Once you have researched the need for care in your area and decided to open a child care program you will need to market your program. Operating with every available space in your child care program full and having the security of a waiting list whenever you have a vacancy begin with knowing how you are different from other businesses that offer services like yours.
Does your child care program:
- Use a specific educational curriculum?
- Offer supplemental activities such as language instruction or classes for parents?
- Do you or any of your staff members hold special credentials or have unusual skills or talents?
- Is your program accredited or has it achieved other awards that note exceptional quality?
- How does your child care program differs from other options?
- What would you want to know if you were a parent considering this choice for your child?
Features and Benefits
Describing your child care program begins with carefully defining its features and benefits. The features of a business product or service describe it in a concrete or physical way; they tell what the product or service is. (For example: What time do you begin and end? Are meals and snacks served? What are the qualifications of teachers? What size are the class groups and how are they organized? Is there a set curriculum?)
The benefits describe why the product or service is relevant, important or desirable; they sell customers on why they need the product or service. (For example: How will parent and child benefit from using your program? Will it improve their lives or make them easier? Will it offer them a sense of safety or security? Are there educational benefits for the child?)
If your child care program offers a unique service or a common service with unique features or benefits, then you have a “unique selling proposition.” This unique service, feature or benefit should be a central focus of how you market your child care program.
Promoting Your Business
The most effective marketing done for your program is parent-to-parent, word-of-mouth advertising. However, if you have multiple vacancies in your program and no waiting list from which to fill them, then this strategy is not working well enough for you to do nothing else. Consider implementing some of the following ideas.
Prospective clients:
Offer prospective clients written materials describing the benefits of your programs.
Create a positive, professional impression on your telephone answer machine. Identify yourself and your business.
Keep the outside of your center or home clean and uncluttered.
Make your entryway welcoming and professional by posting your credentials, daily schedule and children’s items on a bulletin board.
Community Outreach:
Call the Council’s Referral Department to update the information on your program and let them know when you have openings, add a new service or change your hours or fees.
Business cards are very inexpensive and let potential customers know that this is a professional business.
Distribute flyers and brochures telling potential customers about your services and their features or benefits.
Ask your current customers to refer friends and coworkers who they know are looking for child care. Give them brochures or flyers, or copies of your business card to make the referrals easier for them.
Introduce yourself to local businesses frequented by families with young children and provide them with written materials about your program.
Review the Council’s Professional Development Calendar for the latest Business workshops.
Develop a year-long calendar of marketing your program and in a way that will get you the response you need from new customers, at the time you need it.
