Katie The Traveling Lactation Consultant
Katie The Traveling Lactation Consultant
Ep 103 Marketing for IBCLC's with Katie Bridgewater
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Owning a small business often means wearing every hat, trying to do all the things. Marketing is especially tough if you don't know how to do it, or maybe it's hard to market it without feeling slimy as a healthcare provider. However in this episode Katie Oshita IBCLC and Katie Bridgewater, marketing expert for Perinatal professionals, discuss how this is possible. How you can use some basic tools to make marketing easier and grow your business.
Podcast Guest: Katie Bridgewater is a strategic copywriter for lactation professionals & other professionals in the maternal wellness space.
Katie will help turn infant-stage ideas into high-converting, emotionally resonant copy that actually connects. Whether you’re preparing a course launch, trying to boost SEO, or wanting to stay top of mind with your audience of parents, I’m here to help you make it happen with words that work.
Katie works best with people who value transformative education, authenticity, and connection. If you’re passionate about serving moms and families through meaningful content, let’s tell your story in a way that builds trust and grows your lactation business.
Podcast Host: Katie Oshita, RN, BSN, IBCLC has over 25 years of experience working in Maternal-Infant Medicine. While Katie sees clients locally in western WA, Katie is also a telehealth lactation consultant believing that clients anywhere in the world deserve the best care possible for their needs. Being an expert on TOTs, Katie helps families everywhere navigate breastfeeding struggles, especially when related to tongue tie or low supply. Katie is also passionate about finding the root cause of symptoms, using Functional Medicine practices to help client not just survive, but truly thrive. Email katie@cuddlesandmilk.com or www.cuddlesandmilk.com
Disclaimer, this content is meant for information only and not as a diagnosis or medical treatment for any condition. If you or a left one needs help, please seek out a qualified medical professional for assistance. Welcome to the podcast. I'm your host, Katie Ostadt, BSN, RN, IBCLC, an infant feeding specialist. Quench your thirst for knowledge and travel with me across the nation to discover, learn, collaborate, and better serve clients from all over the globe. Let's ride and thrive together. So Katie, I'm wondering about hiring copywriter and marketing. These are things that anyone can do. Like, I mean, a small business owner like myself and in private practice, it is something I could do, do all my own marketing and copywriting and all of that. Why would someone choose not to? What's the advantage there?
SPEAKER_00Well, that's a really good question, Katie. And we're we're talking Katie to Katie today. So which is so fun. Um, so your question is why wouldn't somebody do it or why should they decide to do this?
SPEAKER_01Why should they? Why should someone think about it when I know that a lot of people when they're have a small business by themselves?
SPEAKER_00Um, yeah, that's absolutely a great question. The main reason I say to hire someone to help assist with the writing portion of your business is it is daunting. It's very scary because your voice is something that you've owned for your whole life, right? And in speaking to your audience, it's something that, you know, you're speaking directly to them. It's how you connect with them. But there's something that I've noticed in there's been a shift in how families find support, how families and moms find support from IBC LCs. Maybe let's say five to 10 years ago, moms would ask their neighbor or maybe call their mom for a lactation consultant recommendation. A lot of where you would get referrals was from word of mouth. It was from your website a bit. But now here's what the mom's doing. She's scrolling on her phone at 2 a.m. while she's cluster feeding. Because one, she's trying to escape. Two, she's trying to find answers. So I know as a first-time mom, I would scroll on Instagram for my uh solutions, also, you know, searching Google, which is where your website comes into play. So she's searching for someone who gets it before she even picks up the phone to call someone or to ask for recommendation. So why is it worth it for an IBCLC to have someone take this task over? Well, it's somebody that understands this dynamic deeply and understands emotional techniques that can speak directly to their audience that they actually might not even notice that they're missing. So hopefully that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01It's different now. People are sitting there scrolling, they are looking at social media for um everything from education to support and information and referral sources. And I think it's it's great and a little can be awful at the same time. Um partly because I know that for a lot of parents, post-partum mood comes in when they're looking at social media too much. Um, I think it does for most people, but is also can be a great source. I mean, I found myself recently, I had I had a um baby wearing expert come to one of my support groups, and I thought I kind of understood baby wearing and I, because I wore my kids a lot, and I realize I know the tip of the iceberg as a parent, not as a professional, and learned so much from them. And now sometimes I'll sit on Instagram and look at some of the baby wearing people putting on all these different apps and carriers and styles, and it's fantastic. And I can see how it definitely can suck you in and you can just kind of watch video after video and be like, wow, this is so great. And this is, I'm learning so much, and these are so different. And so I'm I'm glad that parents have that too. I mean, there's good and bad with social media, but I think it can bring connection and it can bring education to families.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yes. I I think that, yeah, there's two sides to that social media coin, you know, that one can be negative, the other can be positive. And the cool thing that IBCLCs can do with social media and just any content that they put out there, I'm talking about social media, blogs, if they have an email list, you know, any um marketing or content they're putting out there, they have the opportunity to put that positive vibe into their potential clients' inbox or potential clients need or potential clients' Google search. So if you think about it, they're really the one, you know, if you own your content and you're really focused on who your target audience is and you're speaking directly to them, then it can be, it can be a really powerful thing. So yeah. Something that I have found about um IBCLCs is they are often um a lighthouse for families. And so, like really leaning into that lighthouse aspect really works for IBC LCs, acting, you know, as a guide. And so leaning more into that, a copywriter or like um somebody to help with your marketing can help you get um really aligned on what that is for you. Because as an IBCLC, you have to ask yourself, what is your zone of genius? Right. Your zone of genius is speaking, supporting, and guiding families and moms on their lactation journey. That's where your zone of genius is. So you have to ask yourself, am I to a point where content creation is taking away from that? And so that's typically where I see myself helping IBC LCs or other like birth professionals, is they're kind of done letting content creation come in between them and their zone of genius. So that that that's what I find.