Marketing a daycare business need not be an expensive
exercise, if managed effectively. Understandably, when you first start a daycare, you need to be a little more prudent in
your spendings. Your day care marketing budget can be as expensive or as cheap as you wish for it to be. That said, sometimes
it does pay to invest a little more in marketing your day care to ensure greater returns. Remember not to fall into the trap
of being “penny wise pound foolish”. Here are a number of suggestions to help you market your daycare business:
1. Marketing collaterals / Direct
mailers
Direct mailers are very important marketing tools. They need not be flashy. A simple flyer telling
your audience about your daycare business and what day care services you offer is good enough.
Distribute them wherever possible; put them at community clubs, cafés and restaurants and/or
hire temporary help to distribute them at train stations, bus stations, basically any high traffic area in and around your
neighborhood.
And if budget permits, a daycare
brochure will be a nice addition, especially when someone requests for more details about your day care business. For tips
on how to develop an effective daycare brochure, click here. However, if you are just starting a daycare and a little low on funds, a flyer will do just fine.
2. Business cards
Carry your business cards wherever
you go and give them out.
3.
Advertisements and listings
Ensure that you are listed in all the relevant directories such as the yellow
pages, community guides, daycare magazines for parents, daycare directories, etc. If budget permits, you should also consider
taking up advertisements in those guides and directories as well as your local newspapers.
4. Banners
Nothing attracts more attention than
a banner. Print a bright and colorful banner and hang it at the entrance of your daycare centre. It’ll guarantee to
attract the attention of passer-bys. Don’t try to recreate your entire brochure or flyer onto the banner. Keep it simple
and short. Include basic information such as your logo/name of your daycare business, your contact number and website, if
any. Ensure that the text is legible from a distance.
5. Website
Pick up a new skill. Learn to create your own website. A simple, professionally
designed website with some pictures of your centre will do just fine. And don’t forget a map. To gather some tips about
building a simple website for your daycare business, click here.
6. Car decals
and bumper stickers
If budget permits, print car decals and bumper stickers to give to family, friends
and customers. It’s free publicity on the move.
7. Posters
Print a day care posters and display them wherever possible. Pin them up on
notice boards at shopping malls, eating places or the supermarket. Pass them to your customers, families and friends and have
them put it up in their offices.
8. Open houses
Nothing beats a preview of an experience. When a company wants you to
sign up for their pricey conference, they will usually conduct an event preview to let you have an insight into what you will
be experiencing if you sign up. In the same token, open houses are an excellent marketing tool, allowing parents a hands-on
experience at your daycare centre.
There is
no need to execute all the above suggestion at one go. Pace them out throughout the year. It’ll be a lot easier on your
budget. To learn how to organise an effective daycare openhouse, click here.
Happy marketing!
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The complete business package to help you easily and quickly start your own profitable day
care business
Whether
you are thinking of making an income while staying home and caring for your own children or considering running a day care
at a church or other outside facility, the Starting a Day Care Center Start-Up Guide Kit™ is a step-by-step guide which
provides a collection of valuable sound advice and practical guidance for starting your own successful day care business.
It offers many pointers that even experienced day care providers will find useful. You
will have everything you need to get your new business started!
The Starting a Day Care Center Start-Up Guide Kit™ also includes over
30 ready-to-use daycare forms and sample business letters that are needed to operate a child care business, such
as Registration Forms , Agreement, Policies, Infant Supplemental Form, Toddler Supplemental Form, Emergency Contact Form,
Medication Form, Complete Business Plan.
Click here to learn more about Starting a Daycare Center
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