Start A Day Care - Secret To Getting Clients Fast
Marketing your new service is an ongoing and vital concern when opening a day care. A well publicized Open Day is the secret, highly effective marketing event that anyone starting a day care can organize. I speak from personal experience having held just such an event when opening my day care and the business that resulted from that one day was phenomenal.
When you start a day care you should plan to hold this event just prior to, or shortly after opening. Showcasing your amazing day care service is the primary reason for holding an Open Day allowing potential customers to view your facility and ask questions. My big day was particularly fabulous and impressive (I'm very modest) so I figured what better way to give you some tips than to detail exactly what I did to create the perfect Start a Day Care Open Day.
- I bargained with my local radio station prior to the big day and organized some on air advertising. I figured most of my customers would be commuting so I arranged to have the ads run during drive time. - The radio station threw in a guest appearance by their fleet of personalized, fun cars plus staff handing out fun gifts. They really added to the festive, special feel of the day. - Rounding up a few local kids I had them distribute some promotional flyers locally. My intention was to entice people in by providing a fun, family day out and to that end I arranged; - A bouncy castle. - Face painting. - Story telling. - Clowns. - Snacks for everyone. - Local politician to do the official opening ceremony (so all the local newspapers came to take pictures and do a feature - free!). I opened my day care for tours so people could see first hand what I had to offer; - Polished presentation is very important when showcasing your day care. I carefully arranged the layout of all equipment in every room in order to show the day care to best effect. - Staff were positioned in all the rooms ready to talk, answer questions and hand out business cards. - As the day care owner you should be around to welcome people and answer questions. - We also arranged a raffle and asked people to provide their contact details (nice little database thank you) with the prize being a voucher for the day care. The results of that wonderful day are still felt today as many of my enquiries remembered attending the event or hearing about it. Word of mouth advertising resulting from this event was also phenomenal. Word spread like wildfire as people who attended told friends and relatives. . A well organized, properly planned open day will be fun and memorable and people will talk about it. Impressed people will return or will spread the word to those they know to be seeking childcare. So, when opening a day care put your events hat on and utilize the best day care marketing tool out there.
Fiona Lohrenz is somewhat of an expert on child care having run her own day care for a decade. She writes about her experiences on her childcare website and shares even more on her 'Start a Day Care Business' DVD guide: Open Daycare You can find her at her Day Care focused website.
Published August 14th, 2008
Filed in Home Business
