35 Terrific Child Care Marketing Ideas

You are a kid person, not a marketing person – but you know you need to get the word out about your child care centre. You just have no clue where to start. Good news – in this article, we will furnish you with 35 proven, cost-effective yet fun-to-implement marketing ideas.

 

1. Get yourself on Google Maps and Google Business. Get your business on Google for free. Not sure where to start? Google Maps is key; do that one first. Google My Business connects you directly with customers, whether they’re looking for you on Search, Maps or Google+.
    
2. Register with Early Childhood Education Agency(ECDA) and Child Care Link Website.
    
3. Develop your “elevator speech.” This is a short, thought-out, memorable response to the question, “What do you do?” Get yours ready so that you’re prepared whenever anyone asks. “I’m the owner of ABC, the place for pre-school readiness in Sengkang!” is much better than, “Um, I run a Child Care Centre.”
    
4. Get a nice-looking brochure and embed a QRCode of your website address. Even in this web-first era, you need a professional-looking and informative brochure when parents head down to your centre for events like Open House.
    
5. Start a blog. A blog helps establish you as the local child care authority, and it also keeps your website content fresh – which helps with your search engine rankings.
    
6. Figure out your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your Unique Selling Proposition, that is – what makes you stand out from every other centre in your area.
    
7. Break a record. Or set out to, anyway – fun for the kids at your centre and a tremendous opportunity for local press coverage.
    
8. Start a newsletter. Print and/or online. If you provide useful, non-salesy info to parents, you will quickly establish yourself as a useful community resource and get your name out there.
    
9. Offer to write an article or column for a local newspaper or parenting magazine. If there’s a local publication focusing specifically on parents or families, that’s even better. (Tips: We welcome guest blog on Skoolopedia 😀 )
    
10. Publicize your testimonials. On your website, in your brochure, in your ads, and everywhere else you can think of. Quotes from real-life happy parents are, all by themselves, some of the most effective marketing there is.
     
11. Write a special report on something of interest to local parents. And offer it for free, in exchange for sign-ups to your email list.
     
12. Get good with press releases.
     
13. Sign up with online directories. Here are a few for you to consider; all are free as of this writing: Skoolopedia.com, Stdirectory or eGuide.
     
14. Share the goods. The baked goods, that is. You’ll be amazed at how much goodwill (and positive word-of-mouth) you generate by dropping off regular goodie deliveries to other local businesses that serve kids and their families – children’s hairdressers, toy stores, museums, etc. Don’t forget to include some brochures and business cards, too!
     
15. Ask happy parents to leave glowing reviews on online sites or Facebook Page for you. Because prospective parents are generally “online-first” types, this will make a great impression before they even set foot inside your center.
     
16. Address any negative online reviews directly and non-defensively. Head-in-the-sand thinking is not your friend here. Be proactive about managing your online presence and reviews.
     
17. Keep your Facebook page updated. You want to be posting at least once every business day. Photos of the happy kids at your center are fantastic; just be sure to get signed authorizations from parents first.
     
18. Sponsor parent workshops. Contact your local library, schools, and houses of worship to see if they would be willing to have you present there, and/or host the workshops at your centre on weekends or in the evening.
     
19. Make some visual appealing flyers. And post them (with permission, of course) wherever flyers are gathered – your local supermarket, the breakfast place down the street, etc.
     
20. Experiment with pay-per-click (PPC) ads. These are great because you can limit them geographically, and you pay (as the name implies) only when someone clicks on your ad.
     
21. Invest in SEO. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to how findable your website is when families in your area are searching online for child care. If you don’t show up in their search results, you may as well not exist – so it can be worth it to talk to someone who knows how to make sure you get found online on a consistent basis.
     
22. Offer a rock-solid guarantee. Nothing reassures people like a strong guarantee – and very few, if any, people will ever take you up on it. So don’t be shy about offering something bold (and name it big, too), e.g. “Our 110% Happy Kid Guarantee: If you and your child aren’t completely delighted with our program after your first month, we’ll refund every penny you’ve paid – guaranteed.”
     
23. Start a parent referral program. Encourage your satisfied parents to refer you to their friends – and reward them in a compelling way (something along the lines of a $250-$300 voucher) for doing so. The better your program is, the more people will talk it up, and the more referrals you’ll get.
     
24. Hand out referral cards to current parents and staff. Provide a small bonus for referrals that lead to tours and a larger bonus for referrals that lead to enrolments.
     
25. Partner Real Estate Agents in your area. You’re looking for buyers’ agents who work with a lot of families; partner with them to offer free child care during house showings and closings. Guess who those families new to your area are going to call when they need ongoing child care?
     
26. Try out Facebook advertising. As with PPC ads, you can target these narrowly for great results. And don’t forget to include a photo – people respond particularly well to images of happy kids and happy babies.
     
27. Update the banner outside your building. You can also get a banner made up for a special limited-time promotion.
     
28. Post some videos on YouTube. Whether it’s kids playing at your center (again, get parental permission first) or you speaking on a topic of interest to parents, people find online videos irresistible.
     
29. Get more Facebook likes. Encourage current and past parents, as well as friends and family, to “like” your page. The more likes you have, the wider your marketing reach.
     
30. Create a slideshow. And post it on SlideShare, which is a high-quality backlink to your site.
     
31. Stay in touch with your alumni students and their families. They can be a source of great word-of-mouth for you – but need a bit more reminding than the families currently at your center (who, after all, see you almost every day).
     
32. Place ads in community publications and bulletins.
     
33. Comment on other people’s blogs. Again, this creates backlinks back to your site – and also helps establish you as an authority on child care in your area, if you pick your blogs carefully Think about the websites that parents of young children in your area are spending time on.
     
34. Contribute to online forums. Many communities have active online forums for local moms/parents. This is a great place to join the conversation and showcase your knowledge – don’t try any hard selling here, though!
     
35. Engage with local businesses on Facebook. “Like” their pages and encourage them to like yours, too. Share and comment on their posts, as appropriate.