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And I think it's important as the small business owner to think about what skills you can do well, what um, you know, what you can do in a reasonable amount of time, and you know, finding, you know, other professionals who can support you with the skills that you don't try at. You know, some people we were talking before, and you said you have an accountant, some people go that way, some people do all their own finances, but need a copywriter. Some people, you know, have someone in private practice that maybe does their billing or, you know, these types of things. And it's it's important to understand that we can't wear every hat, at least not well. And yeah, uh at least most people just don't have that broad of a skill set. Most people aren't good at everything needed for a business. And most people don't have that much time to be able to put into every task either. And so I think you're you're right on by saying, you know, like focus on your genius, on where you thrive and what you do good, and figure out what you can afford to offload and which, you know, which ones are basically like those pain points, right? Which things are the hardest for you to get done. Exactly. I think a lot of people worry that marketing in the perinatal space, especially because we're we're talking about medical care, we're talking about wellness care, we're talking about um vulnerable new families. And it's like, how do we make that not feel sales-y? How do we feel um how do we have integrity in our marketing? And how do we um reach families and show them that we're here for support and education, but not that we're just here trying to make money off of them?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Leaning into that, um, I think it's a great mindset shift for um IBCLCs to have is whenever they're starting to think about like their marketing being like, oh, I don't want to be salesy, like I don't want to be gross, you know, I'm not here to become an internet influencer. I'm not here to, you know, you're really there to help people. And so honestly, what I tell IBCLC to do is double down on that, double down on your desire to listen and help parents and moms and let that be reflected in your content. So what I see some IBCLCs do or other people in this space, in this lactation or birth space, is they do like to go right, they do like to go right for the sale sometimes, you know. And I know people in your audience have found that like, oh, well, I don't want to be like that. And the answer to that is you don't have to be at all. You know, it's definitely your choice on how you present yourself. So my question for IBC LCs would be when a mom comes to see you and they're overwhelmed, exhausted, and worried about their lactation, their breastfeeding, what what do you do? Like what like what's the first thing that you do when when you take on a mom as a client? Right.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, typically you would start by getting to know them, learning their history, you know, finding out what questions they have, things like that.
SPEAKER_00Right. So you're listening, right? You're listening to their questions, you're validating their concerns, you're educating them, and you're supporting them. And that's exactly what your marketing should do. It's exactly what your content should do. So um leaning into that, you know, um, before you that you allow them uh, well, before they let you into their lives, they have to know, like, and trust you, and you have to bring them through that. And that's really what good marketing does. And honestly, uh as I'm working with in this space with IBC LCs, it's um, you know, there's really no space for salesy or um gross marketing, you know, in my opinion, you know, you need to lean into yeah, what you already do for clients and let content reflect that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I think that's just a a big obstacle that kind of keeps a lot of um a lot of professionals from marketing because they don't want to be that way, which I I think it's good to acknowledge that and to look at it and say, okay, that's not what we're trying to do, but that doesn't mean that you can't do any marketing, right? I mean, marketing is just getting your information out there and, you know, having marketing yourself to a pediatrician, you know, is is still marketing, like bringing over your words talking and meeting the pediatricians in the area, going to meet chiropractors, you know, talking to the dualists, that's still marketing. It doesn't need to be kind of this sleazy trying to get money kind of thing. It's really about supporting these families and all the work that we do and just trying to help build that network for these parents. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And it shouldn't feel pushy. It shouldn't feel like you're making somebody do something they don't want to do. Because that's what bad marketing is. You know, good marketing is what you're describing, you know, where you're making those authentic connections. And yeah, I mean, it's just really like, who are my people? How do I make it easier to find my people? And that's what great marketing does.
SPEAKER_01Right. And I think there's plenty of examples of bad marketing out there that we've all seen, everything from, you know, the Facebook ads that convince you that something's going to be an amazing product, and you buy it and you're like, this is not what I thought. Right. Plenty of examples of what not to do. Um, but I think that there's a lot of there are a lot of professionals out there making good content. And I think when we look to those, we can kind of learn from them a little bit too. Obviously, not um, definitely not wagerizing content. That's definitely not what I mean, but not also just not trying to copy somebody else's messages or um, you know, their formatting or anything like that, because it's it's really not about what somebody else does, right? It's about making that authentic connection and having your voice. So what would you, what would you say are like, you know, the mistakes that IBC LCs make in marketing?
SPEAKER_00That's a really good question. Um, I have boiled it down to three main mistakes that I see IBC LCs make. And I want to have a little caveat before this. If you're listening and you recognize yourself in any of these mistakes, you're an excellent company. And these are not character flaws whatsoever. They are just really common patterns that I've noticed that are really easy to fall into. So I so I just wanted that to be a caveat. So if you see yourself in these, don't worry, you know. Um they are yeah, just commonalities that I've noticed. But the first one that I notice is especially on websites, a little bit on social media, but especially on websites, I look at an IBCLC's website and I said something like, I help with breastfeeding, pumping, bottle feeding, sleep, solid foods, tongue ties, NICU support, multiples, and then the list goes on and on. And I look at this and I know that IBC LCs can do all these things, and there's no reason why they shouldn't. But your training, well, you know, while your training is comprehensive and you learn about all these things, when you try to speak to everyone, even like all the moms, um, we end up connecting with no one or not as many people as what as we'd like. So what I have found really powerful is when IBCLC decide to niche down a little bit. So imagine you're a mom at 2 a.m. and she's specifically worried about going back to work and maintaining her supply. She finds two websites. One lists 20 different services and she's a little overwhelmed by all the options. The other says, I help working moms navigate the pump returning returning to work and juggling pumping without losing their minds over their milk supply. Who is she going to call? Who is she going to contact? Most likely the second one, because it's speaking directly to her problem. So not to say that, you know, let's say that you specialized in this, where you're helping moms return to work from pumping, that you know, to help them with their pumping. Um, not to say that you can't help somebody else with their latching issues or bottle refusal or anything like that. It's just your website and your messaging is is more directed towards that person, and you're going to get more leads from that. You're going to get more qualified clients that are ready to say yes.
