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Each childcare centre has its own style and feel. It is important to be clear about what your vision is for your service to look and feel like as you design and develop the building.

You need to decide what your point of difference is. Families today are very discerning, making choices about location, curriculum style and the quality of service offered. High quality centres are on their radar, not just the most local to home. You need to think about how you deliver your service. This article examines some of the notions you need to consider.

Centre Name and Logo

The name of your centre sends a clear message to others about what you do. Marketing gurus suggest that you include the location of your business in the name and what it does.

Consider who are your likely customers and what they may be looking for. Families with young children, your customer base, will need to know where you are located. So, you may choose to call your business, “Paddington Childcare Centre” or something that immediately gives parents an idea of your location in relation to their home or work and what you do. These are not the only elements that parents consider however, but they can contribute to their ultimate choice.

Your centre name and logo will also contribute to the colour choices you use in/on the building and other areas of operation, such as staff uniforms and documentation etc. The logo needs to translate across many mediums, so carefully select the colours and design so they will work well for you. Ask yourself, does this choice reflect what I want my future customers to know about our approach to early childhood care and education and will it help build positive awareness in our community about us?

To manage this aspect of centre development we need to ask ourselves what we know about families with young children today and what are they looking for.

To develop your service and marketing approach ask yourself;

• What do I value in a childcare centre – is my thinking current and relevant to today’s young families?
• What is the story of our centre – how do we share this with our potential customer base in a meaningful way?
• Which medium/s works best to communicate with young families today? How many should we use?
• What makes us stand out from the many other centres out there?

Marketing your centre

Once you have some clarity around those issues, you will feel more comfortable moving towards the launch of your centre. Here are some tried and true methods to launch your centre.

• Host an “Open Day” at the centre and invite the local community in to visit.
• Be active in promoting your business in the community
• Create an appealing web site about your centre and link this to other credible childcare search engines so you give families the best chance to find you
• Create a centre Facebook page – an absolute must these days and plan to regularly update it and engage in conversations that eventuate on it
• Ensure all emails include your childcare centre logo, name and contact details
• Engage with social media – this is the preferred communication method of young families today, and it is a very powerful influencer
• Once you are operating, encourage enrolled families to refer their friends to your centre – word of mouth is still very powerful.
• Network in the community personally and be known and seen in the area
• Always have helpful, appealing flyers available for families to share with their friends or to hand out when you are out and about.

Most of these ideas cost relatively little to achieve but make an enormous difference to the success of your centre.

For further information on this article contact Pam Maclean, a childcare industry specialist, or to register and be notified immediately of new childcare centre listings and opportunities as soon as they are released click here.

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Pam Maclean

Child’s Play Consultancy Services

WWW.childsplayconsultancy.com.au

E: childsplay@live.com.au

P: 0412 525 426