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10 Childcare Marketing Strategies to Help Promote Your Business

Reach new families with these daycare center marketing tactics.

Childcare is a local business, even if you don’t run a full-scale daycare business. Therefore, you want to attract local families and give them a reason to choose you as the business that will ensure their children’s safety and happiness while they’re away.

Unfortunately, you specialize in childcare, not marketing. You know about every stage of development and how to handle a unique set of challenges when it comes to children, but you may not be a marketing expert. Still, marketing is essential to your business’ success.

With the right marketing strategies, you can increase your revenue, hire more staff, and care for more children during the day. But what are the most effective marketing business strategies for childcare, and how can you use them to start growing your business today?

Questions to ask yourself to build a strong childcare marketing strategy

Why do daycare centers need a marketing strategy?

Childcare centers have a lot of local competition. If you drive down any road in your city, you might see one or more facilities that take care of children during the day, making it difficult for parents to choose the right one for their children’s needs. Parents have options, so you must convince them why your center is the best option for their children.

Robust childcare marketing strategies can help you stand out from the crowd and give parents a reason to choose your business over another one close by. What’s most important is connecting with parents and building trust since your business will be responsible for caring for the most important thing in the world to them.

Marketing can help you build trust with prospective parents before they inquire about your child care business while helping you stay on the top of their minds as they look for childcare centers in the local community.

3 steps to create a childcare center marketing strategy

Before engaging in different marketing tactics for your childcare center, you should have a plan. Your strategy will cover everything from your target audience to different strategies to employ. Here are the steps for creating a childcare center marketing strategy:

Research your audience

Market research is crucial to ensure you’re targeting the right individuals with your campaigns. Consider things like your target audience’s demographics, consumer trends, and market size.

In addition to helping you target the right individuals, knowing more about your audience can help you fine-tune your messaging. For example, if you find that many of the parents you target work 9-5 jobs, you can find a way to call out their schedules in your marketing.

Set goals

Every marketing campaign needs goals. For child care center marketing strategies, your goals will likely include things like increasing online visibility and lead generation. Your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based.

Differentiate your business

What sets you apart from the competition? Every business needs a unique selling proposition (USP) they can highlight in various marketing campaigns to increase visibility and help them stand out.

What makes you stand out? Do you have technology that other daycare centers do not? 69% of parents shared that technology is important to them when selecting a childcare provider.

10 childcare marketing strategies to attract parents

Now that you have a detailed plan, it’s time to determine which marketing strategies you want to try. Here are a few childcare marketing ideas to consider:

Create a website

Every business needs a website, and you should include a website in your marketing strategies for childcare centers. When parents start researching different centers in their area, they usually start online or by asking friends and family.

However, even if friends and family recommend your center, parents will still want to do their own research. It’s essential to have a website where parents can go to learn more about the services you offer. Your website should include photos of the center, information about the staff, and different programs you have available.

Increase online visibility

If people aren’t visiting your website, it can’t do its job of generating leads. Therefore, you must increase online visibility with your childcare marketing strategies. You can do this by investing in search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing to increase your reach online and attract more visitors to your website.

Create a Google Business profile

A Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business Profile) is a great tool for local businesses like your childcare center. These free online business listings allow you to increase your local online visibility.

When someone searches for keywords associated with your business, such as “daycare center” or “childcare center,” you want your business to appear in local search results. Creating and optimizing a Business Profile is the best way to ensure potential customers can find you online.

Use social media marketing

We’ve already touched on the importance of social media, but you should ensure it’s part of your overall childcare marketing plan because it’s a great way to attract parents.

Facebook and Instagram allow you to target your audience and connect with local parents in the area. You should post on social media regularly by claiming your Business Page and creating informative, valuable content.

With social media, you can share everything from photos of your center, highlight staff and their credentials, and share blogs from your website.

Send a newsletter

Email newsletters can help you attract parents by providing them with information on a set schedule.

With newsletters, you can share important information about your business to convince parents to schedule a tour or call you to learn more. Your newsletter can consist of everything from highlighting staff members and providing parents with informational blogs about childcare and parenting from individuals with childcare backgrounds and experiences.

You can also use ads in email marketing campaigns to attract more customers by offering a discount or deal on their childcare services or highlighting different partnerships you have that allow you to improve children’s experiences. No matter what information you choose to share in your newsletter, you should always consider the email content and design that will attract the most attention from parents.

Of course, to send a newsletter, you’ll need to start collecting emails on your website, so it’s essential to have a form for prospects to enter their information.

Get online reviews

Getting reviews from existing clients can seem scary because you never know what people will say.

However, encouraging online reviews can help you attract more parents because they’ll be able to make informed decisions about your business based on the experiences of real people. You can collect online reviews with your Google Business Profile by providing parents with a link to where they can provide you with a review.

Educate

Whether you’re posting on social media, sending newsletters, or writing blogs, you should share educational content as much as possible. Providing prospects with valuable content and information can help them build trust with your childcare center, which is essential when they’re looking for someone who can care for their children.

Try paid ads

Organic childcare marketing strategies are effective in the long run, but if you need parents to contact you now, you might consider investing in paid ads via Google Ads or running social media ads on your favorite platforms.

Paid ads allow you to attract more customers as soon as your ad is published. Of course, the downside to paid ads is that you have to pay for every impression, click, or conversion, so they can be costly. However, they’re a great way to supplement your organic strategy while you wait for leads to roll in.

Host events

You run a local business, so while digital marketing strategies for childcare centers are important, you shouldn’t forget traditional marketing that can help you build relationships with parents in the area. Hosting events will help you promote your daycare and let them see it in person without making a commitment to become a paying customer. A few event ideas include:

  • Scavenger hunts
  • Parenting classes
  • Open houses
  • Sports events

Blog

Blogging is critical if you want to attract parents with SEO and convert them into customers by educating them. With a blog, you can demonstrate your childcare knowledge by providing parents with tips, techniques, and real stories to teach them better parenting skills.

Showing off your experience is a great way to build trust with parents and make you stand out from other facilities in the area that don’t dedicate time to informing or building relationships with parents.

Of course, there are several types of blogs you can write, ranging from educational to funny or even true stories. You can determine which is best for your business by experimenting with them and reviewing your web traffic metrics or by considering your target audience and what types of content they prefer.

In addition, your blog helps you create content for email marketing and social media marketing campaigns, so you’ll never run out of things to share with your audience.

Encourage word of mouth marketing! Parents love helping other parents. Incentivize your loyal customers to spread the word about your childcare services through referral discounts.

Put your marketing plan into motion with Mailchimp

Finding the right childcare marketing strategies is crucial for your business, especially because you want to limit your spending. By planning and strategizing, you can improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, no matter which strategies you choose.

Use Mailchimp for marketing campaigns ranging from social media marketing to SEO, website building, and more. With the right tools, Mailchimp can help you expand your reach and attract local parents to your childcare business.

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