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How to market child care business


Marketing Your New Daycare Business in the Community – MyCreativeShop

Are you thinking of starting a daycare business? We’ve done some research and luckily for you, there appears to be plenty of demand!

According to the Committee for Economic Development, 53.9 percent of children, from birth to age five are in non-parental childcare for 10 hours each week. Not to mention, there are 61,021,552 children under age 15 in the United States who may require paid childcare services.

As with any in-demand industry, there’s plenty of competition to fill this need, which means you may have to work harder to attract families to your business.

One way to stay competitive and drive more business is to raise local awareness. If you’re not sure how to do that, use these ideas to market your daycare business and build a brand families will remember long after their kids have grown. 

Just getting started on your childcare journey? Check out this awesome resource from Wonderschool. They created a step by step guide to help you start a preschool in your home and it's filled with a ton of great info that you may want to consider before reading the rest of this article.

1. Use Direct Mail Marketing to Target Neighborhoods

Direct mail marketing allows you to reach families in your target area. Even if you haven’t zeroed in on your target demographic, this tactic can be more successful than digital tactics like email marketing. The Direct Marketing Association found that mailers, like postcards, have a 4.4 percent reply rate versus just .12 percent for email.

To get the most of your direct mail campaign, use a service like EDDM, Every Door Direct Mail, provided by the USPS, to target the right neighborhoods. Don’t forget to include your company name, address, hours, and ages of children in your care on the mailer itself, along with any details that are specific to your business. If possible, include a promotional deal with your mailer, like a free week of tuition.

If you’re new to direct mail marketing, get more tips and ideas for your mailers in our blog post, Modern Direct Mail Marketing Ideas, before starting your first campaign.

Browse our childcare postcard templates and design your mailer today!

2. Hang Flyers Where Parents Will See Them

You’ve likely seen plenty of flyers as you walk around town, hanging in places like coffee shops and the local library. Use this traditional marketing tactic to catch parents as they’re going from place to place, and keep two key elements in mind to make your flyers most effective: location and design.

Location

Parents make up your target audience, so you should focus primarily on hanging your flyers in the areas where they’ll be. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few ideas:

Ideas listed in the image: Coffee shops, Supermarkets, Pediatrician/doctors offices, Salons, Gyms, Dance studios, Parks and rec centers, School announcement boards

You may also be able to hang your flyers in private businesses, you just need to get permission from the owner first.

Design

A well-designed flyer stands out from the many others hanging next to it. If you’re new to design, however, you may not know how to achieve this eye-catching look. Luckily, you don’t need to be a professional to make a flyer that works. Here are a few simple tips to keep in mind:

  • Make your CTA easy to see. It should be the largest text on the page.
  • Your font should be legible, both from a distance and up close. Find the best font in our blog, 10 Font Types and How to Choose Yours.
  • Use images wisely. High-quality photos of your daycare business space is a great way to show parents exactly what to expect. Remember to get permission from current daycare parents if you use images of kids currently in your program.  

Make your life easier and use one of our pre-made childcare flyers.

3. Get Social to Reach Parents Online

As of 2019, 34 million mothers in the United States use social media. This makes social media a valuable platform for promoting not just your business, but your knowledge of childcare to drive authority as a business owner. Share helpful parenting and daycare tips, along with local community events that parents may be interested in.

Social media can also be used as a window into your daycare business. Share photos of the kids playing, spending time in your space, and taking walks outside. This is a great way to build trust with potential parents without ever meeting them.

To make the most of social media, and reach moms where they’re most active, head to Facebook. Statistia found that 79 percent of mothers use Facebook, with just 54 percent using Pinterest and 44 percent using Instagram. Plus, on Facebook, you can share images, videos, links and text, allowing you to use a variety of marketing methods to share the best information. For example, you can post videos of an afternoon walk as well as a link to an upcoming event.

With that said, we highly recommend expanding your knowledge of daycare digital advertising and if you do, your business will certainly benefit.

Not sure what to post? Use our social media templates to create posts quickly and easily.

4. Host an Open House for Interested Parents

Parents will want to see your facility before they decide to enroll their children. That’s why an open house is one of the best tools you can use to attract prospective parents and sell them on your services. This face-to-face time gives them a chance to see the space where their children will spend time while getting to know you. As the person who will be responsible for their child every day, this is your chance to make a great impression.

Design on MyCreativeShop

Child Care Lounge recommends that you keep your open house simple, with books and crafts for kids and promotional information for the parents. Make sure your facility is also clean and presentable—first impressions matter. Don’t forget to have a signup sheet for parents so you can follow up with them afterward.

