Create-A-Book Hospital Baby Book Program

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Hospital Baby Book Program

The birth of a baby is an event your customers will want to remember. Create-A-Book has various baby books that were published for this happy occasion. Each book has its own specific target market but there are times when you will want to use a combination of the book types. Of course there are places other than hospitals where the baby books do well. Craft shows, gift shops, home parties and the Internet provide an excellent source of baby book sales.

Our Hospital Baby Book Program, like the school Give-A-Book Program, is one of the more consistent marketing strategies. In the following program you will learn how to design a program that suits the needs of both you and your hospital. There are many variations and we have several different products that can be used to help you achieve your desired level of success. The following tips and methods are by no means the only ways to approach hospitals, but they are proven methods from which to start.

A personalized Create-A-Book Baby Book is the type of gift that is regarded as a lifetime keepsake and permanent record of the blessed event. Most new parents are too busy with the new baby to pay attention to details like recording the birth in a form that can be given to the child as they grow up. Usually a third party (friends, relatives or grandparents) buy the baby book as a gift for the parents and child. Since parents enjoy the book, that creates the demand for the product. Receiving a book like this is always appreciated by the parents, and if the hospital gives it, creates good will.

Hospitals are a business and compete for patronage in the community just like any other company. Most recently, they have begun advertising to future parents to have their babies at their hospital. Hospitals are now giving away car seats, steak dinners, and other bundled goodies to the parents at the time of birth. With a proper presentation, you can convince the hospital sponsor and give one personalized Create-A-Book for each child born. If you have two or more hospitals in your town, then you can probably offer a different baby book to each. There are three different baby books available at this time.

The first thing you need to determine is which book you want to offer to a particular hospital. We recommend The World's Most Precious Baby for large community hospitals, and the Create-A-Book Baby Book for smaller hospitals. The Create-A-Book baby book has a Christian version for single and multiple births, should a hospital be associated with a church.

Once you have decided on the book and the hospital, contact the administrator and set an appointment. Explain that you would like to show them a unique personalized baby book that would promote the hospital. Most hospital have new mother packages that they give to their patients as they leave the hospital. Usually it includes a cut flower arrangement or a dinner out for two. These are short term thank-yours. The baby book you are offering is a lifetime keepsake.

If you have a contact on the obstetric ward of the hospital, see if you can find out what the hospital is already giving the new mothers, and approximately how much it is costing them. Armed with this information you can present your Create-A-Book Baby Book Program in the most attractive light. Make sure you let the hospital know the retail value of your personalized book and then try to offer them a price that is slightly lower than what they are already paying. The combination of a lasting commemorative at a lower cost will help land you the deal.

If the hospital is small or caters to a specific clientele with special needs, you will want to offer the Baby's Create-A-Book book instead of the World's Most Precious Baby sticker book. Baby's Create-A-Book can also be offered at a higher price. Depending on the average stay after delivery, you may be able to set up an account where the hospital contacts you with the information on a new arrival as soon as possible. You then produce the book and deliver it to the hospital before the mother and child go home.

Make sure every book you deliver has your company name, phone number and address in it somewhere so customers can reorder from you whenever they want another book. Remember that the baby book is really for the new parents. The baby won't be able to read it for a couple of years. But we know that in a short time, baby will be going through potty training and we have a book designed especially for this. Your address in the book is a great way for your customer to keep in touch with you.

The following guidelines for each type of hospital program.

Baby's Create-A-Book Give-Away

To initiate this program:

Make an appointment with the person responsible for hospital premiums. This can be the marketing director, the head of public relations, or even the director of obstetrics. You will have to call and find out. (If you already have contacts in the hospital, you may want to talk with them first.) *NOTE* The baby books are considered premium items because the hospital is giving the books to the parents. It's possible the baby book program can be part of the reason new parents choose to have their baby at that particular hospital.
Make a sample book, personalize it with the hospital's name and the contact person’s name. You may also want to include the name of the doctor who is the chief of staff, or the name of the head nurse.
Determine how much you want to charge the hospital for the books. (Consider your cost of book, delivery cost to the parent, and your profit.) *NOTE* Be aware that in order to gain a hospital contract, you may have to charge less than your normal retail price.
At your meeting, bring the sample books and any additional information you have on the hospital's premium policies. Read the birth announcements in the local paper and contact new parents for information on how they were treated at the hospital. Take a couple of baby brochures with you in case someone in the meeting wants to order a book for themselves. If you have received any positive press, take in copies of the articles. Any articles that describe hospital incentives and their success will also help make the staff aware of what it is your product can do for them.
Make your presentation. In order to be effective, find out what the hospital is currently doing for new parents. If you know that information in advance, you can explain the benefits of a baby book program in addition to what they are doing now. You may want to mention some of these selling points:
- Point out that the name of the hospital is mentioned several times throughout the book.
- Tell them how quickly you can make and deliver the books. A big selling point may be that you can get the books to the hospital before the patient is discharged.
- Make it clear they are getting a discount if they are. You can show the staff your normal catalog price lists and brochure price list for comparison.
- Explain that the baby book is more cost effective than other premiums if you have the data to support this.
- Point out that the book promotes reading.
- The book is a lifetime keepsake.
- Point out that you can insert a customized page about the hospital and the services it offers into every book given to the parents. (You can have these pages printed in bulk, conforming to the regular page size of a Create-A-Book, for a very low cost. They may wish to design their own insert using the hospital's letterhead or logo.)
Once the hospital is interested, they may have to check their budget to see if they can afford the program. They may also have to get approval from the hospital board for the project. Set a date to call and find out if the project has been approved.

*NOTE* If the hospital is interested in the program but does not have the budget to provide the books free to their patients, suggest a different type of program. (See programs listed under sponsorship and brochure methods.

Once the project is approved and the hospital has agreed to a specific amount for each book, you may want to have them sign a letter of understanding. Most hospitals will want a written contract. The hospital may prepare the contract or you may need to write one.

*NOTE* If you prepare your own contract, be sure to include the following:

The date when the program will be implemented.
Who the agreement is between, (your business name and the full name of the hospital).
The terms of the agreement, price per book and billing cycles.
Your turnaround time for fulfillment of completed products delivered to the patients.
Who is responsible, you or the hospital, for the initial order forms. (If you provide them, make sure you include this cost in the price of the book.)

Implementing the program:

Now that you have the approval to initiate the Hospital Baby Book Give-Away, you will have to work with your contact to set up the program within the hospital. Find out whether the hospital needs you to provide the baby book forms or just the layout so they can print their own. Make sure that the right people on the staff know to give the order form to every new mother when she is admitted. Have someone on the staff gather the order forms back up when they are completed and check the information with the patient. (Candy Stripers or Sunshine Volunteers are great for this type of customer service.)

Set up a time when it would be convenient for you to pick up the order forms daily or if you and the hospital have the equipment, have them fax it to you. Have the nurses include the patient’s discharge time so you can make sure you have the book at the hospital before the patient leaves. Have the patient put her permanent mailing address on the order form in case she leaves before you can get there, and also so you can increase your customer data base.

Deliver the books on time. Have the staff or yourself make a special presentation of the book to the new parents. Celebrate the event and interest the new parents in a long term relationship between your company, the growing child's reading needs and the books.

Keep track of birth dates and send reminders every year about new products or new titles. The baby book program does build a mailing list of qualified customers. Parents will continue to buy books for their children as they grow up. They know that if their child is encouraged to read at an early age, they become life long readers and will be more successful in school and with their career.

Create-A-Book Sticker Books

World's Most Precious Baby

Sticker Create-A-Book books can be given directly by the hospital staff. When the new mother is ready to leave, a package containing coupons for baby articles and the World's Most Precious Baby book can be included in the package. The new mother can take time to fill out the postcard in the front of the book and mail it in to you for personalization. Since hospital stays for delivery are getting shorter, this program allows the hospital to buy in quantities and hand out books on demand on short notice.

