Case Study

Challenges & Solutions:

My first step was to evaluate where they currently were in their marketing. We looked at what they currently had in place: their business, their competitors, their website, and search engine optimization (SEO).

I worked with them to define their target customers for each of their services, and then we looked at their messaging to determine the best narrative for them. They were struggling with:

Rapid Growth: They were initially competing with other local lactation consultants to provide services in two clinic locations. However, the founders had a vision of expanding in-hospital and clinic settings, allowing them to reach more families in need of help.

Once they created a business model to do this, they were able to expand rapidly in Texas in two major hospital systems and several clinic locations, expanding from the Austin metro area into Waco and Dallas/Ft. Worth regions.

Although this was exciting for them, they quickly encountered a problem: a lack of qualified and certified lactation consultants. Although they created an internship program, IBCLC certification takes time and the number of certified consultants is limited. So much of our marketing had to be focused on recruiting new consultants to fill needed roles and open positions.

Perception Management: Although breastfeeding has been done since the beginning of time, breastfeeding consultants were still perceived as being more of a “hippy” or “fringe” type of “mothers’ helper”. Their ongoing goal was to bring the perception of IBCLCs into mainstream medicine and make it an important part of a parent’s birth plans.

So we focused their communication on the health benefits of breastmilk for the babies and the benefits for the nursing mother. By doing this, they were able to refer to lactation as “breastfeeding medicine” and include lactation consulting as a professional offering available through hospitals and clinics.

Messaging: Although they worked early on with a copywriter to define their messaging, it was missing the mark when dialoguing with their ideal customer. Rewriting their website and marketing materials was required to align the style and voice of the site for their 20-30-something clients.

SEO: When I came on board, they were at the point of re-launching their website, but no  SEO work had been done. I went through their site to optimize their pages to raise their domain authority from 9 to 20.

Email marketing: Although they had started an email list, it was outdated and no longer relevant. I instituted lead magnets, including gating two top-of-funnel support groups to build their list organically. We also added their patients and class attendees to the list, which had not been done previously. Their email list grew from 0 to 3000 within one year.

We also set up automation follow-ups for people who visit a particular class. The click-through-rate for these emails tends to be in the 80% range. Their birth and baby classes became profitable in 2024 for the first time.

Content Marketing: Although they had started a few blog posts, they had not been producing regular content, so we implemented a weekly blog post based on questions people had about breastfeeding, birth, and baby care. This has been a good source of SEO traffic as well as highly-read content for new parents.

Social Media: They had been doing some social media, but it was sporadic. We instituted a regular posting schedule and hired someone to fill that role. We focused on the type of content that young, new moms find helpful and relatable. Instagram was the platform that worked best for all involved.