5. Ask for Referrals From Happy Parents

One of the most effective methods for marketing your daycare business is word of mouth (WOM). Not only is a recommendation from a friend more trustworthy, but 85 percent of small businesses said WOM is the best way to acquire local customers, according to a 2017 poll on Alignable.

85 percent of small businesses said word of mouth is the best way to acquire local customers

– Source: Alignable

As a daycare business, this is even more valuable because parents are entrusting you with the safety and care of their child. A glowing recommendation from one parent to the next is the best form of marketing you can get—and you don’t have to pay for it.

Market Your Daycare Business to the Community

Marketing your daycare business is important, and there are many ways to reach local parents who may be interested in your services. Use these ideas to let your service speak for itself, and your base of families will naturally fall in place.

5 Marketing Tips to Grow Your Child Care Business

When you’re starting a child care service, among all the creative ideas you have for classes and kids is another concern: enrollment.

Choosing a child care service is usually not an impulsive act. A mother may consider daycare when she finds out she’s pregnant, starting a decision-making process that will go on for years.

Your daycare marketing strategy needs to acknowledge and work with this process, providing information and building trust as evaluation leads to a decision.

At the same time, a sudden life change, like a new job opportunity, may create the need for daycare right away. You also want to advertise so parents who need something soon can find you.

There are certain tactics most businesses must execute today, particularly on digital channels. Your daycare service needs to do so with touch and emotional finesse because your service deals with something of incalculable value: our children.

In the end, reputation and word-of-mouth referrals will also be vital. Here are five child care marketing tips to help you grow your business and build long-term success.

#1. Design a reassuring, clean child care website

Your website is ground zero for your marketing. Much of your advertising, social sharing and informational content will lead here. It introduces your daycare center, provides a virtual tour and stimulates people to act.

It’s critical to drive traffic to your website because it allows you to capture contact info for email marketing, as well as create retargeting lists.

Today’s designs are airy, intuitive to navigate and mobile-friendly. Here is an example:

Build your daycare website over time, replacing stock photos with real images of you and your kids. Keep it updated with news, curriculum changes and helpful tips.

Your website should make clear strides towards building trust with parents. If it’s outdated, content-thin or confusing, it will hurt you early in the marketing process.

Child care services tend to have amateurish website designs, but there is no reason for this. A professional design on a template is inexpensive, and website builders, like the Marketing 360® Websites app, make it easy to customize templates for your business. Getting a professional design is an easy way to gain a competitive advantage.

Pro tip: Use infographics

The internet is increasingly visual. When you convey information with quick visual aids, you’ll reach more people.

Infographics work well for this. Instead of describing things in long blocks of text, put the information into a visual format:

Pro tip: Use authentic images

Many child care websites have a generic feel because they overuse stock photos that look too much like stock photos.

Today, people share life experiences on social media with images taken on their phones. We respond to authentic, real-life scenes more than the staged look of a “perfect” stock photo.

Consider, for example, the difference between these images:

You want the images on your website to carry information and evoke an emotional response. Real kids, with all their sweet, unpredictable, authentic energy will get more of a response than flawless stock photos.

Visitors to your website want to get a feel for your daycare center — a realistic feel. Have a professional photographer take some images of real life there, and use them on your website.  If you can’t do that right away, try to use commercial images that better communicate the emotion of real life. You’re better off presenting something that looks like a Snapchat story than obviously staged stock photos.

Pro tip: Create a Video

Many daycare centers want to get parents in for a tour. But, they don’t offer the convenience of a taster with a virtual tour. This inexpensive video can highlight security, show the atmosphere of classes, let you introduce staff, get a parent testimonial and review your curriculum.

Optimize your video for search on YouTube, which is the second most used search engine online.

Again, few daycare businesses create effective video. This is yet another chance to distinguish yourself from the competition.

#2. Create informational drip campaigns

As we mentioned, choosing child care is rarely a snap decision. On the contrary, parents take months, even years considering the best options for their child.

With this type of long sales cycle, you need marketing tactics that create periodic touches, providing continual value.

Fortunately, digital marketing makes the process much easier than it used to be. Social media networks and marketing automation can keep you in front of even the most methodical of decision-makers.

Email marketing

One of the main things you want to do with any potential client is getting an email address to opt them into your newsletter. This is one of the easiest ways to keep parents in the loop about what’s happening at your center, and to send out occasional promotional material.