To initiate this program:

Get your product into the right hands. Send an introductory letter along with a sample of The World's Most Precious Baby to the marketing director or purchasing agent. Make sure the book contains names they will recognize.
Follow up with a phone call or visit. While the product is still in the hands of the marketing director, contact them and introduce yourself. Remind them of the book you sent and take a second sample, without the stickers in place, to further explain the process. Show them how easy it is to place a sticker in the book and how well the sticker blends into the page.
Provide community endorsement for your product. Arm yourself with letters and articles about the books and any successes you have had as an area business owner. If you look up the history of the hospital, you may be able to use their past successful incentives as a reason to try a new approach.
Be prepared to talk about price versus returns. Even large hospitals have limited budgets when it comes to marketing, advertising and premiums for patients. Their focus is on good health care at a reasonable cost. However, all hospitals treat new parents to some form of congratulatory gift with the birth of a new baby. Your job will be to sell the hospital on the idea that the books will not only be a lifetime gift for the parents but for the child as well. If the children grow up and stay in the community they will more than likely return to the same hospital if they have a reminder of that hospital's generosity.
*NOTE* Remember to keep the price low so that the hospital will buy in volume.
Set a date to make a presentation to the board. Most large hospitals operate under a board of trustees. After you have sold the idea to the marketing director or purchasing agent, you will need to sell the board. Work with your contact and develop a list of answers to any possible objections the board may have.
Make your presentation. Be professional, punctual and positive. You may only be allotted a short time because the board will have other matters to discuss. Use your time effectively and generate enthusiasm and interests in yourself and the product. If you are effective you will find your time limit expanded because the board wants to hear more. The more questions you answer, the more likely the board will accept and agree to your offer.

Some key selling points to cover in your World's Most Precious Moments Sticker Book presentation.

The books can be delivered in quantity directly to the hospital with the return label already affixed to the mail-in postcard.
The hospital can present the book when the patient is admitted or discharged.
This book does not add to the hospital staff's work load. They simply give the book to the patient who then fills out the personalization card at her convenience.
Point out that the hospital’s name as well as the attending physician’s name are a prominent part of the story.
Demonstrate the high quality construction and the ease with which the personalized stickers can be placed in the book. Reiterate the longevity your product represents.
Present any pertinent information you have on the product’s acceptance in the community and the positive influence of your products on today's youth.

After getting approval from the Board.

You may have to wait through the billing cycle before the program can be implemented. Many large hospitals operate on a thirty or sixty day cycle. If they approve your offer and want the books right away, you may have to purchase them, deliver them and wait awhile for payment. Be prepared for this before you approach a large hospital. If they want a thousand books or more, then your initial from us will be 1,000 books.

Contractual agreements.

Many hospital have contracts on file which they may want you to sign. If not, you may have to provide one. The very least you should have is a letter of understanding. Board members change and hospital policies are subject to renegotiation. If you do not have something in writing defining a specific time period, a change in trustees could mean the loss of your account.

*NOTE* If you prepare your own contract be sure to include the following:

The inclusive dates for the program.
Whom the agreement is between, (your business name and the full name of the hospital).
Price per book agreed on and the payment terms.
Billing, invoice and purchase order schedules.
Verification of personalization completed.

Implementing the program:

Once all the documentation has been taken care of, make sure you have the correct hospital address and get ready to place your initial order with Create-A-Book, Inc. Have address labels printed with your company name and address for the post cards in the front of the books. Call the order department and set up a drop shipping account for the hospital, if you need us to do that. You will have to get your labels to us so we can insert them in the books before we ship them.

Double check the shipping address and give a contact's name for the shipping label so the hospital can let the right department know when the books arrive at the hospital. Invoice the hospital. Then start on other Create-A-Book marketing promotions while you wait for your postcards to arrive.

Sponsorships and Brochure Methods

Working with a sponsor:

You may need to find a sponsor for the books if the hospital cannot afford the cost of the books but will agree to distribute your Create-A-Books to new patients. With this method, the sponsor provides the funding for the books that are given to each newborn and their parents. If you need several sponsors to offset the orders from a large hospital, remember you can add sponsor sheets as needed.

Finding a Potential Sponsor:

Get of list of locally owned businesses that specialize in new baby related products or services. The list can be obtained from your local Chamber of Commerce, the yellow pages, or even the Internet.

Approach these businesses just like you would a hospital. If the business(es) agreed to pay for the books, make sure they approve of the sponsor page before you place it in the books. If they only agree to provide a percentage of the book cost, develop a brochure or flyer that prominently displays the business and defines the percentage they are providing the new parents.

Contact any organization that is interested in promoting reading at an early age. Try getting a subsidy for a local hospital through a local literacy organization. Contact community minded clubs and churches who are interested in making sure that local children get a head start in their education.

