World Doula Week - What's a Doula to Do?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Doula Darcy Podcast

Episode: World Doula Week – What's a Doula to Do?
Host: Darcy Sauers
Date: March 22, 2026

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Episode Overview

In honor of World Doula Week, Darcy Sauers, a business coach and experienced doula, shares actionable marketing strategies and community-building tips specifically tailored for doulas. Emphasizing collaboration and authenticity over sales-y self-promotion, Darcy lays out her top five ways to boost your visibility, uplift fellow doulas, and raise awareness of doula support in your community. The episode is packed with practical advice, mindset shifts, and encouragement—perfect for both new and established doulas looking to grow their impact.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Leveraging World Doula Week for Marketing

• World Doula Week is an opportunity to spread awareness about the value of doula support—use it to talk about the profession without overt self-promotion ([00:44]).
• Notable Quote:
  • “World Doula Week is like a great thing to kind of hide behind a little bit and casually promote your services. So it's a lot easier to go on social media to go talk in your community about, ‘Hey, everybody, it's World Doula Week,’ not, ‘Hey, everybody, I'm the best doula. You should hire me.’” — Darcy ([01:06])

2. Top Five Ways to Capitalize on World Doula Week

a. Share Client Testimonials ([02:02])

• Use testimonials as storytelling tools that showcase the impact of doula work.
• Share screenshots of messages, DMs, and Google reviews, or turn them into attractive social media graphics using Canva.
• Sprinkle testimonials everywhere—website, social media, and especially during World Doula Week.
• If you don't have enough testimonials, reach out to past clients and ask for feedback.
• Notable Quote:
  • “Would you please send me a testimonial?” — Darcy (modeling simple outreach, [03:08])

b. Refresh Your Website ([03:11])

• Use this time as a reminder (like checking smoke alarms on the equinox!) to review and update your website.
• Remove outdated information, add new services, fix typos, and ensure easy contact options are available.
• Expect increased web traffic during World Doula Week—make your site shine!
• If you lack a website, Darcy recommends her Doula Website Templates, which are SEO-optimized and easy to use.

c. Daily Social Media Posting ([04:32])

• Schedule daily posts during World Doula Week, highlighting:
  • Benefits of having a doula
  • Why you love being a doula
  • Client testimonials
  • Fun facts about doulas
• Use prompts available at worlddoulaweek.org and from resources like Darcy’s Doula Village for post ideas.
• Notable Quote:
  • “Use World Doula Week as an excuse to post every day…riding on the momentum of World Doula Week to build momentum in your community.” — Darcy ([05:41])

d. Engage with Local Events ([06:25])

• Check for existing World Doula Week events in your area and volunteer to participate or help organize.
• If nothing exists, take the initiative to host an event—even something simple like a coffee shop meet-and-greet for doulas to connect with the public.
• Collaborative events promote awareness faster than solo efforts.
• Notable Quote:
  • “The fastest way to spread awareness about doula support in your community is to collaborate with the other doulas.” — Darcy ([07:26])
• Personal Reflection:
  • Darcy shares her experience of building community awareness:
    • “When I started out 15 years ago, no one in our community knew what a postpartum doula was...It took me collaborating with the other postpartum doulas and birth doulas to do events, to teach classes, do all the things, working together.” ([08:00])

e. Host a Giveaway ([08:58])

• Create excitement without giving away your valuable time.
  • Suggestions include branded baby onesies or pamper gift baskets for expectant or new moms.
• For entry, have participants follow, tag friends, comment, and share your post.
• Collaborate with other doulas for more buzz (e.g., chip in for a “mega” gift basket).
• Notable Quote:
  • “Don’t be like, ‘I'm giving away—I’m doing a free birth for World Doula Week.’ You don't want to do that…give away something that is not your time.” — Darcy ([09:21])

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Mindset Shifts: Collaboration Over Competition

• Embrace abundance and generosity—supporting other doulas lifts everyone up.
• Don’t be afraid to tag and highlight fellow doulas in your area.
• Let go of the fear of competition; community awareness benefits all doulas and families.
• Notable Quote:
  • “Don’t come at this as ‘I've got to be the only doula. I’ve got to be the best doula. I'm not going to mention these other doulas in case someone hires them.’ That is not the way to win at this.” — Darcy ([10:32])
  • “In the spirit of World Doula Week, be generous, be collaborative and be social on social media. Happy World Doula Week.” ([10:46])

