Marketing Your Child Care Center
Childcare is a business. A lot of times when people open a child care business they may open it with the impression “if I open it they will come”. Well, that is not always true. The truth is that childcare centers have to be marketed just like every other business.
First of all, you need to budget for marketing. Marketing needs to start before you open your business and continue throughout the life of the business. My personal opinion is 1-2% and maybe more of your revenue needs to be budgeted for marketing just like your budget for payroll, food, and other supplies and items needed to make your business successful.
There are many marketing ideas and plans to help your childcare business grow. I am just going to discuss a few in this article. Have a grand opening at your childcare center when you open. Promote the grand opening throughout the neighborhood and in local businesses by making and passing or sending out flyers and brochures. Place a large ad in your local newspaper, child magazine, and any publications catering to working parents. Invite your local newspaper and city officials, such as the Mayor and Chamber of Commerce officials to come out during your grand opening. Offer refreshments, maybe have some door prizes, pass out brochures and have teachers and staff there to answer questions and mingle.
Once your childcare center opens the marketing doesn’t stop. It has just begun. Word of mouth from a satisfied parent is the best advertising. There are things you can do to promote parent involvement and support, such as sending or faxing their children’s artwork to parents at work and ask them to display it; have a parent’s night out and give parents coupons for a friend to come for free; have the children decorate their parents a lunch size paper bag to take their lunch to work; have a parent referral program where parents receive credit for new referrals.
To promote community involvement and increase enrollment you can attend local Chamber of Commerce events; host and provide childcare for a Chamber of Commerce meeting; conduct a story hour at your local library; have a community Eater egg hunt; and/or participate in local parades; have a food or clothing drive for the needy; invite the newspaper to attend events at your center; Christmas caroling at the local mall; host a garage sale; give a small discount (maybe 10%) to employees at large businesses in the area; send cards to the local children’s hospital; swap brochures and fliers with local businesses that may cater to parents, such as local apartment complexes, realtors, salons, libraries, and banks.
The financial success of your childcare business will be very dependent on your ability to control costs and increase revenue by promoting your name.
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