5 reasons why your birth business marketing might not be working and what do do about it!
Running a birth business can sometimes feel like you’re feeling around in the dark, with no clear direction on how to market your services. Then when you try… nothing but crickets…
Here are 5 common mistakes when trying to marketing your birth business and what you can do about it!
Mistake 1
You are trying to talk to everyone instead of a specific type of person.
What do I mean? Everyone in this world has different, needs, fears, wants, etc. To be most effective in your marketing efforts, you MUST narrow down your message to speak to your "ideal" client, the specific person you're trying to target and speak directly to their specific fears, hopes, and dreams!
When you try to talk to everyone, you end up talking to no one.
What to do about it? Write down exactly who your ideal client is. Who is that specific person you are trying to serve. The person who would be your "ideal" client, someone you'd love working with.
Get super specific down to what their day is like, what they look like, what they do for a living, etc. Then find that person in real life and ask them directly what they want, their fears, their hopes, and most importantly what is their ideal solution to the problem that you're trying to solve for them. Then use that information in your marketing materials!
You will be WAY more effective in your message by taking these steps.
Mistake 2
Your website doesn't work properly. #ugh
What do I mean? Awesome! Someone makes it to your website... but then they try to contact you but can't find your name, phone number or email, or your website contact form is broken, your website doesn't work on mobile properly, the text is super generic and doesn't speak to them or it's confusing what you do, the content is organized in a way where people can't find the information they are looking for, or they don't know where you're located... Utah, New York, or Chicago?! Or they have no idea what you sell or how they can buy it! etc. etc. etc.
What to do about it? Have someone you really trust audit your website! Ask people who are in your target market their honest opinions. Consider hiring a professional website developer or marketing professional for a consult or website audit. Then take that feedback and adjust accordingly!
You'd be surprised how visible, obvious, or glaring a mistake can be for someone who isn't directly involved! A fresh set of eyes can make a huge difference.
Mistake 3
Your branding/design is off-putting or comes off as "homemade" or not credible.
What do I mean? Crazy fonts, crazy colors, clunky stretched images, etc. Your branding isn't consistent throughout ALL your marketing materials. Your design or branding might look too "homemade" and people then might think your services are not professional as well, even if that's not true! The way brands make us "feel" often leaves a lasting impression, good or bad.
If your brand looks chaotic and not buttoned up or unprofessional, it might be leaving that lasting impression on your potential customers.
Your customer wants to trust you and the first impression (even if it's just the visual and on the surface) can quite literally make or break that initial trust. It can mean the difference between them calling you or your competition down the block.
What to do about it?
Try to be consistent with the fonts and colors you use. Line up design elements on your marketing materials so things have an underlying structure. When arranging elements on a page, think about the organization of content, how it will be read by your customer. More is not always better... so don't try to fill every bit of white space on your page.
When in doubt, keep it simple and clean. If design is not in your wheelhouse consider hiring a professional graphic designer to give you guidance or do it for you! If you feel like you'd get a few more clients from that investment, it's totally worth it.
Mistake 4
You are rarely sharing or producing content online so people forget you even exist!
What do I mean? Our attention span is short these days and we are constantly being overstimulated by a million different things!
If you post something once... then never again or not for another month or so people WILL forget you exist. If you "opt-out" of social media all together, that will hurt your business.
In the world of online marketing and social media if you aren't consistently showing up in people's feeds, people will end up using use the services of those who are showing up instead.
What to do about it? You don't need to have social media take all your time! Sometimes just small little posts of people see you, your services, your face can help you stay on the front of people's minds.
To help not get sucked into the black hole of social media, you can use social media schedulers or schedule posts in your calendar and then carve out time to bust out a bunch of posts all in one day. That way you don't have to always be staring at your screen! Looking for content ideas? Try to educate people online in small little posts consistently to help frame you as the "expert" in your field.
Or share other people's content (with credit) and just show up, both online and in real life. Being visible and in the front of people's minds is the goal. Creating content really is super important when it comes to marketing online.
Mistake 5
You're not collecting emails.
What do I mean? Did you know it typically takes about 7 points of contact before someone will actually "act". Say someone comes to your website, they LOVE it, but they aren't yet pregnant or not ready to hire a doula, midwife, or IBCLC. They leave... and forget you exist and you have no way of getting in touch. #ugh
What to do about it? Setup a free email service like MailerLite or Mailchimp and make the goal of "collecting emails" top of your marketing priority list.
If you had collected that person's name and email on your website during that first point of contact you, you'd be able to stay in touch with them by providing consistent value through education or information. That way when they are eventually ready for your services they think of YOU first and know exactly how to reach out to you!
Collecting emails is an easy way to not lose long and short term leads.
BONUS! Mistake 6
You are offering a "service" and not a "solution".
What do I mean? You aren't speaking to a problem you're solving for your customer. People want solutions to their problems! They want to know "why" they should invest their hard earned cash on your services.
What to do about it? What are you problem are you solving for them? You might need to tweak how you present your services in your marketing materials and/or website. Need direction? ASK your ideal client what their ideal solution would be, then provide that!
Here's a quick example: "You are a birth doula" (a service). They might think "that's great, not sure why I would need that" and move on.
Maybe try "I support you and your partner so you can both have a less fearful and more empowering birth experience!" or "I support your partner so they don't feel completely useless on how to help you in birth. Saving marriages, one birth at a time!" (a solution).
When you are speaking about a "solution" to your ideal client's biggest fears, hopes, or pain points your marketing will be way more effective!
Communicate exactly why they should invest in your services, what's in it for them? What are they gaining or avoiding by investing in your services?
But Kristen, I don’t have the time, patience, or technical abilities to fix these things! That’s ok! That’s why I’m here, to help you be more effective and less stressed.
Are you making some of these mistakes? Are you feeling overwhelmed about it all? Few things:
- Consider hiring someone to fix it for you! Think to yourself, will investing help with this, help me get more clients? If the number of additional clients you think will get you outweighs the initial investment of professional design or marketing services, do it!
- Invest 20 hours to learn how to fix it yourself! This is a great approach, if money is tight and you are truly committed to the time investment to figure out how to fix it. Be sure to schedule it in your calendar and take action!
- Stalk other brands who are “on-point” with their marketing, design, and message and study them, every. single. day. Then use that as inspiration for your own branding and marketing. Observe what’s working and what’s not.
- Ask someone you trust to audit your website and brand content. Be sure to only ask people who you trust will tell you the hard, absolute truth. Keep in mind Uncle Bob whose 80 and doesn’t use the internet might not be your ideal client… so his opinion should only hold so much weight. Asking your ideal client will be the most helpful.
- Take a pause to really ask YOURSELF what do you really do and why should anyone care or spend money to buy your products or services? Be brutally honest and realize if YOU don’t know or aren’t clear on that, no one else is going to know either. Self awareness and fine-tuning might be all you need to get your birth business headed in the right direction and help make your marketing plan more clear and more effective moving forward.
ALL this being said, know you’ve got this! Running a birth business is hard freaking work! Just know what you do is immensely valuable and we need your services to reach more people.
I hope this was helpful! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it all. If you ever need professional help with your branding, design, or website within your birth business, I’m your girl! Reach out any time to hello@wildworldmama.com.
Have you downloaded my FREE digital marketing strategy guide yet? If not, be sure to grab that here:
