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Marketing is essential for raising the profile of your child care centre and growing your enrolment numbers. Advertising can be costly and it’s sometimes difficult to track the success of your marketing strategies and monitor your return on investment.
Minimising the cost of marketing is an objective for many businesses, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of results.
So, how do you find smart marketing that works for your child care centre, without the big price tag?
To help, we’ve put together a list of the top seven smart marketing strategies used by successful child care centres.
1. Make the most of media
Local news outlets are always looking for great photo opportunities, and child care centres have plenty to offer. Picture a colourful photo of a child playing with leaves on the first day of autumn, getting creative with new art equipment, or planting seeds in an edible garden. These images not only make great community news, but can act as a powerful and free marketing tool for your business.
Child care operators should aim to build a relationship with media networks in their region, including community magazines, local newspapers, radio stations and television news programs.
Media outlets are more likely to be responsive if you provide a concise one-page media release in advance of a special event, rather than a phone call on the day asking if a photographer can attend.
Providing a calendar of special events or important dates three to six months in advance can also help media outlets plan future features and photo opportunities at your centre. Consider developing a media plan, and guidelines identifying who the authorised media contact and spokesperson will be, and ensure all staff are informed of these policies.
2. Have fun with fundraising
Whether it’s a preschool fete or a charity drive, fun events that make people feel good, will make them feel great about your centre. A great opportunity to showcase a centre’s caring nature and community focus is through activities such as fundraisers for child care centres and facilities directly, or even raising funds for other causes.
3. Get creative with content marketing
We understand child care centre operators and educators are busy people. They’re pushed for time in the juggle to balance educating and caring for children in addition to meeting administrator and regulatory requirements.
Using your website to house content marketing or blog articles is a great way to help people find you. More than half of all marketers say content creation is now their top inbound marketing strategy. Writing informed and interesting blog articles not only showcases your knowledge and helps position you as an industry leader, but by integrating Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) keywords into these articles, businesses can dramatically increase their chances of being found online.
If this doesn’t make any sense to you, or you don’t have the time or skills to write for the web, consider hiring a copywriter.
4. Stay up to date on social media
A current and active presence on social media is one of the most important marketing and engagement tools available to businesses today. Content consumption on Facebook alone has increased 57% in the past two years, reinforcing the significance of this platform.
Child care centres can use social media to share images, video and information about special events and occasions. They can distribute content marketing articles and blogs, connect with current families, and reach out to new ones.
When parents and families search for child care centres online, you want to make a great first impression. Aim to post at least once a week to demonstrate an active social media presence. Make sure only high quality images are used, spell check all posts, and be sure to have a social media policy in place including written consent from families to use their child’s image online.
5. Identify your target audience, and find them
This might seem obvious, but surprisingly, a lot of businesses don’t give much consideration to who their customers will be. Child care centre operators should identify the demographics of their target customers in the below areas:
- The suburbs they live in,
- Their occupations,
- Income and family structure
The more you know about your target customer, the easier it is to make sure your marketing reaches and appeals to them.
6. Letterbox drops
The good old fashioned letterbox drop is still a popular marketing option for child care centres. Basic flyers can be produced at a low cost and delivered to mailboxes in the local area to promote a child care centre generally, or to advertise special events (such as an open day or fete).
7. Practice what you preach
Most importantly, it’s essential to deliver on your marketing promises. Whether you’re promoting your child care centres state of the art facilities, or the friendly and experienced team, every marketing claim you make needs to hold true when customers come to visit.
The best way to do this is to identify your child care centres greatest strengths or points of difference, and then highlight these throughout your marketing. Whether it’s modern art and music facilities, a healthy eating program, or innovative child care software and technology, be loud and proud about the reasons that will make customers want to choose your child care centre.
What are your favourite tried and tested marketing techniques? And how do you measure marketing ROI?
“The opinions expressed by BizWitty Contributors are their own, not those of BizCover and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Please read our full disclaimer."
