Your logo and business name should be prominent in your target market. Everything should link back to the image you are trying to convey. Create a customer referral program. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool. Encourage word-of-mouth advertising by creating a referral program. Design a flier and distribute it to your current parents announcing the details.
Many centers offer parents a reward for making referrals to their centers. By encouraging the parents who use your services to promote you, you gain a powerful advocate in the eyes of prospective customers.
Host an open house. Hold an open house or an event that showcases what you have to offer. Invite the community and welcome parents. An open house lets parents browse your facilities, talk to teachers and get to know the feeling of the center. Consider an open house monthly or at least four times a year. Create promotional materials. A low-cost way to build your brand is to target specific neighborhoods in the market that you serve. Print a specific message or offer on door hangers and place them on doorknobs in your area.
This can be particularly effective if targeted to a particular time when people might be thinking of day care options. Powerful Tools Keep existing families engaged and drive referrals. Guidance Attract new families and increase enrollment. Get the free guide. Add more impact to your email marketing. Ready to get started? Start your free trial today. Are you an agency or working on behalf of a client? Partner with us to offer more and drive better results. Read now. So, with that in mind, email marketing is all about building a list, which takes a ton of time.
Your current email list is probably just families who have enrolled at your center. Other ways to collect emails are from community event sign-ups, social media marketing, opt-ins on your website, or pay-per-click ads. For most child cares, setting up a drip campaign for new leads is probably the most effective strategy, over and against, say, a newsletter.
A drip campaign is where you set up a series of emails that reach out to new families over a specific length of time. For example, an introduction email and request for tour day 1, a follow-up email day 3, and second follow up 1 week later, and a final follow up 1 month later. Done old school, you could try to do this with self-created email templates and by setting calendar reminders.
Or you could use an email client like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact , which will manage it for you automatically and give you analytics to help you optimize campaigns. Community events are a great way to meet with potential families and get the word out about your child care.
The other large benefit is that they are interactive. This can be extremely beneficial in gaining leads for potential families. There are definitely a lot of options and many things to think about when choosing a marketing strategy. The main thing is to try several approaches and find out what works best for your child care. Each center is different and what works for one gives not guarantee it will work for yours.
Also remember to try something multiple times. Need some help using your website or social media to actually drive tours and enrollments? Email us at engage circlesocialinc.
Hi Nick! Great article packed full of marketing strategies! So true. You seem to be very knowledgeable at what you do. Thanks Elyssa. I see so many daycares struggle because they spend no money on marketing.
Sometimes, even the simplest efforts can lead to new tours a week. Billboards Billboards can work great for location-based businesses, especially if you can get a billboard on the highway near your child care. Direct Mail Direct mail is another economical way to reach a large number of families. Social Media Marketing Social media marketing can mean a lot of things. Email Marketing When done yourself, email marketing can be quite cheap. Community Events Community events are a great way to meet with potential families and get the word out about your child care.
Which Route to Go? Extremely expensive, lack of targeting, pay per view. Radio Reaches a large, local audience, cheaper than TV, build brand awareness. Expensive, lack of specific targeting, pay per listener. Newspaper Local audience, can be cost effective, coupons or offers can drive calls, builds awareness. Not as widely read as in the past, pay per reader. Community Bulletin Extremely cost effective, can be highly targeted with specific group, community focused.
Small audience. Billboards High visibility, can drive action for families passing by the location often. Cost, only work well if billboard is near your child care. Direct Mail Location targeting, fairly cheap, reaches a lot of people in one area. Social Media Highly targeted, interactive, most people are on it, cheaper than most traditional media. Complex, time-intensive, operates in real-time, so little time to plan. Search Engine Optimization SEO Increases visibility online, creates content and links so you can be found easily from other sites as well.
Complex, time-intensive, no guarantee of results, without a good website, may not work.
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