SPEAKER_01So I think that's very true that we can't, we can't do everything. And I say that to people all the time. I say I really don't do multiples. Um, I have occasionally done them. And with the caveat of talking with the parent first and explaining that this is not my specialty, but they had Tang Tai babies, and Teng Tai is my specialty. And so you wanted to work with me. Uh, I don't do inducing lactation. Again, I think it's a fantastic thing, but I just haven't had a lot of education or experience in it. And I know some other people who are fantastic, so I refer out. You know, I don't really do NICU babies. Um, I actually worked in the NICU eons ago. Uh, it's not my favorite place. And it's just, I think sometimes those, especially certain ones, like there are things that our lived experiences affect our professional choices and education, right? I have not had a NICU baby or multiples or induced lactation. Right. I have had tung tie babies and I've had a tank tie myself, and I've spent a lot of time in the airway space, and that builds for me in that professional space of, well, I had a lot of interest in it because it's affected me. So then I spend a lot of time taking classes and reading and learning and talking to other professionals. So I think it's really important to understand that. And I do think that a lot of people are worried that when they niche down, they will be cutting out, you know, 90% of the potential clients. And I'm always trying to explain that it's not really that way because we can't serve everyone.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah. I I think that they fall into the the trap of like, well, if I don't, if I don't include everyone, then someone who's gonna come across my site, I'm gonna miss out, you know, on that person that needs XYZB. So yeah, so it's one of those things that's a slippery slope and it's it is a little scary, I think, to niche down. But I think a lot of IBCLCs that have done that would say it's really helped them out with finding clients that are more aligned with what they want to serve them with. And then also um just it makes it easier, you know, for people to find them. That's just what it comes down to.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I agree. So what would be your second? Um, you said you had three, right? So what's your your second most common mistake?
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah. My second um common mistake that I see is okay, well, I don't need to be online because I have word of mouth referrals, so I'm good. So so here's the thing. So if you're an IBC LC, you're getting referrals, word of mouth is working. Why mess with it, right? Well, don't get me wrong, word of mouth referrals are absolutely amazing. I love word of mouth referrals. It's actually one of the most powerful ways to get new clients because somebody recommending someone else word of mouth is they're, you know, they're usually a more qualified person. They're like, oh yeah, I trust that person who told me about you. I'm ready to, I'm ready to do this. But now, good marketing though, isn't going to mess with this dynamic. It's just going to make it even better. So, my question would be, what if you could leverage these word of mouth referrals even more? Because these moms who want to be um who want to find you that need whatever service you're providing, like whatever specialty you're in, they who haven't heard from somebody that already knows you, they can't find you, right? They don't know someone who knows you. So the families who do get referred, they're still going to look you up online, likely before calling. That's just kind of how the world works now, where we go on people's websites before we actually make a call. So you have to ask yourself, what would they find on my website? Would they find my social media? Um, would they want to be part of my email list if they visited my website, that kind of thing. So that's the that's the second thing that I've run into.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I agree. I think even when someone refers um me to somebody else, whether it's a medical professional or contractor or like anything, the first thing I do is look them up, right? Yeah. And I will admit I find it very disconcerting when they're someone who has nothing, no website, no Yelp, no Facebook, no nothing. And I'm like, are are they real? Like in this day and age, you I I think most professionals really need a digital, you know, trail, something, something to show the, you know, where they are, some basic facts. It doesn't have to be everything, it doesn't have to be huge, but I do agree that they need to have something, especially with absolutely looking for that.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yes, absolutely. So um, yeah, I think it's a really important thing to think about as, and and I know that a lot of IBC LCs, they already do have websites, you know, but you have to ask yourself too, like, well, like how approachable is your website? Because your website is just an extension of you, right? And their website or your website is your first impression, typically, if someone's looking for you online, if they haven't met you in person before. And if you think about like, what do I want my first impression to look like? Do I want it to look scattered and um not that direct, or do I want it to be very qualifying, speaking directly to my target audience's needs? So you just have to decide, um, yeah, if if that's important to you.
SPEAKER_01All right. So what's number three?
SPEAKER_00So number three, and this one I I have found to be pretty common, is in social media captions, blogs, emails, website copy, IBC LCs and other birth professionals are defaulting to clinical language. So your website talks about feeding assessments, evidence-based protocols, you know, or more um, just more clinical language, you know, that doesn't, that your audience may not understand what that means. So I I I want to say that while we know that you're experts and these terms can show, oh yes, I know what this means, it's not speaking directly to your audience because what your mom, what what the mom is typing when they're trying to find you is why does breastfeeding hurt so much? Or is my baby getting enough milk? Or help with breastfeeding, you know, you know, things like that. And so it's important to translate what they're searching over into your language that you use on your website or wherever you're posting content. So typically your copy or content should be between a fifth to ninth. grade reading level to be able to fit everybody's reading abilities within within your content.
