Some people call it marketing.
Actually, advertising is a part of marketing. And for small business owners like birth professionals, marketing can be an overwhelming topic to even begin thinking about.
You may have heard the phrase "If a woman doesn't know her options, she doesn't have any". Well, the same concept can be applied to marketing as with birth. If the consumer (expectant parent, new parent, or even birth professional) does not know there are alternatives to what is usual or accepted OR if there are better places to find the information (evidence/research based), then there are basically no alternatives or better places to find information!
And in 2009, we can no longer use the same application of information dissemination that was used in 1999, or 1989 or 1979!
In 1979, for example, childbirth classes touted cloth pelvises, reel-to-reel movies, and advertised by word of mouth OR flyers if you were lucky enough to find a printer who would give you a good deal on typesetting. And, oh by the way, computers took up as much space as your kitchen. What is an internet?
In 2009, relaxation music is loaded onto iPods with small speakers, dvds with computer generated graphics of anatomy/physiology can be played on personal players and most of us can make our own business cards/brochures with our desktop or laptop computers or access an inexpensive service called Vista Print. Many of us have our own websites, blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages (personal and business fan pages).
If you are still advertising like it was 1979, you may want to reconsider your marketing strategies. Expectant parents today don't think like expectant parents of 30 years ago.
As a small business owner, neither should you.
Want to know more? Look for my new book coming October 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment