3 Cost-effective ways to Market Your Childcare Center

As a child care provider, there are all kinds of ways to promote your business. Many of the traditional methods of promotion are expensive, so we’ve put together some tips on cost-effective methods that will help market your child care center without breaking the bank.

Social Media

Today one of the most important marketing tools that you can use is social media. Although there are many different platforms that you can use, be careful that you don’t overwhelm yourself with too many. Test out a few to start, and find out which ones produce the best results. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are three popular options for you to consider starting with. These platforms receive the most traffic and will make it the easiest to reach your target market. You should be active on these different accounts at least once or twice a week. Share updates from your center with your followers and post photos of day to day activities at your center to draw people in. Share with the public the atmosphere that you provide, and use regular updates to show how your center is unique and a best fit for the families in your target market.

Referrals

Referrals are almost always the most effective method of promotion. It’s important for you to encourage word of mouth and referrals amongst parents. As a child care center the people that you are looking to attract are typically within close proximity to one another. This means that word of mouth is extremely effective. Offering a referral discount is a great way to encourage parents to promote your center to their friends and family. This method has an extremely high success rate since people trust the opinions and suggestions of people that they know. Even if you are offering a referral discount, the strategy is still inexpensive compared to most other methods of promotion, and it’s certainly worth the amount it costs. Remember, it doesn’t cost you anything unless you’re signing up a new customer.

Local Advertising

Local advertising is another method that can work well within the constraints of a lower promotion budget. Some methods that you can make use of are posting quality posters in local high traffic areas, and producing inexpensive one-page flyers that can be delivered door to door. These methods are lower quality than the first two, but they can still be worthwhile. It’s important to make use of local advertising at key times of the year when parents are looking to enroll their children, such as before summer camps begin, or a new school year starts in the fall.