How to advertise a daycare

Advertising for your daycare should be an important part of your overall marketing mix. Let’s take a closer look at the importance of advertising and consider some of the methods a daycare could use.

With consumers being bombarded with so many advertising messages these days, it can take a while for your ad to be noticed by those who may use your services. For this reason, you shouldn’t run an ad just once and then give up, but rather run a campaign of at least ten ads. Starting a campaign on the opening day of the nursery is really too late. Campaigns must start at least two to three months before the opening date.

With so many advertising options available, it can sometimes be confusing to know where to start as you obviously won’t have the budget to test everything right away. Watch some of your most successful competitors advertise their daycare. If they are running the same ads for a long period of time, they are probably doing well in the local market, so you can consider using them. Don’t copy your ideas too closely as originality will always win out in the end, but study your campaigns carefully and try to find aspects worth emulating.

Business directories

When people search for goods and services in their local area, business directories such as the Yellow Pages are often the first place they look. A list can be expensive, but it’s generally worth it, especially if you come up with a great ad design that jumps off the page and demands to be the first customer to call.

Community bulletin boards

Once you’ve made a few flyers, there should be numerous places where you can post them for free. Think of areas that have good exposure, and then post your daycare notices on bulletin boards in schools, churches, medical clinics, or any other appropriate location.

Direct marketing

The response rate for mailing or manual delivery of collateral to clients is usually quite low, but you will probably only need to get a few clues to justify the cost. Buying a mailing list of postal addresses of families in your target market is one way to go, but you would probably do much better just by manually delivering them to the area you are targeting. If you deliver them in person door-to-door, you should check with your local post office first, as some cities have regulations that prohibit unsolicited mail.

Vehicle advertising

Whether you are using your vehicle for business purposes or for personal reasons, you will spend a lot of time driving around the area near where your daycare business is located. Having an advertising wrap installed on your vehicle comes at an upfront cost, but offers years of highly targeted, free exposure.

Local publications

Local newspapers and other local publications are a good way to spread the word about your new business. These companies are often desperate for advertisers, and if you do business with them, you should get good discounts. If you really push them, they might also post a little article about launching your new business.

There are many other great ways to advertise a daycare business. Take a look at some original methods other companies in your area are using and see if you can adapt them to promote your business. Always test methods against each other so that you can find out which ones are profitable and which ones show poor results. Have a policy of asking new customers how they found out about your service.

Well-planned ad campaigns coupled with a broader marketing strategy can really make the difference between success and failure in the daycare industry, so be sure to spend a good amount of time in this area.