YIKES and Yahoo!

danismom · 11-02-2009, 05:20 PM

I just got a call and I'm FREAKING out. I was invited to be a part of a HUGE corporate health fair! Hooray! in EIGHT DAYS ... WHat the CRAP! I have NOTHING prepared for this! It's in 8 days and I have NOTHING. I have very little money for color copies (it's a rather esteemed business, so black and white won't do) or a give away item / gift certificate. What do I do?!!! What kind of information should I bring / have available? I was thinking of breastfeeding, babywearing, article on doulas, childbirth educaiton. This is a booth for doulas in general, not specificlaly my business which I'm so happy to do ... but I want to do it RIGHT. The gentleman asked for it ot be interactive...

huh? i would love to get my hands on a pregnancy belly for men to try on, but I have no idea where to get one. I also thought of having different types of slings/carriers for people to try, but I myself am very limited in what I have and what I know.

WHERE do I go to QUICKLY get brochures on any of this? I can do pamphlets on my business but have no money to create/print them for the other topics? Let's get creative - please help!

raeben · 11-02-2009, 06:08 PM

interactive idea i really liked: we had a nice chair for tired mamas to sit in and then offered all pregnant ladies a free hand massage. the theme was all about nurturing the mamas and the massage was kind of our five minute opportunity to demonstrate the power of soothing, relaxing touch while chatting with the mama about her pregnancy and maybe her hopes/plans for her birth. it wasn't a hard sell or anything, just a nice way to connect with mamas and demonstrate to the community.

we had a crock pot with very warm, damp wash cloths and a couple of massage oils to choose from. we would wash the moms hands with the cloths and then let them choose the scented or unscented oils for massage. we had a birth ball for the doulas to sit on while talking or massaging.

we had lots of free samples - pregnancy teas, some sample sized belly bars (those went fast) and some coupons for our classes and other services. we have a nice color display thing and then a variety of b&w handouts. people seemed to like to look at the display and maybe chat but i don't think we went through too many handouts unless we actually talked about the handout topic and then gave it to them. gave out a lot of business cards though.

danismom · 11-02-2009, 06:10 PM

Did you have a large return in clients from this? I REALLY like your ideas

Did someone donate your belly bars and pregnancy teas - love that idea, too! OR did you buy them? I LOVE the crockpot idea!

golden pregnancy · 11-02-2009, 06:26 PM

Here is a link to some ideas for games.
http://transitiontoparenthood.com/tt...vitieshome.htm
Amazon.com has the tie on pregnant belly.
Bring your business cards!
You could have a single unfolded sheet of info instead of a brochure. This can be created from Word and printed from home.
People will stop to look at pictures!
Above all, keep it simple!!! What do you hope to accomplish with this booth? Create awareness about doulas? Promote breastfeeding? Babywearing? If you try to do everything you may find yourself stretched to thin. Pick one and do IT well.

golden pregnancy · 11-02-2009, 06:31 PM

raeben, you're booth sound FABULOUS!
In my experience, fairs are a good way to network, get the word out, share info, and such. I have never riecieved a paying client as a result from contact through a booth I set up.

raeben · 11-02-2009, 07:27 PM

belly bars and traditional medicinal teas sent us the samples - oh and we stapled our cards onto the tea packages too. check out this thread for more info on getting samples.

hmmmmm, i'm not the person in charge of tracking client return or referral so i couldn't tell you about that. a lot of networking goes on at these things so when things got slow, we would cruise around to other vendor booths and talk to people. we'd get their info and then leave a bunch of cards with chiros, NDs, mama/baby boutiques, etc. even if only like 3 mamas show up at something like this, you can always view it as a positive way to get your name out there and increase awareness about doulas in general.

raeben · 11-02-2009, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by golden pregnancy

raeben, you're booth sound FABULOUS!
In my experience, fairs are a good way to network, get the word out, share info, and such. I have never riecieved a paying client as a result from contact through a booth I set up.

oh i can take about zero credit for it. the woman who heads our group is really great at marketing and self promotion and is always generating these great ideas like mama hand massages or whatnot.

DoulaMorgan · 11-05-2009, 03:16 PM

Could you call the local highschool and see if they have an empathy belly? They do sometimes for teens taking health classes... if you wanted a pregnancy belly still that is.

danismom · 11-05-2009, 04:38 PM

oh these are great ideas! thank you so much!