone asks, “What do you do?” If you respond with “I’m a birth doula”, how many people respond with a blank look on their face? How long does it take for you to then explain what it is you do, and yet, the person still doesn’t quite get it?

To make things easier, create a statement that, in about 15 words or less, describes WHAT YOU DO for women. For example, I could say to you:

If you’ve been in business for more than five minutes, you already know that the best way for any self-employed professional to get clients is by referral. But the process of building sufficient word of mouth to produce the number of clients you need can seem daunting. You can count on some referrals from your existing clients and people who already know you, but that’s a fairly limited number. How can you start getting referrals from people outside your circle?

Word-of-mouth advertising is one of the least expensive and most powerful methods of marketing you can do for your business. When it comes to something as intimate as attending a birth, women want to be able to feel safe and trust her team. If you are recommended by someone she already does business with or otherwise knows and trusts, you are more likely to gain her business than someone she finds on a directory or online through an internet search.