Welcomelittle.com, To Help You Prepare for The Little Change in Life
After working for seven years in the corporate world, Smriti Talwar Chhabra thought of starting out on her own. And the venture this mechanical engineer startedup was for expecting parents. A proud mother herself, Smriti believes that the virtues and experiences passed on by the older generation during pregnancy are important even today but have to be made relevant for modern-day parents.Welcomelittle.com was incorporated in January 2013 as a platform which helps expecting parents answer their doubts about what is best for their little one, how to focus on prenatal bonding with baby, dealing with emotional issues pre and post pregnancy, what kind of diet patterns to be followed, what kind of exercising is to be done etc. The venture shares practical advice via online and offline medium. On the online platform they offer diet plans for expecting mothers & individuals, post blogs about how to take care during, pre and post pregnancy, wellness and many other practical tips. The offline medium includes conducting workshops and seminars to create awareness.
The venture has on board an expert panel of dieticians, physiotherapists and psychologists who complement the services offered by gynaecologists and obstetricians. The workshops conducted by Welcomelittle are targeted at individual and corporate clients and has dealt with issues relating to ante & post natal diet & exercises, baby handling techniques, right way to breast feed, emotional and psychological issues during and post pregnancy etc.
“Pregnancy makes a woman undergo several mood swings and addressing them is still considered a taboo in India” says Smriti. These workshops tells couples the need to meet a consultant dietician or physiotherapist when they are expecting their baby. Moving beyond pregnancy, Welcomleittle also has plans to conduct women focussed workshops for corporate employees focussing on diet, stress, ergonomics and work-life balance. The workshops for individuals are priced at Rs 8,000 per couple for a 15 hour schedule, which is spread over four weekend sessions. But for corporate, the charges vary depending on the participation. If an expecting mother opts for a diet plan from Welcomelittle, it is priced at Rs 599 per month and is customized according to the health conditions of the participant.
“I am very positive about spreading the knowledge to all expecting mothers and we are aggressively marketing our services,” says Smriti. The startup has undertaken a variety of promotional activities since launch including distribution of flyers, putting up posters at doctor clinics, generating referrals through gynaecologists, free awareness camps in collaborations with gynaecologists, contacting corporates to do programs for their employees and so on.Besides bringing in the footfalls at the promotions, the marketing activities have also helped bring more unique visitors on their website daily and they have received a good number of leads for their diet plans as well. On the online marketing front, Welcomelittle has been aggressively blogging – over 60 blog posts have been posted in the last three months. They have tied up with Rediff.com to publish weekly articles written by their expert panellists and their Facebook likes count stands at 2000 on date.
Smriti plans to continue doing all that she is doing currently, plus diversify into offering advice and doing initiatives in the area of diet, wellness and work-life balance for working professionals. Plans are also afoot to raise funds to start projects to delivery healthy breakfast and snacks to corporates in Gurgaon and collaborating with publishing houses to publish their book and magazines.
