Marketing Ideas that REALLY work

[everydaymiracles]

Hi there! I am kicking into high gear with my doula/CBE business and looking for more ideas of ways to market my business that really work without costing a fortune.

What I have been able to do:-
Yellowpages.ca has a free listing for business numbers (I use my cell number and they allowed that) Only problem is that it can only go under and existing listing (no doula listing so I put one under Childbirth Education)

I am a member of several organisations and have my listings on their sites (DONA, CAPPA, CASCADE, Canadian Doula Assoc.) While there is a membership fee, I have received referrals from them in the past and there are other benefits to belonging to the org.

Free listings on the web (I saw there is another thread about this will go and post the list I have there!)

I have flyers and business cards at the three local midwifery clinics (and at my children's preschool)

My husband hands out my cards to his work mates (he is on the police force) btw - has anyone has success offering discounts? eg mention this add, my hubby, etc and get 10% of services sort of thing?

I facilitate local doula meetings so have back up and referral arrangements with many of these ladies.

Any other suggestions???? Thanks so much in advance - isn't it lovely to have a pool of doula wisdom to draw from? R

[capandcradle]

Robyn, Marketing and funding development is what I DO, girl! I publish all my stuff for FREE for doulas and other birth helpers. Just go to yahoogroups and search for BirthBiz. The archives are juicy.

Tiff, sorry for the shameless self-promotion :-)) But come join us. There's more than I can post here.

:-)

[Tiffany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by capandcradle Robyn, Marketing and funding development is what I DO, girl! I publish all my stuff for FREE for doulas and other birth helpers. Just go to yahoogroups and search for BirthBiz. The archives are juicy. Tiff, sorry for the shameless self-promotion :-)) But come join us. There's more than I can post here. :-)

As long as it's free, I don't mind.

[SheriMenelli]

Robyn,

Have you networked with other doulas, childbirth educators is your area? Is there a group that gets together? They will be an incredible help with referrals. If you don't have one, you may want to start a birth network or a doula network. The most successful doulas and childbirth educators claim that becoming involved in the meetings really helped them in so many ways.

Do you have a business and marketing plan? How many clients are you looking to get a month? How many do you have now?

Can you tell us about your past clients? Where have they come from? What do they have in common? Where do they hang out or what do they read?

PS - Capandcradle does have a great site. She is an especially good resource for grants.

Warmly,
Sheri Menelli

[MyDoulaStacia]

Sheri, what is the website. The one I tried is showing as non working.

[SheriMenelli]

Do you mean mine or the one for Anne? Anne capandcradle. She is at www.yahoogroups.com. Then search for birthingbiz. You have to get permission to be part of the group but it is a good stie as well.

Sheri Menelli
sheri@birthingbusiness.com