SPEAKER_01Right. And just trying to to really be um kind of approachable in that language too. That's one of the things that I've said with my podcast is that I'm not, I'm not, I've never had my audience focus be parent. That's partly because of language, because we're having clinical discussions and I'm not going to take the time to break them all down. Of course, because my focus has been professional to professional discussion. Now again, parents can't listen to it, but it's important to think about your audience and who you're talking to. And yeah, if you're discussing, you know, the frenulum and the gene gloxis muscle on social media, instead of saying, you know, is breastfeeding really hard? Is your baby choking and gagging and like or even using you know the basic tongue tie? But like if we get too deep into clinical terms, I think we definitely lose our audience.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And and with the way um clinical language, it can kind of alien, it can sometimes alienate people whether like, I don't know what that means. Like, you know, so if I don't know what it means, then maybe I'm gonna leave this website, maybe I'm gonna leave this page, you know, and not continue that discovery of who this person is. So yeah, so I see that definitely as a as a roadblock there. So speaking, you know, with with that um with that in mind on your website is in anywhere you post content is going to be really important. So yeah. Those are my three things. The don't help you don't have to help everyone um word of mouth referrals are great, but there's ways that you can use marketing to leverage it. And then three, don't default to clinical language and use language that your audience understands if your audience is you know an audience of moms. Now in your case, you know, you said you speak a lot to IBCLCs professional to professional. Now that is going to be you know that's gonna be different. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01So okay we've identified the common problems. What do you do about each of them?
SPEAKER_00Oh that is a wonderful question. It really does depend on what um where that certain IBCLC is within their business. So I'll give you I'll give you a quick example. One of my lactation consultant clients she had been an authority figure in the industry for a while. She specializes in bottle refusal and one thing that she needed help with was hey she said hey Katie I'm I have my website set up I, you know, I made a new website and I'm ready to launch some new content. And she's like I have no idea like what that's going to look like but I just need help organizing my thoughts and putting it out there into high converging copy and content. And so from there, you know, we created a content plan and we went from there. She had goals to promote her her courses both for IBCLCs and for um families. So she had two different courses and we continually work on promoting those courses and I'm trying to convince her to start an email list. So there's you know there's all these things that you know that contribute to that. So that's just that's just one example. But um do you have like if you could tell me like maybe a specific problem that an IBCLC would have and I could tell you how I would solve it if that makes it if it narrows it down a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I'm just thinking from each of the problems the most common problems you listed too so like you know that person who is trying to reach everyone um yeah you know like let's start with that one like what do they do? And I think I mean I think you in some ways already answered that but like you have to narrow down a little bit and I think parking down is at least for me for my view as a professional it's about acknowledging that I have certain skill sets and I don't have others. And yes like I said I don't do inducing lactation really or twins very often. And while I could do them, yes, they're my scope of practice and I could figure it out that parent deserves the best provider for them. They deserve someone who really knows what they're doing and has as much experience and education as possible for them on that. And so for me I look at it as also a chance to have the most success for the clients to be um to have the most knowledge possible to be able to help them like if I'm trying to help everybody I'm really not going to do a good job.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Yeah like going back to going going back to that with niching down that is what I would recommend for this person who is saying I help everyone what I would probably do is the first thing I would do is on if this was just on their website, I would do a website audit of their website and I would get a sense of what words they're already ranking for, if they're ranking for any. And we would go out, we would create a plan on okay, now that we're niching down into your specialty and we're trying to think of ways to make that more narrow, we would I would research specific keywords that mothers are actually typing into the search engine and we would um adjust the website copy to cater to that and to focus on that with strategic placement. So we would work on on that and then we could work on other content goals for them to again dive even deeper into you know into that whether that was starting a blog an email list or social media captions and uh creating a you know a funnel for their target audience to to walk through that's what I would do.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01So that makes perfect sense because we had basically too broad of a talking point. We were just trying to reach everyone and so the solution is to narrow down to focus on your skills and to reflect that in who you're trying to reach in your message. So that makes sense. What about those who don't have a digital trail I mean obviously if they're getting good referral sources from word of mouth and things like that, that's great. But having some sort of basic um you know even a really a basic way of getting some information about that person, I think is really necessary and helpful.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah the first thing that I would say to someone who who depends fully on word of mouth, I would say, well, start a website, you know, that's your first step and then to go from there you can do social media but honestly if social media really isn't your thing I would just start to you know if you really don't want to be on social media I would just recommend to start an email list because you're likely collecting emails already from your clients, right? So all you have to do is like ask permission saying, hey like I'm starting an email list. Do you mind if I add you to it I already have your email and then on your website you can have an easy opt-in for people to add themselves to your email list. Maybe you've provided them with a helpful resource that they want to exchange their email list, their um their email address for that's what I would recommend to start with because um because email lists are pretty powerful in that too. So that would be my first two things for someone who doesn't have much of a digital presence yet um to start with.
SPEAKER_01Okay that makes perfect sense. Ah so then the the obvious answer for those who are using kind of more clinical language would be to remember who they're speaking to to again kind of that target audience. And um you know I think I remember when I was I was pretty new in private practice and I was meeting with my first business advisor and he was very big in marketing and social marketing and social media and Facebook and just different things. And one of the big things that he really focused on was figuring out who my ideal client was right and I of course got stuck in the idea that well I could have more than one ideal client. And he's like okay so make a couple but focus on who you would you know who you'd be able to help the best like you know have that that focus because that focus helps us find that voice and if we remember who we're talking to then the language will be different as well.
SPEAKER_00Oh absolutely yeah uh what you're describing there when you're talking to if you have multiple audiences, what you're describing is like a buyer persona, you know, where we can actually write out what is the best way to speak to a certain portion of your audience or a specific type of audience. I know that one of my IBC LC clients I've cultivated two buyer personas for her one for mainly like moms and parents and then one for fellow IBC LCs, right? So creating these buyer personas, um, they include information like um usually I name these buyer personas like for example an overwhelmed mom could be her name could be like Anxious Amy or something like that. And anxious Amy she um you know she she works um a full-time job she is overwhelmed with returning to work um she needs help with her pumping issues you know so all of these things you know that's just an example of um a person that you could be speaking to whatever you're wanting to focus on right so it just makes it super specific and super easy to um dial in on this person. So a buyer persona would really help writing one of those out and then also creating a brand voice guide for self, you know, to help guide your help guide your content. Large companies use it to help them with their brand voice and then independent contractors or independent practitioners can do the same thing.
