Weston Communications is working with Daddynatal and Bump, Birth and Beyond to provide the full mix of Marketing, PR and Communications services. So far in 2011, Daddynatal and Bump, Birth and Beyond have become finalists in the What’s on 4 Awards, appeared on Baby Talk, Star 107.9, the Vanessa Show, the Daily Mail and several national radio stations. They are also now undertaking a pilot project for Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Their portfolio of pregnancy classes & services and baby classes and services allow expectant parents and new parents and families to receive continuity of care from a company who treats clients as individuals and as a family, not just a customer. From maternity photography to birth doulas, daisy birthing classes to infant massage, daddynatal to toddler yoga; they enable families to get enjoyment from every stage of pregnancy and parenthood.

Daddynatal and Bump, Birth and Beyond currently provide classes in venues across Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire to support families in having a confident, empowered and enjoyable experience into parenthood. To interview Dean, Steph or clients who have used Daddynatal and Bump, Birth and Beyond services, please contact Liz Weston and the Weston Communications Team on 01223 501520 / 07515 910231 or liz@westoncommunications.org.uk

We’ve had so many enquiries regarding Daddynatal and Bump, Birth and Beyond in the last two weeks that we are putting a list together of their recent media coverage for people looking to find out more about them.

What? I know. I’m nuts, telling you how to get more for your money when I sell advertising myself. But there’s a method in my madness, I promise, so stick with me. Advertising calls. How annoying are they? Very!! I know they are because I’m on the phone so much, selling it. I’m in such a tricky position because I sell advertising in the New Baby Guides and the Young Families Bump, Baby and Toddler Show programmes and know that I’m one of maybe five calls you’ll get each day, selling you something.

But sitting on the other side of the fence, I advise clients as to how to make the most of any advertising opportunity they are thinking of participating in. So here are my top tips to ask when you are thinking of booking an advert in something:

1. Ask them to send you a sample of the publication. If it’s new to the market be wary. Be very wary. Of course, I can only say this now my publications are up and running, but I’d be uber cautious about something where’s there’s no proof of concept.
2. Check them out with other people locally. Is this their real business? Their proper job? Or something they’ve latched on to as an idea? Or that they are copying from someone else? Ask them how they came to be doing the publication. What are their credentials?
3. Ask for an explanation of how they know their circulation (even more so if it’s new) and if they can provide evidence of it. As an example, we have a letter from our Heads of Midwifery for each New Baby Guide we do and it has in it, that we are working in partnership with them and what the circulation will be.
4. Check out the small print – do they charge you for amends to your existing advert? How much? We charge for this, depending on the size of the advert and how much work is involved. When it’s a bigger advert, we do it for free, because it’s important to us to show our clients that we want them for the long term.
5. Ask for recommendations. We put them on our Facebook pages and on our website. It’s good to do that sort of thing, to show people you are legitimate and proud of what you do.
6. Negotiate. Ask for either a) a discount if you pay now in full and with print ready artwork or b) for a small change to be made to your advert for free or c) some editorial for free if you are booking a big advert.
7. Ask about exclusivity. We offer it, but our clients pay extra for it. Don’t expect to be the only doula in a New Baby Guide as that’s not reasonable, unless you are prepared to pay for the cost of the other adverts that would be there from them as well as your own.
8. Join up with other advertisers who you are not in direct competition with. As an example, if a half page costs £545 and a full page costs £895 why not find someone else to do it with you, so you both pay £447.50 – and tell the advertising sales person that you want a discount for being organized!
9. Ask what page number you will be on and what’s going to be advertising/featured next to it. You want to aim to not be next to your competitors as it’s info overload for the reader. (with thanks to @iamcharlieross for thinking of this one for us)

Anyway, that’s just my initial thoughts on what to do when you are thinking about advertising. If you’re ever looking at advertising in something and want me to take a look over it, I’m happy to help, at no cost.  Email me at liz@westoncommunications.org.uk or call me on 01223 501520.Why? Because there’s nothing worse than people spending money on advertising for a publication that won’t go ahead, or looks naff, or has a poor distribution as you too, by association, will suffer. And it reflects badly on the whole industry. Believe me, I’ve seen some pretty lame examples…

And here’s my sales pitch: If you have a business, service or product in the pregnancy, parenting, birth or family market, please get in touch with us and see how we can help you reach more than 104,000 families each year in NHS branded publications. The New Baby Guides are the only publication that goes out via our NHS Maternity Units other than Bounty. Anything else that says it does is not representing themselves accurately.

We can send you samples of our NHS Maternity Unit publications – the New Baby Guides, references, referrals, letters from Heads of Midwifery stating that we are working with them and have a wealth of contacts who could help you cross promote your business at no extra cost to yourself.

What are your top tips to consider when thinking about booking an advert? Would really appreciate your input on this one…..

We always hear of technology being used to make money, which people complain about, or to gain a competitive edge. So I thought you would like to see technology being used for something good!

Lt. Michael Palomo, serving in the Army, in Iraq, saw his baby daughter arrive via the miracle of Skype.

I think it’s brilliant that technology can be used for something that keeps families together, even when they can’t be together physically.

New baby arrives on skype*

The full story is here

*Image courtesy of The Sundusky Register.

Don’t you think it’s lovely to see technology being used for something so lovely? Have you seen anything similar recently? Please leave a comment below, would be nice to see more of it.

Help me with this one please. Who has time to video the arrival of their baby? Which bloke out there is not being subjected to having the pain ‘shared’ with him, at the most special (and painful) moment of the birthing process?

Someone is, because some doctors overseas have started objecting to births being videoed.

Why? To encourage maternal bonding with new babies? To involve men in the birthing process more? Nope. So that the footage can’t be used should anything go wrong with the birth. I know.

For the file, if you are a bloke and reading this, I do not think that your Mrs will want you to be holding anything other than her hand, mopping her brow or doing whatever she damm well tells you to at the point of birth.

I haven’t seen a baby marketing campaign yet where the photo is required to be the moment of birth, or videos of babies arriving. I suppose someone will go and do it now. Yuk.

Did you have photos of yourself giving birth? Literally giving birth? Who wants to see your lady bits at that point? Did you have someone video it? Who? Show me how it’s a good thing, I like being proved wrong….