Grow Doula Business: Wildly simple, but impactful advice to help

Written by Meg Kant

Grow your Doula Business

This week we had our final class of our Maternal Support Practitioner training for the Fall 2022 semester. The last class is always bittersweet because as much as we are excited for you students to be starting or growing your doula business, but we know we will miss them immensely every Thursday!

The last class is always reserved for business support. It is an introduction into getting your doula business off the ground. 

One of the most impactful pieces of advice that we share in this class is the power of niching your business.

What is niche marketing?

Niche marketing is focusing your support and services on a specific target market. By focusing on a well-defined audience it makes marketing easier. You are able to hone in on your branding, as well as get a deeper understanding of what your clients are truly looking for. More importantly, it helps the clients who need you find you more quickly and easily which ultimately grow your doula business. 

To give you a clearer idea, let’s start with an example.

Example: You are a doula and looking for bookkeeping services to help you manage your business expenses. You take to google and start looking up bookkeeping options, and 3 options pop up:

1. ABC Bookkeeping
2. World Wide Bookkeeping
3. Bookkeeping for Doulas 

Choosing the Right Niching Strategy for Doula Business Growth

Which of these options are you most likely to choose to grow your doula business? Probably number 3 right? It is clear that this bookkeeping service is designed for you, and it will understand any pain points you might have as a doula.

This is what potential clients are looking for as well. They want to know that you understand their pain points and that you are going to solve their problems. This is where niching becomes an integral part of your business execution. 

Let’s take a look at the different types of niching available.

*content note: we do not love the term target market, and inside our Birthworker Business School we use a different term, but for the purposes of this blog, we are sticking with the term most commonly used. 

1. Broad offer to a specific target market

An example of a broad offer to a specific target could be creating a Childbirth Education Classes (broader offer) for plus sized pregnant people (specific target market). You are able to keep your broad expertise but you’ve created a narrow niche by being very specific with whom you will work. You are able to connect with your target market more easily because you are specifically talking to them!

2. Specific offer to a broad target market

A specific offering is quite often something that is unique to you. It can be a specialty/ education/product you have that others do not. This offer is unique and you will want to be able to reach a broader target market so that there is a large enough demand to sustain your business. For example, one of our Doula Training graduates specialized in fertility, and went on to offer a Mindful Fertility Program (specific offer) for people hoping to get pregnant (broader target market). 

3. Specific offer to a specific target market

In an effort to narrow down and define your niche you might be tempted to become specific in both your offer and your target market. If you are too specific in your niche, you may not be able to reach enough people to sustain your business, unless you create a VIP/Premium experience. An example of this might be offering ‘Starting Solids’ classes (specific offer) for infants with special dietary needs (specific target market). This type of offering can work well, primarily if you are offering support digitally. 

4. Broad offer to a broad target market

We cannot be ‘all things to all people’. Unless you are a marketing wizard there is a good chance that if you try to reach everyone, you’ll wind up reaching no one. People want to feel heard and understood, plus they want to know their problems will be solved by working with you. Achieving this would be nearly impossible with a broad/ broad niche. An example of this might be offering childbirth education (broad offer) to all pregnant people (broad target market). 

Doula Business: Why it is important to understand niching

We often hear from doulas (who haven’t taken our Birth Worker Business School) who are struggling to find clients. It feels like their marketing efforts are not doing anything, and they are wondering if they should simply give up on their dream to be a doula. These are people who are passionate and dedicated to supporting folks, and we do not want business to be the thing holding them back.

When we introduce the idea of niching it can help provide a roadmap to get things in their business more clear. It helps provide structure and direction to grow your doula business. When you are clear on who you want to work with, it becomes easier for those people to find you. So it is not only great for your business, but great for your future clients!

What type of niche are you doing? And if you’re not, what are some ideas you can think of! 

If you are looking for support in your doula business check out our Birth Worker Business School that starts in April. And if you are ready to niche click on the courses below to support specific services to broad markets! 

• Infant + Family Sleep Professional

• Fertility Support Specialist

ps. We firmly believe that whatever you choose to do in your business needs to feel right for you. If niching isn’t your cup of tea, that is all good, we hope you find an option that is!

What type of niche are you doing? And if you’re not, what are some ideas you can think of! Share away in the comments.

wildly simple, but impactful advice to help grow your doula business

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Xoxo,