SPEAKER_01I think that's a great idea to to also acknowledge that we can have like you said more than one audience. I have you know clients that I want to speak to and new parents but I also speak to professionals through the podcast and everything else. So it's okay to have you know different um voices for that but to be aware of who you're talking to and make sure that that language and what you're saying really fits um it really fits who you're talking to at the time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah absolutely and I I think it really having these buyer personas and all of that really helps you narrow down speaking not really about yourself, you know, because that's another thing I see along with the clinical language is you're speaking about yourself and your expertise. You want to be talking not about yourself, but about how what you offer relates to her the mom specifically that you are wanting to reach so like for example if on your website you put I offer comprehensive lactation consultations including um feeding support and personalized care plans. Okay, you know that's about what you offer and that sentence isn't awful you know but what about what if you flipped it and said when you're sitting there at 3 a.m worried your baby isn't getting enough milk, wondering if you're doing something wrong. I want you to know that you're not alone in this and it's fixable. Let's figure it out together. You know, what's going to feel better you know the first one is about you. The second one is about her. So shifting that I think a buyer persona really helps you make that shift and it really does change everything about your copy.
SPEAKER_01Exactly I think that's one of the one of those time old truths that I remember my mom telling me as a kid is that most people are thinking about themselves more often than they're thinking about somebody else. And it's not meant as a negative I don't mean to say that people are selfish. I mean that everyone comes with their own perspective and it's harder to know somebody else's and you know when someone is for example in this case looking at social media they're not looking to see how amazing you are they're looking to see how you can help them with their problem because they are seeking help. It's not about the practitioner it's about the client I think that's an important part to remember too is like our like you said that that flip of that sentence there made a big difference. It should be you know a patient focused um parent focused statement.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm exactly yeah so I think yeah I think making that shift yeah is extremely important and yeah all what you're saying is yeah I I like what your mom said about how most people are just thinking about themselves. And it is true, you know, not to say that I mean as a person you know it's a natural tendency to think about to to think about yourself. But yeah make the making that shift you know thinking about okay what is my target audience what are they thinking about what are they typing into Google? What are where are they hanging out? What are they yeah so thinking more about that will definitely help make that shift.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Absolutely and I think one of the one of the other um big things that I've been told is to you know the old expression don't put all your eggs in one basket that while Instagram and Facebook are you know great look at things like TikTok and all this stuff you don't want to have only one referral source. And the same can be said it's not just social media the same can be said for anything. You don't want to have only maybe one pediatrician that refers to you. Well what happens if they stop referring to you or if they close their practice and move or whatever happens. Like you don't want to be dependent on only one stream. And so that's a big part too and um I think that's where it can help people who aren't as comfortable with social media right now is that there are other sources. Marketing is not just that yes it is a valuable resource in their time but there are others. So what are some of the other marketing you know tools or options that you will talk to clients about?
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah that's a great question honestly with you talking about social media um I'll start with that I know like I know a lot of lactation professionals they are hesitant to post a lot on Instagram and all the like social media things and I completely understand you know social media can be a great place but it's also unpredictable you know and being unpredictable is not super great you know if you're wanting to get consistent clients and you're like wow you know algorithms change edit you know how you can edit things changes all of that can change and it's also not on land that you own. So what I mean by that is you can go to other places on you know online to be to show people that you exist that is on land that you own. And an example of that is well obviously your website you know that is land that you own you own the domain and you can drive organic traffic to your website. Another way is through creating blogs. Blogs is an extension of your website and you can create all kinds of content that is related to exactly what you do or adjacent to what you do. And it shows people that you have you know expertise and thought leadership within your industry of lactation. So that can help too. So whenever anyone sets up a website I always recommend they also have a blog as well to um help them with their website SEO um and another one that people can go on definitely is creating an email list. Email lists are extremely powerful because if you think about it, on your email list are people that have agreed to hand over their email list and agree to allow you to speak to them directly into their inbox. And that's super powerful because that's another way that's another piece of land you know that you own. So those are a few other ways that you can show up online.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I think the email marketing is um something I go back and forth on like part of me feels like it can be really beneficial. And then the other part of me is you know a consumer who gets a million spam emails every day and I'm like why do I have so much in my inbox um so yes it's trying to find that balance um of you know sending out emails but not too often so that you know families are like this is just too much and unsubscribing or deleting everything. Um and that balance of sharing information but not overdoing it too much so that families are going to get annoyed by the intrusion.
SPEAKER_00Oh absolutely yeah because the cool thing about email marketing I I think a lot of people struggle with oh well like your perspective my perspective too of getting emails like I don't want this email you know like I get all these marketing emails like it's so much you know and one thing that you can really like fight against with that is you have to ask yourself every time if you're starting an email list you have to ask is what I'm communicating valuable is the email itself valuable to my audience and that's the biggest thing that you have to wrestle with is the that's and that's the cool thing about email lists it makes it super intentional because you do want those higher open rate you know you do want people interacting with your emails and just like how you want them interacting with your social media if you do that. But the cool thing is with that um email marketing is you have this opportunity to be very intentional about what you're putting out there. Because these people you can think about it they've agreed to listen to you by giving you their email they're like hey I'm listening are you going to give me something good or is it going to be something I'm gonna say unsubscribe goodbye right so um yeah so it's it's a actually it's a great thing to um to start with actually because being intentional and asking yourself what value is this content giving my audience or what is the purpose of this content asking yourself that and really thinking deeply about that as opposed to oh it's a check in the box. I got to send it out I got to send out this I got to post on social media it's whatever I got to send out this email it's whatever. I think starting with email and really building that can actually be a little bit more intentional about what you're sending out there.
