Three ways to explain what you do as a postpartum professional

When I started working as a doula, my very first business coach taught me a valuable lesson that has stayed with me for many years. He said:

“People are looking for solutions, not Doulas.”

If you are trying to market your services as a doula or a postpartum professional, you may not going to get a tonne of enquiries with that approach.

Very few people have even heard of doulas! When I used to say I was a doula sometimes people would reply "Oh a jeweller!? How lovely!" Or if they did know what a doula was, they would assume I attends births when I'm actually all about postpartum.

I stopped saying "I am a doula" pretty early on - it didn't show my prospective clients what I could do for them.

There are three ways you can get around this gap in knowledge about postpartum professionals and reach the women who need your services.

1. Focus on who you work with, not yourself

I hate to break it to you, but no one cares about what you do. They only care about what you can do for them. A list of your qualifications is ok as fine print, but it’s not going to catch her attention or her heart.

Instead, write for pregnant people, and be very specific about the kinds of pregnant people you love working with. Does your ideal client love yoga? Is this her first baby? What does she enjoy eating? Where does she live? What does she read?

Write about yourself and she’ll very quickly lose interest. Write about her and you will be able to make a connection.

2. Be very clear about the problem that you solve

Instead of introducing myself as a postpartum doula I learned to say:

“I work with pregnant women who want to avoid feeling exhausted and overwhelmed and find peace and joy in the transition to motherhood.”

Figure out what your ideal client longs for and what she wants to avoid. Introduce yourself as part of the solution to our cultural problems. You can instantly connect with her and build a trusting relationship when you know her dreams and fears.

3. Make your marketing educational

I love and teach content marketing. It’s a way of marketing your services by giving plenty of generous free information in order to build trust with your audience.

Content marketing has many benefits, but I’ll focus on just one. When you sell by teaching, you educate many more people than just your clients. You are contributing to the global change in the way we understand postpartum.

So go create content! Write blog posts, run a workshop, speak at local events… Share your postpartum message with anyone who will listen.

You will raise your profile as the go-to postpartum professional in your town, plus you will be part of a larger cultural shift in the way we support Newborn Mothers.

Your turn! How can you better explain what you do to potential clients?

Want To Be A Postpartum Doula?

This course will teach you everything you need to know to start working as a postpartum doula, including how to actually start your own business and get paying clients.