Promoting Your Day Care Equals More Customers

You can make your day care stand out from the crowd, set it apart from the competition and as such, keep it full to capacity with children of happy parents. In order to achieve this desirable end you can take some small, cheap, easy to implement steps that will guarantee results. Some take a little effort, others a little thought and some a little money but that investment in your business will supply you with unique selling points that will ensure the success of your day care. 

So, a prospective parent arrives at your door brim full of cynicism and thoughts filled with negative day care tales – how do you get across to them that you are the real deal, that you provide quality child care? Effective policies will indicate to parents the philosophy of your service and how your agreed and consistent methods of doing things will ensure the wellbeing of their children. Your policies are clear guidelines as to exactly how your business is run and should outline every procedure for every eventuality.

Thorough, well developed policies show potential clients that there are definitive expectations, understandings and guidelines for all daily operations ensuring consistency and accountability at all times.

Moreover your policies should reflect current best practice and they will show that you meet all legislative requirements, in other words….you run a tight ship. 

Separate yourself from the dowdy crowd by gaining a third party accreditation. Potential parents love to see evidence of recognition from respected, related organizations. You will need to be assessed by one of their inspectors as part of the process (nothing to worry about there with your tight ship!) and pay an annual membership fee. Then you roll out all your stationary and brochures and have your accreditations emblazoned across every promotional item you possess.  

These organizations can also provide tremendous support to day care owners in the form of information, training, publications, workshops and conferences. Accreditation can be acquired from some of the following places:

 National Association for Family Childcare – www.nafcc.org

Canadian Childcare Federation – http://www.cccf-fcsge.ca/home_en.html 

National Association for Education of Young Children – www.naeyc.org 

National After school Association – www.naaweb.org 

Council on Accreditation – www.coanet.org 

Unfortunately, horror stories abound focusing on children being abused and neglected in day cares all over the world. Fortunately, you can use this fact to your advantage by providing parents with proof that yours is a reputable operation. Get yourself background checked and display the results for all to see. There are many companies who provide this service for a small fee. Have an open door policy and promote it with gusto. Consider the expense of installing a CCTV and see your prospective parent’s eyes light up with joy. The peace of mind from being able to see your little one on a daily basis is invaluable.

Taking some or all of the above mentioned steps will enhance your service exponentially in the eyes of new parents. Easing some of their apprehension and fear from the outset will begin the growth of the trust process so vital for people looking for day care. If you can put their minds at rest, even just a smidgeon, you will have the edge on your competition and could be looking at lots of new clients.

 Fiona Lohrenz has spent the past 10 years minding other people's children and her own. She writes about her field on her childcare website. She has also used this knowledge to produce a 'Start a Daycare Business' DVD guide: http://www.startchildcare.com