SPEAKER_01So yeah absolutely I really like the example of the land you own too I think that's one of the big things with social media to remember is that one day the algorithm can change the whole platform disappear. Like you have no control over those sort of things and it's important that's why it's so important not to put all those eggs in one basket because if you're relying solely on Instagram and that algorithm changes and you're not showing up anymore or you know the craziness happens and Instagram disappears it breaks you with nothing. And so I love the idea of saying came up the land you own and the email marketing and the website those are things that I can control and are money.
SPEAKER_00Yeah absolutely yeah you're in complete control. That's what I love about it too you know I'm a I'm a big fan of yeah I'm a big fan of email marketing and um some some people listening might might be asking oh like people are still doing email marketing or I thought email marketing was on its way out the door isn't it more about social media honestly I I would say a thousand percent no I mean email marketing is definitely alive and well and if you use it correctly it it's extremely powerful um if you know how to set it up and you know how to do it. So yeah that's what my recommendation would be to IBCLCs especially yeah those yeah independent practitioners like IBCLCs to to do that. I think in the long run it could definitely um it could be more powerful than social media. Not to say that social media isn't powerful but going back to what I said about it is land you own. So think about Instagram as like you're renting a house and then the landlord you know can change the rules whenever they want right or they can say you know oh oh or you did this so we don't like that so you're out of the house right because people get kicked out of social media all the time you know and um on the land you own you're in control you know you decide this is what I can do on my land. So that's why I like to recommend it to um independent practitioners because uh it can be really powerful.
SPEAKER_01Well and I think the thing that I heard too from practitioners is that social media will get the new clients and email or people that they've already seen. So how is that going to help? And I try to remind them that well first of all those these clients you know may have another child um but very commonly they are going to know other people having children, right? And that is a very powerful referral source as you said earlier like having someone who had good care with you recommend to somebody else and then that other person you know finds your website finds your social media seeds if you know if you resonate with them. That's a very powerful way to do it. So I don't look at email marketing as like a dead source of like well these people already know me. No, it's a way to um to help them possibly too like you know they may still um be pumping or be breastfeeding or whatever. They may not you know depending upon how long they've been on that list of yours. But um I think it's a great way to keep you alive in their mind. And then they may be like oh you know if they did help me a lot and I have a friend who's you know struggling with feeding or going to have a baby and really worried about it, you know, then help um with those referral sources.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah. It's a an email list is the key way to let like what I was talking about before, like leveraging that your referral network. It really is, because those people that are part of your email list, they're your biggest fans, right? Because they've you've helped them. They're likely a prior client or somebody, even just somebody who's agreed to say, hey, I am exchanging whatever resource on your website for my email list and I find you valuable, you know? So they're really all right, like weeding out your your biggest fans and they're ready to listen to you. And yeah, you're gonna have people unsubscribe sometimes, and that happens, just like how people unfollow you on social media, you know, for whatever reason. But um, yeah, I I I think that that's really powerful way to to leverage the referrals and um the people that are already in your corner.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I try to go back again to that idea that people tend to think about themselves a lot. So when somebody, you know, unsubscribes from my email marketing or stops following me, I don't I try really hard, at least not to take it as a personal insult. It doesn't mean I did anything wrong or that they don't think this content is valuable. A lot of times, most of the time, it's just that they've moved on because it's not relevant to them anymore, right? Like it is super relevant if you have a you know two-week old. But if you've if your kids have grown up and if you've got a you know two-year-old that you're not recipeing, or four-year-old, or whatever, like this content is okay. And that had nothing to do with meaning everything. And I'm like, we have to remember they're in a different phase, they have different needs, and that's okay. So it's just remembering that they're not going to necessarily, you know, want to follow me forever. That's okay.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, it's more than okay, you know, and like you said, people sometimes they just grow out of your services because they just no longer need you, you know, and they decide, oh, well, I don't need this content coming to me anymore. So I'm gonna hit unfollow or unsubscribe. And it's yeah, it's typically has nothing to do with you as a person. It's really just how you know how it is. And actually you can think about it as somebody saying, um, unsubscribing or unfollowing you, you can see it more as like, okay, this is creating an opportunity for somebody else to come to me that needs me, you know.
