Tiny Tots Tips and Tricks Chat Night Recap
10:58 PM on Oct. 6, 2008
Tonight's chat was a good one. We missed those of you who didn't make it. Stop in next week...you'll be glad you did. We had several 1st timers this week. Tonight's topic was: Marketing Your Business.

So, how do you go about marketing your business?

The one thing that everyone seemed to agree on is to have business cards or flyers made for your business. One of our favorite sites is www.vistaprint.com where you can get business cards for FREE! Easy templates and great quality!

Ok, so now you've got the cards or flyers...what do you do w/ them?

Some of the great ideas were:

Go door to door in your neighborhood and other neighborhoods w/ families. Leave your flyer on the door.
Meet people in the baby aisle of the store...ask about their daycare and offer a card.
If you are in the store, drive thru, bank, where ever, and you see a lady that's expecting, give her a card.
Provided there are no laws against it, leave flyers on the few cars that park near you at the store...especially if you see a carseat in the car.
Post flyers in stores, churches, recreation centers, gyms, and other places that families gather. You can make some that have tear-off strips with your phone number on it.
Take flyers or cards to the surrounding elementary schools and churches. They get lots of calls for daycare referrals.
If there is a daycare center nearby that doesn't take a certain age group (infants, for example), ask them to refer to you.
Make sure your current parents have extra cards for referrals.

Speaking of referrals, offer clients a discount for referrals. (You might want to put specifications on this one, like once they've signed and been there for one month, for example.)

It just might be worth a $25 discount once for an extra $500 a month.

Word of mouth is a great tool to use.


Use your local resources:

Resource and Referral agencies (keep your info current w/ them and let them know about any openings you have)
Childcare subsidy organizations
Child Protective Services (assuming you are contracted with them to provide services)
Childcare associations
Other nearby providers (Get to know those in your area. You can refer back and forth and help each other where needed.)

Websites:

PaMom65 and PhilEH both have good discussions on starting websites,and getting found: :

http://ccvillage.net/PaMom65/blog/110/

www.ccvillage.net/group_discussion_view.php?group_id=33&grouptopic_id=43

My recommendation is to keep it up to date. You want your potential clients to see current info, refreshed pages, etc.


Register with online "referral" sites like www.daycarefinder.com, www.reviewchildcare.com, and www.yahoolocal.com.

Some providers also advertise on www.craigslist.com.


Other things to get noticed:

Use t-shirts for yourself, staff, parents and kids with program name.

Car magnets, yard signs, pens, hats, or anything w/ your name on it.

(most of the above can also be found at Vistaprint.com)

Be sure to have those business cards on hand for when people ask about the daycare!


Get involved in the events in your area.

See pamom65's blog on yard sale event (http://ccvillage.net/PaMom65/blog/53/) and her pictures of the event.

JoJoBean8 said that she donated a certificate for a free day of daycare for a gift basket.


Oh, my, that's a lot of ideas...

Got any more?

Post them here!


Thanks to all who attended and participated!










Back to jycalv's Blog Report Inappropriate Content

Comments (5)
Write Something...


CCVillage - 9:52 AM on Oct. 8, 2008 [ message ]
Thanks for a job well done, Joyce. And thanks for letting people know they can use CCVillage.Net as a marketing tool (in your comment below).


akinscw - 7:10 PM on Oct. 7, 2008 [ message ]
I missed most of the meeting. Thanks for the recap of all the great marketing tips.


PhilEH - 4:04 PM on Oct. 7, 2008 [ message ]
Great marketing tips. Thanks for the recap. Some grocery stores might have a place for flyers, etc. to be posted. You know the kind with a tear off tab at the bottom with your phone number. Best, of course is word of mouth from other satisfied customers. The discount incentive for referrals sounds like a winner.


jycalv - 8:26 AM on Oct. 7, 2008 [ message ]
One thing I failed to mention is that CCVillage pointed out that you can put your ccvillage.net profile address on your cards or flyers and have the parents go there for details on your daycare. www.ccvillage.net/jycalv (or whatever your screen name is), or you can create a totally seperate website for your daycare like PaMom65 did: www.ccvillage.net/willowhilldaycare.


PaMom65 - 6:27 AM on Oct. 7, 2008 [ message ]
Joyce, you are awesome! This sounds like it was a great meeting. Thank you for the great notes. Now who's BIG shoes will I have to fill when football season is over!? LOL