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Key Timestamps

• 00:44 – Open: Introduction to World Doula Week and its purpose
• 01:06 – Reframing self-promotion during World Doula Week
• 02:02-03:08 – Sharing testimonials and collecting new ones
• 03:11-04:32 – Refreshing your website and mentioning Darcy's templates
• 04:32-06:25 – Posting daily on social media; prompt resources
• 06:25-08:58 – Local event participation; creating your own events; importance of collaboration
• 08:58-10:32 – Hosting giveaways; strategies and cautions
• 10:32-10:46 – Final encouragement on collaboration and mindset

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Memorable Moments

• Darcy’s candor about the discomfort doulas often feel with self-promotion, and her practical workaround using World Doula Week as a “cover.”
• Personal anecdotes about the early days of building awareness for postpartum doulas, illustrating the power of teamwork and perseverance.
• Repeated encouragement to “be generous, be collaborative and be social” as a guiding principle for World Doula Week and beyond.

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Conclusion

This episode is a rallying call for doulas: leverage World Doula Week not just to boost your own business, but to bring the entire doula profession into greater public awareness. Darcy’s five-step approach is practical, rooted in lived experience, and deeply aligned with values of generosity and community.
“Happy World Doula Week!” ([10:46])

Transcript

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Welcome to the Doula Darcy podcast. I'm your host, Darcy, a business coach for doulas, and I love helping my fellow doulas master the art of marketing so that they can grow their businesses and help more families. On the podcast, I combine my decade of experience in Advertising with 14 years as a doula to empower other doulas with the marketing strategies and mindset shifts they need to attract more clients and create successful, fulfilling doula careers. Whether you're just starting out as a

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doula or you're looking to take your

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doula business to the next level, you're in the right place. Let's go.

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All right, so World Doula Week is coming up and you are like, well, what the heck does that mean? What do I even do? The goal of World Doula Week is to spread the word in your community about the important work that doulas are doing and raise your hand if you have a hard time selling yourself. Is that you? I have never met a doula who says, oh God, I love selling myself. I love selling my services. I love going on social media and just telling people they should hire me, right? So I always say World Doula Week is like a great thing to kind of hide behind a little bit and casually promote your services. So it's a lot easier to go on social media to go talk in your community about, hey, everybody, it's World Doula Week, not, hey, everybody, I'm the best doula. You should hire me. So World Doula Week is a chance to capitalize on the fact that it's World Doula Week and spread the word about your services. And this is what we should all be doing all the time anyway, is spreading the word about the importance of doulas. So here are my five favorite ways to again, capitalize on the fact that is World Doula Week. So the first one is to share testimonials. So again, you can say, not, hey, I'm the best doula. Here's what people say about me. You can say that. By the way, maybe it's easier for you to say it's World Doula Week. Let me share what some of my clients have said about having a doula. And then you share. So screenshots of your testimonials. So take screenshots of texts that your clients Send you messages, DMs. Take screenshots of your Google reviews and share those. Or if you want to take time and I say do both, take the words that your clients have said and turn those into beautiful canva posts that are your testimonials. And if you've heard me talk before, you know that I say you should be sprinkling those testimonials every everywhere. Your website, your social media. And then especially during World Doula Week, it's a great chance to again say it's World Doula Week. Want to learn what people in the community are saying about having a doula? Here you go. So share your testimonials.

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If you don't have many yet, this