SPEAKER_01I just think of it like they've graduated and they know what they need to, and this maybe isn't what they need in their life anymore. It's not really applicable for them. And that's awesome. There's a new space in their life for them to learn about the next stages with their family and the, you know, whatever they might need. And that's okay. Like, you know, that's one of the things about lactation that's really unique is a lot of private practice practitioners will have clients for a long period of time, right? Um, I've been seeing my natural bath for a couple of years, and that's only short because we moved here. Um, you know, I people will see their dentist for a very long time or they're they're, you know, their mental health therapist for a very long time. Whereas in lactation, we are getting new people all the time. All the time because they don't stay with us that long. I mean, I tend to see my clients longer than, you know, many lactation consultants because I have really complex cases and it's just, it's just more of my specialty. And so I still might work with someone for two or three months, and that feels really long in this field. Whereas, you know, most people have been seeing their therapist for years or their primary care for years. So I think that's one of the things that in lactation we really do have to work hard on those referral sources because there's so much constant turnover, which is just the nature of the business.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You have to continue that like that client acquisition wheel going, you know, as you know, you know, taking them through the process of know, like, and trusty. You kind of have to keep that going. And you're right, it's more than just it's um, there's more of a cycle to it than other independent practitioners, like you said, like dentists or like mental health therapists, you know, those are longer relationships. These you are just naturally going to have shorter relationships, and that's just the nature of it. You have to kind of design your marketing to to fit into that. So it's definitely more of a seasonal type surface, not to say like, you know, the four seasons, but seasonal and when it comes to somebody's life, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Can be a very intense thing because the, you know, when I see a new parent, they're typically this is obviously a huge change. They have a new child, whether it's their first or not, still a new human here. Um, they're going through a ton of hormones and feeding and struggles and all of this. And I'm seeing them more often than anyone else's in their life at this point. Like usually the pediatrician is, you know, a two-week visit and a two-month visit. Whereas in that time span, if I'm seeing someone once a week, you know, and by the time they're two months old, the pediatricians maybe seen them two or three times. And I've seen them, you know, eight, like it's an intense relationship, but it's short-lived. Um, and that's that's the way it's meant to be, but it does put us as lactation consultants in this spot of, you know, referral sources and marketing are a necessity to keep a business going. So what are things, you know, as we kind of near wrapping up, like what are things that you would you would tell people? What are the things that they should do?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, that's that's a great, that's a great question because you all you always need a place to start, right? You know, and you can't do everything, you know, like we just talked about, you know, you can't do all the things well. You can just pick a few things that you do really well. And as that applies to your IBCLC practice, it also applies to marketing too. With with marketing, you can't do everything at once, um, especially as an independent practitioner. You know, you don't have a team of people that are um working for you. You don't have a marketing department, you know, the marketing department is you. Or if you decide to hire, you know, an independent contractor to help you out, but it's still a small team of people. And so what I would do is just pick one thing, just start with one thing and learn how to do that thing really well. So after you've picked your audience that you're speaking to, that's the first thing. Just decide what it is you want to put your effort into. Don't decide, I'm gonna start a blog, I'm gonna have my Instagram going, and I'm going to start an email list. Don't do all three things at once, especially if it's just you. Pick one thing that you feel like you're going to do really that you can do really well and put, you know, put effort into that. I would just start with, yeah, with just one thing. Um, so I hope that I hope narrowing that down helps a little bit because I know it marketing, thinking about it can be super overwhelming. And especially when it comes to your personal brand, because, you know, we tend to get very attached and precious about our personal brand, you know, where we're like, everything I put out needs to be perfect, everything I put out needs to be exactly how I want it. And the first thing you should just do is put it out there, even if it's not perfect, even if it's not quite where you need it to be. Learning to do this by action is really going to help you here. Or if you don't want to actually go through the process of doing it yourself, you can always hire somebody else to do it if you're at the place to do that.
SPEAKER_01Right. And I think that that's an important thing too. And just kind of having um having a little reflection for yourself as a business owner and sitting and saying, okay, who who are you an expert to serve? Because like we said many times, you can't serve everyone. It just doesn't work well. So we're the ones that you and we all have our like primary specialties and secondary specialties, and that's okay. Like, you know, I would say my primary is ten kind of health. Um, but I also love, you know, older babies, even toddlers, um, bottle refusal. I'm actually not like a super pump expert. I've taken the classes and I'm good at it, but I'm not excellent. Um, you know, and so like I have a contractor who's excellent at pumps, and she's just like really into all the different pumps and all the different things. And I'm like, this is awesome because I can't pretty delay this. You know, and I think that having that reflection as a business owner to sit down and say, okay, what what it speaks to me because that will speak to my audience. Like, what are the things that I uh excel at? You know, what are the the plans that I can help the best? And really kind of honing in there. Um, I think you're right. It just somebody, when someone is looking for support, they want an expert for themselves. They don't want someone who's a good general knowledge, right? Like where they're not looking, it's kind of like, you know, medicine. They're not looking for primary care, they're looking for a specialist. So yeah, the, you know, your general practitioner may have a little bit of cardiology training, but if you're having a bunch of cardiology issues, you want to go to a cardiologist, right? Like they're looking for a specialist. And so, you know, helping your audience be able to figure out what kind of specialists you are is definitely going to help because there are so many different focuses within any field. And lactation is no different. There are a lot of different things that we can work on. And I think it's really important to try not to be good at everything. And I think that's a really common thing in the first few years of opening a business. Like it's the idea that you're like starting something so new, you're struggling, and your whole focus is, well, I just need to be able to reach everybody. Right. Exactly. Because what happens when you try to reach everyone is people hear you, but they also don't see you as being able to help them, right? Like they're like, oh, that's great, you do everything. But I need someone who's really good at this. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00And that's what people also are looking for. That's what you have to ask yourself, what are moms looking for? And really dial in on, well, what do I do best within this field? And go all in on that and just pick something and go with it. And I want to give people permission too. If you decide to change your niche, it's okay. Like you're not married to it. You know, if you decide, oh, I was focusing on this, but I want to shift, that's another thing that a lot of people get stuck on too, is you can always make a shift if you need to.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I just want to say, lastly, too, that you know, do that self-reflection, not just on your ideal client and what you want your voice to be, but um really like reflect on your business as to what's the best use of your time, because your time is money too. So, you know, I can have like, for example, I have a VA who can handle, you know, booking clients and making sure the charts get made and all of that. And I can spend more time with clients because I make more money and am more fulfilled and enjoying my life for when I am supporting a new parent, as opposed to, you know, making a chart and making sure all of the boxes are checked. That's not fulfilling to me. Um, and so, you know, just kind of looking at your processes and being like, do I need an accountant? Do I need an assistant? Do I need a copywriter for my website or someone to support my marketing? Like, do I need a general business advisor? I love having a business advisor. Like a mentor, it is really beneficial. So I think it's important to kind of look at all of those and go, what can I offload now? What do I want to be able to offload in the future? Like, you know, all of these things, and just acknowledge the fact that you don't have to and shouldn't try to do everything. It generally doesn't go well.