Be sure to set up a conversion box on your website to capture emails. Also, whenever you meet a new parent who expresses interest, ask if they’d like to get some info via email.

Use email marketing software to manage your email lists and automate your email blasts. You can create different lists for people with varied interests/needs, including a list to send material to existing clients.

Getting an email is one of the easiest conversions and an effective way to keep in touch with prospects.

Social media marketing

Social media is a vital channel for child care centers, and lets you share both information and visual content.

Set up pages on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest, and post regular updates. All of these channels are perfect for highlighting the atmosphere of your center, talking about new activities/curriculum and sharing parenting and early education tips.

Be sure to encourage parents to share school news and the triumphs their kids’ experience at school. As they share events with their network, you gain brand awareness with more potential clientele.

Social media marketing provides a lot of ongoing content, created by you and by others. It’s a free, effective way to stay in front of parents as they consider their child care choices.

Pro tip: Try Facebook Lead Ads

So what about targeting parents who are closer to making a decision or need immediate daycare?

You can do this on Facebook Lead Ads. Facebook has truly remarkable levels of targeting that allows you to drill down to demographics, interests and life events with great detail.

For example, you could create an ad that only serves up to:

  • Women ages 20-35
  • College grads
  • Married people
  • People who live in multi-family homes
  • Parents with toddlers
  • Politically liberal users
  • People who buy kids’ products

You specifically target this group, running an ad that will show in their news feed where they can give you an email, call or schedule a visit — without even having to leave Facebook.

You can also use Audience Insights to target interests that connect to daycare needs.

The one thing you need to make sure of is that your audience isn’t so small (depending on the geographic area you target) that you can’t get enough activity on the ad (low engagement metrics will make the ad more expensive).  ]But overall, this is an affordable way to try some lead generation.

Pro tip: Host a Facebook event

Want to turn some of this social media traffic into visitors at your next open house? Create a Facebook event to share with your network. This quickly gets the word out across Facebook connections and will definitely increase your attendance.

#3. Build a strong reputation and get reviews

In the world of child care and preschools, there is no greater marketing moment than when one of your parents recommends you to one of their friends.  There’s nothing you can do to match that level of trust.

Likewise, there is nothing worse than an unhappy parent telling people to stay away from you.

Today, this “word of mouth” also happens online in the form of reviews. Reviews seem to pop up everywhere, from Yelp to Top Rated Local®. Potential clients can also go on niche sites, like greatschools.org, or they can look for reviews on Facebook.

When someone does a search on Google and checks business listings, one of the most prominent features are reviews:

Be assured that prospective parents will check online reviews for your school. If your profile is too negative, it can devastate your marketing.

It’s essential that you make efforts to manage your online reputation and create a positive review profile.

The two most important steps are:

  1. Remember that every parent you work with has the ability to review you online. Providing great service and an exceptional environment for kids is your main tool for gaining positive reviews. On the other hand, every time you cut corners, it can cost you long-term.
  2. Ask for reviews from happy parents. There is an unfortunate tendency for unhappy people to be more active with online reviewing. Make sure the happy majority is well represented by asking parents to leave you reviews. Ask in person (they can often do this on their phone), or send out emails with a link to the site you’d like the review on. Happy parents will usually help but need a little push.

Keep an eye on this content. If there is a legitimate complaint, respond to it. Often, you can rectify things once the parent sees you respect their opinion.

And, don’t forget to encourage offline word of mouth. Local referrals are a necessity for child care and preschools. If your parents aren’t recommending you, you’re missing a valuable way to increase enrollment.

#4. Work on your search results

There once was a marketing service printed on yellow paper and left at people’s doorsteps.

Today, when people want to look up a service, they do it on Google. It’s a major advantage to have your business appear at the top of search results.

You do this in three ways.

The first is to use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. You use the auction system (Google Ads) to bid on keywords and gain placement at the top of the page. The top four results on any search page are all PPC.

The second is the aforementioned Google My Business listing. This is a free listing that ties into local search and Google Maps. It’s important to optimize your description and service listing with the keywords parents search on for daycare services. Also, more positive reviews will help your ranking.

The third is the organic listing of your website. This is driven by your search engine optimization (SEO) work. Optimize your site for target keywords, get some backlinks into your site and blog on a regular basis to get high rankings.

Note that you can use your blog to optimize content for a variety of searches, including common questions people have about child care. This is a great way to introduce your brand to parents doing research and get them into your marketing funnel.

Pro tip: Use retargeting

A highly effective tactic within PPC campaigns is retargeting. This places a piece of code (called a cookie or pixel) on a visitor’s browser and allows you to display specific ads to them after they leave your website.

