The day started out chilly and rainy, but turned sunny and humid as my sister and I represented @empoweredbumpsandboobs at the first annual Babies & Bumps Detroit conference in Auburn Hills. After setting up, we explored the event floor to visit other vendors as both potential business partners and curious moms. It turns out, there are SO MANY AMAZING businesses and support professionals for new parents in the Metro Detroit area! The vibe was very unique. It was calm but excited, with lots of compassion and active listening going on all around us. There were doulas, babywearing groups, safe sleep products and a postpartum spa serving vegan mushroom soup (so good!), lactation consultants, baby products, facial products, Physical Therapists, and more! There were a LOT of fake babies that caused me to do a double take, and a good number of REAL babies that were so cute I couldn't help but stare and smile.
I started my company to meet the unmet needs of pregnant and new moms around breastfeeding (and everything that goes along with it), and to meet so many like-minded professionals in one place was really validating. There is a huuuuge market for this. My sister and I talked to many moms who have big feeling about breastfeeding. "My mom and grandma never did, but it's really important to me." "This is my second and I really want to breastfeed longer than I did with my first." "I definitely want to try, and hopefully it works out." Ahh! These are my people! I got you! No, we're not going to leave it up to chance. I have resources to help you! We're in this together. I want you to succeed too.
To provide some quick value to our table visitors we had them guess "What's our favorite thing to gift breastfeeding mom?" And the answer is...silver nursing cups for reducing cracked nipples & infection! Some moms said, "Oh YEAH, someone JUST told me about these," or "I just added them to my registry!" and others looked intrigued and happy to have this new bit of info. We invited them to our join our Facebook group, Hot Mamas Making Warm Milk in the Mitten and subscribe to the newsletter for more tips and resources.
We also gave out a care package that included a squishy boob pen, and they were a HIT. We had vendors from across the room coming over to ask if they could please have a boob pen :) They brought lots of smiles, laughter, and an instant icebreaker to open up the conversation. Some marketing decisions are a no-brainer, when in doubt, give away boob pens.
The organizer, Monica Infante, (yes her last name sounds like it might be French for baby; this cannot be a coincidence) and her team did I fabulous job promoting and running the event. I'm already excited for next year, and as my sister said, "Just imagine where the business will be this time next year." That's exactly right, just imagine :)