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is a great chance to reach out and say, hey, I'm trying to spread the word in the community about the good work that doulas do. Would you please send me a testimonial? Okay, the other thing to do before World Doula Week even gets here is this is a great time. I think also on the spring equinox you're supposed to check your smoke alarm batteries. It's a great time to check and revamp your own website. Do a Scroll through your website with fresh eyes and fix any typos. Take off any information that's not relevant anymore. Add information if you added a new service or whatever. Just make sure your website is up to date. Make sure you're talking about the benefit of doula work and making it easy for people to contact you. Because hopefully with all this work you're doing for World Doula Week, you're going to get a lot more traffic to your website and maybe even from not the work you're doing, but the world that other doulas and World Doula Week and the the whole goal of World Doula Week is to spread the word. So hopefully you're going to get some more more traffic to your website. So make sure it's ready and up to date. This is a great time of year to do that. And if you don't love your doula website and you need one, check out my Doula Website templates. I'll put the link below. These are templates. They're ready to go. You just change the font, change the color, add your information, add your add your own information. They're optimized for SEO. They give you a great outline. This is like the easiest, most affordable way to get a really good website up and running that is optimized for to be found in Google searches. So check those out if you need to upgrade your doula website. Okay? Because the other thing during World Doula Week is you want to be sharing the link to your website everywhere you possibly can. So you want it to be good. Okay? The other thing you can do during World Doula Week is post on social media every day. Schedule these in advance and piggyback off the fact that is World Doula Week. So you're going to post every day this week about the benefits of being of having a doula, why you love being a doula, what clients are saying about you as a doula, and fun facts about doulas. All so many things actually. And you can go To World Doula Week.org I think or.com they always put out like prompt ideas. If you're in my doula Village, I'm going to be doing some super prompt ideas. I give you I always in my doula Village you get a calendar every month of prompt ideas for social media. But during World Doula Week I turn that up a notch and give you some really good prompt social media post ideas and like strategies. So stay tuned for that. If you're in my Doula Village and if you're not, like I said, if you're not someone that posts a lot, use World Doula Week as an excuse to post every day. 5 posts Monday through Friday. Again, riding on the momentum of World Doula Week to build momentum in your community. The other thing is to scope out if there's any local events happening in your area for World Doula Week. Maybe some other doula has taken the initiative and it has put something together. Reach out, see if you can help. See if you can participate. What can you do to make it better? Help her out. And if there's not one, be a leader in your community and make one. It could be a big complicated event you're planning months in advance or it could be like, hey everybody, all the doulas are going to be at such and such a coffee shop downtown on Friday. Come learn about doula support and how we can help you. Get all your questions, blah blah blah blah blah. Throw a doula event together and get all the doulas in your community to promote it and be there and talk about it. Because together the fastest way to spread awareness about doula support in your community is to collaborate with the other doulas. And again, this is the whole point of World Doula Week. So you if nothing's happening in your community, I am urging you to be the doula to make it happen and do some kind of event. And please come at this with a abundance mindset, a collaboration over competition mindset. When I started out 15 years ago, no one in our community knew what a postpartum doula was. They thought that I dealt with postpartum depression. They thought that that I delivered babies and it took me collaborating with the other postpartum doulas and birth doulas to do events, to teach classes, do all the things, working together. Now, years later, I have a whole agency. Now I have a whole team of postpartum doulas that I've already keep busy. Postpartum doulas has really just become a household name. I still talk to doulas in the US in certain areas where they're like, no one knows what a doula is. Doulas aren't really a thing here. Don't be a victim to that. Make it a thing in your area by doing things like hosting an event for World Doula Week. The other thing you can do is host a giveaway that is a surefire way to draw attention to your business and to other doulas is to host give something away. Whether it's some a onesie with your doula logo on it or some kind of thing like that. If you don't have any merch, create a gift basket of pampering a pregnant mom or pampering a new mom. That would be really juicy for them to win. I really encourage you to not give away your time. Don't be like I'm giving away. I'm doing a free birth for World Doula Week. You don't want to do that. You don't want to give away five hours of postpartum support. You want to give away something that is not your time. But get this posted on social media. Ask people that if to be entered to win, they have to follow you. They have to share it with a friend. They have to comment. Get other doulas involved. Maybe you all chip in and make some mega awesome gift basket. Get some buzz. Create some buzz and excitement in your community around World Doula Week. So that was my quick and dirty five things that you can do to boost awareness during World Doula Week. I really encourage you to capitalize on this piggyback on World Du the week as a way to put yourself out there again, like hiding behind World Duo if this is something that you struggle with and at the end of the day be generous in terms of the other doulas in your community. Reach out to them. Take a group photo. Do a post where you're tagging all the awesome doulas in your community and the more love you put out there, the more you're going to get back. Don't come at this as I've got to be the only doula. I've got to be the best doula. I'm not going to mention these other doulas in case someone hires them. That is not the way to win at this. So in the spirit of World Doula Week, be generous, be collaborative and be social on social media. Happy World Doula Week.

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Thank you for tuning in to the Doula Darcy podcast. I hope you found this episode valuable and I'd love for you to join me on the next one. Let's keep the conversation going. Shoot me a DM on Instagram Hedula Darcy or or join my free Facebook community, the Doula Marketing Group, where we dive deeper into growing your doula business.

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If you enjoyed the episode, please take

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a moment to rate and review the podcast on your favorite platform. Your feedback will help more doulas discover the show, which in turn helps more families find the doula support that they need. And I believe that that is how we save the world.