Getting Sponsor Approval:

Before you contact a potential sponsor, find out the number of babies born per year in the hospital you are targeting. This information is available from the hospital's public relations department.
Determine how much one or each sponsor will have to pay in order to fund the project for one or two years.
Call the business office and ask to speak to the Director of Public Relations or Director of Personnel. If you are contacting a national company, call their corporate headquarters and speak to the Director of Marketing. If you know someone who works there contact him or her first.
Make an appointment to deliver a presentation. Bring samples of the different types of baby books available. Bring any sales information you have including brochures, news articles and any advertisements you have seen about their product or service. Prepare a fact sheet about the number of babies, and therefore future customers, born at a particular hospital. Try to match a local business with small hospitals and corporate sponsors with large hospital.
Make the presentation. Be sure to include this selling points during the presentation.
- Their business name will appear on the sponsor page of each book made. If using the sticker books a special sponsor sticker can be placed inside the front or back cover.
- This is an inexpensive way for the business to advertise to a specific target audience.
- Explain the difference between the price they are paying and the standard retail price.
- Point out that the books promote reading and literacy.
If the sponsor agrees to fund the books, you will need to work out the program details with the hospital administrator. Each sponsor will have their own criteria about what they expect to gain from this program. Make sure all the options are agreed on; which book, books or brochures, price per book and turnaround time for completion.

Working with the Hospital Auxiliary

Another alternative to the Create-A-Book Hospital Book Program is working with the hospital auxiliary. This cooperative group of volunteers is responsible for organizing fund raisers or special projects involving the hospital. They may be approachable for a fund raiser using the baby books. Also contact the head of the OB/GYN ward for fund raising needs and agendas. In this case, the families will buy the books from catalogs or brochures that are distributed directly to the parents. The auxiliary will get part of the sale.

Set up an appointment with the auxiliary president or chairperson. This may be the head of volunteer community services. Bring samples of the books and brochures with you to make a presentation. Provide fund raising ideas and back up your fact with any articles you have about past successes.
Determine how much you will charge the families for the books, and how much the auxiliary will earn from each book.
Tell them they can insert the baby brochure in the gift packs that new parents take home. If the parents wish to purchase the book, they can send a check and a completed order form back to the auxiliary or directly to you.
Members of the auxiliary might be able to visit each patient room to room with an actual sticker books and get some exposure for the books. Taking the time to make a personal presentation may increase response. Also they can help the new parents fill out the mail back card and collect them. The volunteers need to be very familiar with the product and explain to the patient how much of the cost is donated to the auxiliary and what the moneys collected will be used for.
Depending on the book they choose, a display can be set up and maintained in the hospital gift shop. Create-A-Book, Inc. has a professionally designed ten book counter top display for the sticker books, or you can make a sample Create-A-Book and place it on a single book display with a brochure holder full of brochures.

If the auxiliary is interested in implementing a fund raising program, determine how much they will receive and how much you will make per book. The hand made books generally have a higher profit margin. If they opt for the sticker books, they may simply want to purchase a certain amount of books up front and reorder as necessary.

Set up a billing system. Volunteer organization usually do not require a contract. But for tax purposes, you will need to provide at least a letter of understanding which outlines how and when you will be paid.

Dealer Follow-Up

Here are ways to stay in touch after the program is underway:

Send a thank-you note to your hospital contact, sponsor or auxiliary president. Call your local newspaper about the program to see if you can get a feature article written about the program in the local section.
Send news releases to every radio and television station operated locally. Then follow it up with a phone call to make sure they received it and verify when or if it will run. If a local celebrity has received a baby book from the hospital, ask if you can use their name in the media.
Keep your contacts up to date on new products so you can expand the account if applicable. Brainstorm with them on new ideas that will help increase the interest in the books, thereby bolstering sales for fund raisers.
If your friends or relatives receive one of your baby books from the hospital, remind them to send thank-you notes to the staff for their book. This helps the hospital believe in the program and hopefully continue or increase it.

The Hospital Baby Book Program has been successfully done in hundreds of hospitals spanning at least fifteen years. It's worth a try. Good Luck with your Create-A-Book Hospital Baby Book Program!