Preparing a Daycare Marketing Plan - Tips and Strategies

One of the leading factors that will contribute to your success or failure when you start a daycare business is marketing. In order to win customers and grow into a larger business with more than one facility or just to maintain your existing group sizes you need to know how to market a daycare effectively. Here are some tips that you can consider as you proceed to put together your daycare marketing plan.

Research - Identifying a Niche Market

The first step in putting a daycare marketing strategy together is to identify your market. This may seem obvious at first but there are many niches or sectors in this industry. These range from infant care, regular daycare for preschoolers, after school care, weekend and evening care. The niches vary by the age of the children, location, what time the children are there and also increasingly by the quality and style of care, facilities and educational program.

The most successful operators identify a niche that is not being catered to sufficiently in their local area and they move into and dominate the market. Do extensive market research for your daycare business to ensure that there is sufficient local demand. Research the competition and work on developing a daycare that is unique and offers something that they don't

Packaging and Pricing Child Care Services

Once you have defined your niche you can then look at clearly defining the services that you offer to meet niche demands. You can also look at ways of packaging your services in a way that appears to enhance their value. While still being flexible in what you offer you can put together attractive packages with catchy names such as 'Saturday Koala Club' for example. List what is included with each package and offer discounts for customers signing up for a full package. Clients who prepay for three months in advance get 10% discount for example.

It is also important to do research into daycare pricing so that you can come up with rates that make your business marketable.

Build a Brand

By now you should have a fair idea about the daycare brand that you will be establishing. Think about how you want the public to perceive your business. Note down a company philosophy and the image that you want to present to the community.

Go through the process of choosing an appropriate name for your daycare. Then you can meet with a graphic designer and start discussing how to visually represent the brand that you want to create with a logo design.

Daycare Advertising and Promotion

The next step is to get word out about your new daycare center and the services and packages that you offer. Advertising and promotions are an important part of any marketing plan and you should look at the many options available. Start running some advertising campaigns several months before opening for business.

Networking and Cross Promotions

Advertising is not the only way to go about attracting clients and there are lots of other marketing strategies that can also be effective.

You could look at ways of cross promoting your services with other local business. Network in your local community and you can meet a wide range of people who may one day become customers.

Don't write off working together with competitors altogether. If you get an enquiry and find out that the child in question would be better suited to a program at another daycare then you are doing the parents a favor by letting them know. And if the other daycare is also referring children that they feel are more suited to what you have to offer then this arrangement is a win win for all involved.

Consider joining a local child care association. Many parents contact these associations for advice and it is possible that they may refer relevant enquiries from families in your area to you.

People who have just secured employment are a good group to target. Contact local recruitment agencies or employment offices and ask them to let their clients know about your services.

Utilize your personal social network by asking friends and associates if they know of any families that may be in need of your services. Then you can contact these families directly and they should be prepared to listen to what you have to say.

Word of Mouth Marketing

If you serve your existing customers well they will refer friends to you. This kind of 'word of mouth' marketing is free and can be fully exploited by giving your clients every reason to talk about you to their friends. Providing a great service is one thing but there are many other ways to get customers talking about you. Make their interaction with your business so unique, interesting and memorable that they can't wait to bring your daycare up in a conversation with their friends.

Hand out some flyers or business cards to your customers and ask them to pass them on to friends and associates who have children in your targeted age bracket. Offer them coupons for a small discount if they successfully refer another family to your daycare.

Refining a Sales Process

If your advertising and networking efforts are successful you should start to receive a good number of enquiries from families. At this point you need to have developed an effective sales process right through from making an appointment, an interview session, a tour, some soft selling and then closure of the deal.

Don't Stop Marketing to your Customers

Keep marketing to your existing customers even after they have signed up with your service. There are always additional products and services that you can sell to maximize the revenue that you make off each client.

Many small daycare centers spend too much time focusing on the day-to-day work of running their business and neglect their marketing. To make your daycare business a success you need to ensure that you, as the owner, or another trusted staff member can devote a large part of their day towards marketing. This will ultimately help to determine how successful and profitable your daycare business will be.

Additional Articles

Daycare Names - Ten Ideas on How to Name a Daycare Business

Daycare Pricing - How to Price Daycare Services

A Daycare Sales Approach