|
|
|
Riverside County Family Child Care Association>
Marketing Your Child Care
July 17, 2007
Make sure all your fliers, ads, brochures are as
professional looking as you can make them. People will
respond better to a professional looking ad.
One provider said she'd advertised several times in a local
paper using the cheap two line ad format. She got no
response. Last weekend she put in a large ad with her logo
and a bit more information. She received 25 replies.
Our local papers come out on Wed. and Sat. One provider
mentioned how she never got any response to ads placed in
the Wed. paper. She decided that on Wed. people were too
busy after work to read the paper, so just went for the
Sat. only edition and had more luck along with saving
money.
Use colour in your fliers/brochures that you hand out.
Research shows that by using 4 colours people will be 8
times more likely to stop and read it and 9 times more
likely to call.
An example of what one provider did: She made up a
three-fold brochure giving a general outline of her
daycare. This way she could give it to any prospective
clients without having to give out an entire parent pack.
If she never heard from them again then she wasn't out all
the money and time involved in putting the parent pack
together.
Make up or have someone do up business cards for you. It's
important to always carry them with you and take advantage
of every opportunity to sell yourself. You don't have to be
pushy, but just let people know you're in business.
Have a sign made up for your front lawn or window. You
don't have to leave it up all the time, but can put it out
when you have vacancies and then put it away when you're
full. Of course, not all areas will allow signs, so find
out about what's allowed first.
Keep a list of information about yourself and your daycare
by the phone. That way when you get a call from a parent
you won't be caught hemming and hawing trying to remember
everything you want to say. This will give them a good
impression of your professionalism. This phone call is
extremely important. You must make a good impression or
they're not going to bother with setting up an interview.
If it's not convenient to speak with them when they call,
be sure to explain you are just too busy with the children
and get their name and number to call back later. Again,
this should impress the parent with your professionalism
and devotion to your job!
If they decide to come for an interview have a list of
things you want to discuss all ready. That way you won't
forget to discuss a few things. It's really easy to get
off-topic during the interview.
When someone's coming for an interview make sure the
outside of your house is neat and tidy. While you're
cleaning up inside get your spouse outside to mow the lawn
and generally tidy up. The first impression is so
important. If your house is untidy outside they may make up
their minds then and there not to choose you.
(Even the staff at my Child Care Support program made a big
issue of this. They say that they can almost always tell
what the potential provider is going to be like by the
outside appearance of the home. If the outside's a mess,
the inside usually isn't much better. By the time they walk
through the home, they have a huge list of things that need
to be addressed and they don't often hear back from that
person.)
Always get the person's first and last name and phone
number!!!!!
When you are out with your day care children on a field
trip, be as visible as possible. Shop around at different
t-shirt shops to see who will give you a good deal on
printing up t-shirts with your daycare name on them. (This
can also be done using an inkjet printer and special
transfer paper). Pick a nice bright eye-catching colour.
You could do the same with hats, if t-shirts are just too
pricey. Or even buy a large, plain canvas carry-all and
have your name and number printed on it.
Have a magnetic sign made-up for your car. That way you can
take it off when you aren't on official day care business.
Research shows that about 600 people a week will see it.
Contact local realtors. They love to have a complete
package for prospective clients. If they can inform them of
daycares in the area, so much the better for everyone
involved.
Network with other providers in your area. Get to know each
other and what you all have to offer such as programs and
ages cared for. That way you if you can't help a family
out, you may be able to refer them to another provider who
can and vice versa.
Don't get discouraged when you are first starting out.
There's no doubt about how difficult it can be to get those
first clients. Just keep on plugging away and it will come.
A Home Away From Home
|
|