Retargeting is effective as a brand touch-point in the longer sales cycle of child care. You can run ads on websites as they surf online and in Facebook newsfeeds.

#5. Use marketing software and CRM tools

If you are running a daycare center or preschool of any size, you’ll benefit from getting your marketing, advertising, and lead-generation organized with marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

It’s a significant challenge to manage all these marketing channels and contacts over long sales cycles. Most childcare and preschools running marketing to gain enrollment fail because they can’t maintain their strategic grip. Marketing and advertising become haphazard matters of luck.

Marketing software, like Marketing 360®, makes management of your marketing far easier. It includes email marketing and CRM software. You can manage all your campaigns from one platform, track activities over time and see the results of your efforts. Use data to improve campaigns and strengthen your competitive advantage.

Child care and preschools are not a particularly strong business vertical when it comes to marketing. The people who run these businesses do it because they love and care about kids. But, that love doesn’t translate into new enrollment and poorly executed, DIY marketing hinders many businesses.

That leaves you with an opportunity. Work with child care marketing experts to establish yourself as the type of caring professionals parents will trust their children to. See our plans and pricing.

Originally published on 6/13/19

Business ideas for mom on decree

All the pros and cons

Starting your own business is a serious process and requires deep thought. Let's analyze all the advantages and disadvantages of doing business on maternity leave.

FOR Vs
Additional income Combining work and household chores
Free work schedule Little profit at the beginning
Personal growth Danger of running into scammers
Financial independence
Comfort workplace
Absence of chief
Doing what you love

A new mother must weigh everything and decide if she can handle such a load. The first time, most likely, will not be easy, the business requires financial investments that will not pay off as quickly as we would like. However, if you do what you really like, do your job conscientiously and correctly allocate your time, the planned project will bear fruit.

How to choose a direction for business

There are a lot of opportunities to earn money from home while on maternity leave. In order to choose a field for work, you need to answer a few questions for yourself. nine0003

  1. How much time per day are you willing to devote to work? As we have already said, this may be the time for the baby to rest, or the child may occupy himself for some time when he is awake. It's great if there is someone in the wings who can play or take a walk with the baby.
  2. What are you best at and what are you willing to do? Perhaps you love to play with children, cook, sew, have a talent for persuasion, use modeling programs, photo editors, etc. On these and other abilities, you can earn decent money. nine0068
  3. For what purpose are you looking for a job: for earnings or for pleasure? The choice of the direction of business depends on the answer to this question, since some areas pay off faster and require less costs.

Having determined the direction of activity, the purpose of earning and understanding how much time you can devote to work without harm to the baby, you can find your calling.

Business ideas for moms on maternity leave

A win-win option for earning money at home is to work by profession. Thus, you will not only receive additional income, but also do not waste your professional skills and, on the contrary, will be aware of current trends in your specialty. nine0003

Tutor

If you have a pedagogical education and like working with children, you can try yourself as a tutor. Educational services can be provided at home, visiting students or online via video link. For a young mother, most likely, the latter method will be the most convenient. You are unlikely to be left without clients, especially before preparing for exams.

Writing essays, term papers to order

Students often use services for solving problems, drawing up drawings, writing dissertations, term papers and essays. With enough knowledge, you can provide yourself with a decent income. With timely and competent work done, the students themselves will advise you to their classmates. nine0003

Lawyer, psychologist

Before the decree, did you work in the field of law or psychology? Then you can successfully conduct online consultations, trainings, draw up contracts, applications, etc. If the employer agrees, you can perform some of the duties remotely.

Designer

Are you a designer? You can also arrange with your employer to provide services at your own individual schedule or work online. On the Internet, there are often announcements about the creation of web pages, booklets, leaflets, interior design, etc. nine0003

Accountant

Some businesses use the services of outsourcing companies or individuals involved in accounting. This is a great opportunity not to lose your skills and earn.

Masseur

If you have graduated from a medical school, you can additionally take massage courses. Many parents are looking for such a specialist for their baby. In addition, all family members will be happy with your new skill.

Photographer

You can continue working as a photographer while on maternity leave. True, one cannot do without the help of relatives, it will be necessary to agree on the time of shooting and agree that the spouse or grandmother will sit with the child. Beautiful shots can be taken on a walk with your baby, and high-quality photos can be published on photo stocks. nine0003

Artist

One of the most popular gifts is a painting. You can draw from life at home or make portraits from photographs. Let your imagination run wild and come up with illustrations for books, cartoons, comics. If you wish, you can direct your talent towards creating interiors, painting furniture or other items.

