A successful daycare business requires marketing efforts that specifically target its local audience. Local child care marketing is an essential part of a bigger marketing strategy for a center. Effective marketing can place your brand right in front of a vast local audience and bring more families to your center quickly. Before we present each strategy, let’s first define what “local marketing” means.
What is “local child care marketing”?
Local child care marketing is geared toward an audience that is based in your business’s geographic area. This type of marketing typically targets customers within your daycare center’s 50-mile radius. Generally, these are people who can easily travel to your location and are therefore most likely to enroll their children at your center.
The best local child care marketing practices
1. Optimize and localize your website
Applying Search Engine Optimization (or “SEO”) to your website is an excellent way to increase your chances of being found online. But SEO alone is not sufficient for local businesses, such as daycare centers. Geo-targeting is also necessary to help ensure that you include potential customers in your area in your SEO strategy.
Most people nowadays search for a location with their local devices. Therefore, it’s crucial to make your page mobile-friendly. Ensure that your text size is suitable for a mobile device and that potential customers can easily tap the buttons.
2. Create landing pages for all of your child care centers
Does your child care business have multiple locations? Be sure to create a landing page for each one to maximize your localization efforts.
Each page should include the following details:
- Address
- Directions (how to get there)
- Business hours
- Specific information about that center
3. Claim your listing on Google My Business
Take advantage of the free local marketing tool that this search engine giant provides. Claim your Google My Business listing. It delivers all of the necessary information about your child care center. What’s more, all of the essential details are directly served to search engine users on Google’s directory.
When you maintain this listing, ensure that all the information is updated. Especially in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, it’s best to include any relevant restrictions enforced at your daycare center.
Aside from Google My Business, other directories let you claim your business (Yelp is an example). Take advantage of these opportunities to maximize your online presence.
4. Optimize your business pages on social media
Social media marketing is a necessary strategy for child care centers. Ensure that your business page is as optimized and localized as your website. This means you’ll have to keep all of your online information updated, and you need to be active on your account. Use a pre-scheduling tool (such as Hootsuite) so that you can create posts in one go.
5. Engage with your community
Community involvement is necessary and an important part of child care marketing practices. This can be done both offline and online.
Participate in any of the following in your local community:
- Contests
- Festivals
- Trade events
- Seasonal events
You can even hold or sponsor an event related to child care. In such places, you’ll meet potential customers and establish brand awareness,
6. Place marketing collateral in strategic areas
Pen a compelling message, place it on marketing collateral, and display it strategically for people to see. Doing this enables you to reach people, especially during their daily commute. Look for places, such as local restaurants, supermarkets, and cafes, that will allow such collateral to be displayed. Ask permission first if necessary.
You can also approach businesses related to child care. For example, a kid’s section of a small bookstore might allow you to display your ad.
7. Get reviews and testimonials
It’s also common practice for people to check out reviews about a business before they actually engage with them. Boost your child care center’s reputation by acquiring organic reviews from satisfied customers. The keyword here is organic. You must never pay for reviews because they will eventually backfire.
In the case of daycare centers, you may ask parents who are already satisfied with your service to leave reviews online. At the same time, be sure to clarify that this is of course optional.
8. Local paid ads
Despite businesses taking almost everything online, traditional offline advertising strategies are still a great option if you genuinely want to go local. Local newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations can help get your message to your market.
Do you need help with local child care marketing? We have the expertise, tools, and people to help you attract more enrollments to your center. We offer a range of online marketing services to help establish your brand online. Call Local Child Care Marketing today for more information!