SPEAKER_00Right. You you but you usually end up burnt out and yeah, absolutely burnt out. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I remember, I mean, I remember when I opened my practice um six years ago and just doing that, like very much like you know, kind of running full steam ahead and trying to meet everyone's needs and manage every single part. And it's overwhelming. Like opening a practice is there's so many things, you know. I tell people all the time that it's like, it's great. I get to make all the decisions. I get to decide what I want to focus on and what type of churning platform I'm gonna use and what type of social media I'm gonna do. But the other side of that coin is I have to make all the decisions. Being a business owner is hard. And there are a million decisions, everything from big things, you know, to like, you know, do I change my churning platform? What is this gonna look like? And what is my workflow gonna be to like little things of like, you know, do I, you know, want to order nipple shields for the office? I mean, it's like there's so many things, and we can get a little overwhelmed with the amount of things that you need to figure out as a business owner. So I think it's really I just can't stress that enough. I think that it's really important to figure out what's best for you to focus on and to try to offload what you can. And some people, you know, when you're starting out, I know people who've done that in trade. I know people who've found someone who, you know, I have a friend who her first social marketing person was a client. You know, right. They traded lactation care for um for social media and copywriting. Like there's all sorts of ways out there. And I think it's just important to really examine that and say, we can't do everything. Is this something you really thrive at? Do you maybe just need a little help? Because you mentioned earlier that sometimes people will hire you for a certain project or to get something going, but it doesn't mean they have to commit to, you know, a life path. Um Right. Exactly. It just needs some training and some support and you know, like a framework to be able to build from.
SPEAKER_00But yeah. Exact exactly. You know, and the whole part of what I do too is I I love to consult as well with people and just help them with figuring out what direction their content should go. Um, and that can be really useful too. It's definitely something that is um helpful, I think, in the space too, of like, oh, like I just need some direction. And that's typically less of a commitment than, oh, I'm taking on writing everything for you, you know. So that that's something that can be super helpful too. And like you said, like one off, like, hey, like I need help with my website copy and just to get started, it's like great, you know, I can help you get started on the right foot.
SPEAKER_01And I think it's it I was just reflecting on how we were talking about niches and specialties and all of that, and how even you have one. Like you could be copywriting for, you know, a manufacturing plant or a car dealerships or all sorts of things, but you've niche down and that resonates with people. Like, I don't want to work with someone who does copywriting for everything. Like someone who does copywriting for aerospace is not necessarily gonna be as helpful for me in the perinatal world, right? So those specialties are what make us special and unique and able to help someone. So I would encourage people too to really reflect on that and find that niche for you and embrace it. And like you said, you can change it. It's okay to do that, right? Develop, but I just think that it helps so much. Like I wouldn't reach out to a general copywriter or marketing person that just I just don't feel like they would understand my needs and voice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um I'm glad that you said that because yeah, because it really in any industry, you know, I'm in the you know, copywriting industry, marketing industry, but you niching down really does, you know, help and it does help in all industries. Now, there are people that say niching down, you don't need to, but I don't know. It's it's really my opinion that niching down is really what has set me apart from other people. It's really like impacted, you know, who I'm speaking with, who I'm helping. And I, yeah, honestly, if I hadn't, you know, niche down, it would have been a lot harder for me, I think, to find really aligned clients. You know what I mean? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And the ones that you are gonna have the most success with as a business owner, which is going to help your business. And those clients are gonna have the most success, which is why that's gonna help your business because they're gonna refer people. And so, you know, I think that's a big thing for people to remember too, that it's not just about niching down to get clients, it's about the the whole process and the success that happens and all of these things. And the best way to do that is to be able to actually help someone and to have a good skill set for their needs and for them to leave the encounter, you know, fulfilled. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I love that. Well, I just want to say I thank you so much for your time. And I will put a link to your website in the show notes. And I think that, you know, it's a really important thing for parenal professionals and lactation consultants to be considering, you know, what are they doing for marketing? And I love that you are not just a straight, like you have to do all social media person that you talked about email marketing and other revenue streams and like ways of you know, finding your voice and supporting professionals. So I hope that um this resonates with other listeners and that it helps get them thinking on this process.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. And I yeah, I really, really enjoyed being part of, you know, this podcast. And um, yeah, so thank you so much for like letting me come on. And I I wanted to tell, oh, and I wanted to tell your audience one thing um is if they visit my website, this is a special thing that I want to offer to your audience specifically. Um, I wanted to offer them a free consulting call and a website audit. So if they would like um this free thing, this is just for your audience, anyone who's listening, they can book a friendly chat with me plus a website audit, um, which will be free. Um it's typically like a $400 value to have a website audit, but um, you can access it. And all you have to do is book a call with me and write audit where you sign up. So I know that you are the one who is listening to Katie's podcast.
SPEAKER_01I have some. I'll put that in the show notes. And I think that it will be very beneficial for people to have that. I think a website audit is a good idea every probably every couple of years from my perspective. I'm sure you might have more information on that, but I think it's a good idea to check in on those things and make sure that what you have built and what you do have in place is working for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. That's what it helps with. And um, yeah. So I think that would be yeah, great for your for your audience. And um also, oh what one more thing too. I am really, really hoping that um for that you you to remember that every time you know you're sharing your like knowledge online, you are potentially reaching, you know, a mom or a parent in their hardest moment and offering them that hope and direction. And I just want to thank all IBCLCs out there that are lighthouses for families. You truly do make a difference.
SPEAKER_01So thank you so much for your time today. This was really great. Amy. Yeah, you too. Well, it's wonderful. Thank you so much. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change you. I hope that you enjoyed the podcast today and learned something new. If you know someone who would benefit from this podcast, please share.