Confectioner

If you worked as a confectioner before maternity leave, caring for a child will not prevent you from doing your own thing. The home baking business idea is attractive not only for professional pastry bakers, but also for women who love to cook. You can also try yourself in this role because almost every kitchen has equipment for making cakes and other pastries. Cake is a treat for all occasions, which means that you definitely won’t be left without orders. nine0003

Seamstress

You can work on maternity leave if you have a sewing machine at home. Even if you do not have the appropriate education, now there is an opportunity to learn this profession on your own, for example, take courses in sewing. You can sew clothes for yourself, your family and for sale.

Earn money on hobbies

While still at school, girls learn basic techniques of sewing, embroidery, knitting, etc. in labor lessons. If you wish, you can further develop your skills, and put the fruits of your creativity up for sale. Handmade gifts are very much appreciated. nine0003

Knitting

In the cold season, knitted items are in great demand: hats, scarves, mittens, socks, sweaters. You can knit not only clothes and accessories, but also toys, decor items. Hand made gifts will certainly be remembered for a long time.

Embroidery

Embroidered items are unique and popular. You can embroider with threads, ribbons, beads. And what products to decorate with handmade, here let your imagination fly, it can be independent paintings, clothes, bags embroidered with patterns, brooches and much more. nine0003

Creation of educational children's toys

A modern mother cares about the comprehensive development of her child. In every family where there is a child, you can find a business board. Try to make it yourself. To develop fine motor skills, buttons, buttons, zippers, any rustling elements, fasteners, locks, and so on can be attached to a board or fabric. The kid will definitely be interested in such a toy. What is not a way to earn money?

Making jewelry

Mothers love to dress up their daughters in beautiful outfits, and you can complete the look with a handmade headband, elastic band, hair clip. You can also make jewelry and jewelry for family shooting in the same style for mom and daughter. nine0003

Candle and soap making

A young mother can learn how to make soap or decorative candles at home. To do this, just watch the training videos and purchase the necessary raw materials. And then everything is in your hands, mix colors, come up with intricate shapes. These items are perfect as gifts.

Creating party attributes

Children's birthdays and holidays are often decorated in the style of a cartoon. To do this, parents buy balls, garlands, hats, everything for table setting in one theme. Some of this can be done with your own hands and sold in kits, completed by style. Handmade wedding attributes are also in demand. This includes glasses of the newlyweds, pillows for rings, a box for money, invitations and more. nine0003

Scrapbooking

With this technique, you can create amazingly beautiful photo albums, postcards, photo frames, etc. Albums of the first year of a child's life, wedding albums are especially popular. And how nice it will be for customers to fill them out and remember the most memorable moments of life.

We have presented, of course, a non-exhaustive list of hobbies that can generate income. If you are doing what you love, creating a unique product, customers will be drawn to you. Create pages on social networks, post your work, show the process of creating your products, so you will definitely find your buyer. Nobody has canceled word of mouth, a satisfied customer will surely share his emotions from the purchase with friends and relatives, which will certainly benefit you. nine0003

Professions that can be learned in a short time

On maternity leave, a mother can try herself in a new profession. You don't have to graduate from a university, you just need to take a course. Now masters of the beauty industry are in great demand. Training for these professions (hairdresser, manicure and pedicure master, make-up artist, etc.) does not last long. Being a good specialist, you will quickly gain regular customers. There is a high probability that once you get into this area, you will not return to your previous job. nine0003

Entrepreneurship Support Fund

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Social entrepreneurship

What is social entrepreneurship?

What is social entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship combines a social orientation of activity and an entrepreneurial approach. This is a business solution to a social problem, a balance of social goals and a commercial component, where money is not a goal, but a means to achieve these social goals, allowing the entrepreneur to remain sustainable and independent. nine0176

For the successful implementation of any business project, both commercial and social, the financial stability of the enterprise in social entrepreneurship is necessary, this criterion is fundamental. Only under these conditions does a socially oriented business differ from traditional charity.

Projects in this area can be identified according to such criteria as:

  • social mission nine0003

  • entrepreneurial approach

  • innovativeness (innovation in solving a social problem, a new combination of resources, a new service for the region)

  • replicability

  • self-sufficiency and financial stability.

World experience shows that entrepreneurship is increasingly shifting the emphasis on not only earning money, but also solving social problems. And more and more investors are investing in socially oriented companies. nine0003

Areas of social entrepreneurship