Marketing

Like any successful business, you must market your skills and program to potential clients. The more professional your approach, the more serious you will be taken. Childcare providers are often compared with “babysitters” which is a bone of contention for many providers. Childcare is a chosen profession for many. As part of the professional development, providers are required to participate in training programs annually to maintain their licensing credentials.

To market your childcare business, the following are some examples to guide you through the process:

1) Name your Childcare. Select a name that is unique and can positively identify your business. It is advisable to check with the local Resource and Referral in your area to make sure that nobody else has the same childcare name.

2) Design a logo. It should be child friendly. You would be surprised how a child friendly logo will create a positive image for your business.

3) Print business cards, letterhead, and brochures. This can be done rather inexpensively on your home computer. Keep in mind that the more professional your image, the more your business is going to be taken seriously.

4) Prepare contracts, forms and other informational hand outs to give to prospective clients. A neat and organized presentation will set you apart from other businesses.

5) Dress for Success! Just because you are a childcare provider doesn’t mean that you can dress like a slob. 🙂 Dressing appropriately for childcare is as important as anything else. Being clean and neat in appearance is important to set an example to the children in your care, but it also sends a message to the clients that you are professional and you take pride in what you do.

6) Pass out business cards at community functions, school and even at the supermarket. Ask your neighbors and friends to pass them out as well.

7) Create and hand out flyers to the secretary at the local elementary school or the library bulletin board. Please make sure you ask permission to hang your flyers up first. Many businesses have a bulletin board to post announcements, that would be a great place to hang your flyer.

8) Contact your local Childcare Resource and Referral and provide them with your contact information.

9) Have a sign made for the outside of your home. Chances are you can find a company near you that will make you a sign inexpensively. You would be surprized how many people would see that sign driving by. When I provided childcare back home in Washington, I had a very bright and cheerful pink sign. It was designed in 2 pieces. One larger piece was the main logo and childcare name. The second piece was designed to turn on either side with the words Openings or No Openings. That sign was one of the best marketing investments I ever made.

10) One final tip…. this might be something you can consider after you get your business established and that is to have t-shirts printed with your business name and logo on them. You can generally locate a silk screener that will make t-shirts for a few dollars a shirt. In the past I had hot pink shirts with the daycare logo on them for the children to wear on field trips. We were easily spotted, and worked great for safety reasons as well at crowded parks because nobody could mistaken our group.

If you have any questions about marketing your daycare business, please feel free to EMAIL me with your questions. I have ideas for marketing all the time, but I didn’t list them all here.

Marketing Your Childcare Business

Marketing Your Home Daycare

© 2001 Danielle Westvang All Rights Reserved