Boosting BB Moms Club Attendance
Here are some questions to ask yourself first?
- Is the time and day of meetings convenient for your population?
- Is the location central for moms and accessible by public transit?
- Is the meeting space easy to find,well-marked, attractive and adequate in size?
- If meals are served, are they of good quality?
- Are the meetings well organized?
- Do they start and finish on time?
- Do they allow time for moms to mix with each other?
- Are the topics interesting, varied, and well prepared?
Ideas for Building Attendance
Provider Recognition Day Make a date with offices that provide OB Care to introduce them to the program (do this again if you have already met with them).
Make sure every office has a Baby Basics book displayed in their office check in window. With a sign – Ask me about Baby Basics Moms Club!
Doctor’s office staff need to be your Champions!
Ask the demographics are of their patients and talk about why this program will make their job easier and help their moms.
Ask them to place a letter of invitation in each prenatal packet.
Ask them if they will personally invite at least two moms in the next two days to try the program for “them” and let the doctors and office staff know how they like it.
Offer office staff an incentive for getting moms to come – give them moms club business cards and have them put their name on the back. If a mom brings you that card give the mom an extra pack of diapers and save the cards to tally at the end of the month to determine the office staff winner. The office staff member that sends the most moms to club in May (or whatever month) will win a dinner for two at…. Or a cake or something.
Take Moms Club off Site Consider taking the meeting to where you know pregnant women will be.
Talk with your OB providers and see if you can host one meeting in the waiting room to introduce moms to the program and the book. Possibly one monthly meeting??
Rotate among the OB/Family practice offices till you build a buzz. Show up with yummy smelling food and examples of the incentives and a take away list of the fun things that they can participate in like the grocery tour. Plan your topic for a waiting room meeting to be easy for stops and starts allowing for moms going in for appts. To come back out and pick up.
Make sure every waiting room has calendars that also serve as an invitation to come to club meetings.
WIC clinics would also be an option to host a waiting room meeting.
Participate in Women’s Expos, Baby Fairs, Book Fairs (donate a book and have pregnant women to register to win a BBMC book) this could be done at all library circulation desks, Family fun night, farmers marketBo Holland talk with court systems about mandatory parenting programs and including Moms Club.
Showcase a Moms Club Gift PacketAsk your hospital gift shop if you can place a sign and sample new moms club member gift packetin the window and leave calendars with them to hand out. Try this with the doctor’s offices too and other community service agencies that provide care for pregnant women.
Where are your Signs? Re-evaluate where you have BBMC signage and where it still needs to be included.
WIC, Health Department, Social Service, Library, Day Care, Local Grocery Store, Movie Theater, children’s clothing stores and any other places that pregnant women go.
Visit these places pregnant women go and where you have currently placed signs and see if they are visible (or even still up) and see what other advertising you are competing with.
Make a foot print – is your sign large enough, colorful enough, are calendars easy to find and pick up.
Website and Facebook – What do you look like on Facebook and the website?
Is your information on the Website, is it up to date?
Is your calendar posted and correct? If the answers to these questions are no then contact Catherine and fix it. Moms can’t come if they do not have complete and accurate information about where clubs take place, dates, times and what is being offered.
Do you have contact information on the Website so a mom can call with questions about the club?
Do you feature information about what moms will receive by attending – education, meals, incentives, friendship etc.
Do you post on Facebook each week what your topic will be and why moms should come? Do you ask moms to post on Facebook about their experience with Moms Club?
What do you do if you are out and see a pregnant woman? This depends on the situation….
If you are in Walmart or other retail space casually walk up and introduce yourself and ask her when her baby is due. Tell her you are part of a moms club group and that its loads of fun and you get all sorts of great information and laugh and eat and get incentives for coming.
Offer her a Moms Club business card and ask her to check it out on the website and FACEBOOK. Tell her if she brings a friend she gets double diapers.
ALWAYS have your cards with you. Consider Moms Club shirts for facilitators to wear to meetings and when making visits to offices have potential partners start recognizing the branding of the club.
Grocery Store Signs Schedule ameeting with your local grocery store dietician and talk about your plans to host a grocery tour and club meeting there.
Ask if the store will place a BBMC sign in a prominent place. Inquire about activities the store offers that could be a chance to engage moms. Cooking classes, buyer reward cards or special promotions.
Make your own Mini Event – ask if you can set up and join the flu vaccine table at Walmart, Walgreens, etc. to encourage pregnant women to get their flu shot AND come to moms club.
Talk with the local health dept, store managersetcto see who hosts and staffs flu shot sites and be there withcalendars and giveaways for pregnant women – show them the book, the sleep sack and diapers.
If they are pregnant and get a flu shot have them to register to win a years supply of diapers if they attend Moms Club and then get someone to sponsor that! (actuallyfind someone to partner with sponsoring the diapers first) or even a smaller gift is fine.
Talk to a local car dealership and ask them to participate in a car seat safety inspection. Through their marketing promotion of the event you come and host a meeting at their site.
IT’S ALL ABOUT MEMBERSHIP
M - Mom Membership is everybody’s responsibility. All BBMC team members should know theclub is constantly seeking to recruit new moms and know how to engage a potential mom.
E - Educate your BBMC team on your club’s recruitment plans.
M - Motivate every team member and attending mom to take an active part in recruiting new moms. Provide incentive to moms that bring another pregnant woman.
B - Build membership by inviting community partners and qualified speakers to join
in group education– the best moms club recruiter is your community!
E- Earnestly recruit candidates. Tell them they have been selected. Activelypursue your friends, business associates, and neighbors as resources for club participants.
R - Radiate enthusiasm about the club and the fact that it is built on serving pregnant women, their families,BBMC is EVIDENCED BASED and leads to successful pregnancy outcomes! Everyone likes to be associated with a winner.
S – Sincerely welcome new moms into the club. Engage new momsproperly, promptly and proudly. Introduce them to the other moms in the group.
H - Help your new members feel a part of the club. Get them involved in clubactivities immediately.
I –Image in your community is critical to the success of moms club. Use the positive track record of other moms clubs across the state to build on and to set you apart from traditional education in your community.
P - Potential community partners can come directly from you moms through businesses they work for, family member relationships and associations. Allow frequent opportunities for your members to be challenged for newideas and approaches to achieving growth. Their ideas andenthusiasm may be all you need to attain and keep momentum.
Remember in the early stages of growing your club to meet often as a team and brainstorm about opportunities to market the program and ways to engage moms. Explore unlikely partnerships and non-traditional approaches while staying true to the curriculum. Each Moms Club team member brings talent, creativity and a wealth of knowledge to this program. Together you will build and offer moms a place to come where they feel safe to ask questions, learn about pregnancy and become a more confident mom.