It’s the age old question; ‘How can I market my day care business locally without it costing an arm and a leg?’. Truly, it’s not that difficult, just takes a little hard, consistent work. First off, get some stationary printed which should consist of;

- Letterheads - Business cards - Small flyers/brochures for distribution. These should offer a tantalising taste of all that is good about your day care including;

- Your contact details - What your day care offers in terms of curriculum, additional services e.g. afterschool, french classes etc. - Let the flyer be a voucher - offer a reduction upon presentation of the flyer. - Anything extraordinarily special about your day care that makes it stand out from the competition.

Think about paying a couple of kids or even enlisting the services of a flyer distribution company to distribute flyers on cars (focusing on cars with evidence of child activity). Don’t break the law so double check the appropriate city ordinances before you go plastering your town with advertising paraphenalia.

Check with your post office about doing a mass mailing and ensure you target housing developments with a young family population (although I have many Gran’ma’s receive my flyer and recommend my service to their kids!).

Next it’s time for you to do a little leg work and local networking. You need to get your flyers installed anywhere that people congregate;

- Doctor and dentist waiting rooms - bored people, often with kids just hanging around. - Ante-natal clinics!for obvious reasons. - Be creative and think of places where you have a captive audience, where people are waiting around.

Trawl around for;

- Check out public buildings for community notice boards - Stores that post advertisements (or just ask nicely!). - Local financial institutions - banks and credit unions often have bulletin boards.

Try to arrange a meeting with the local schools and see if they would allow you to post a flyer on their notice board. Get friendly with the principal and ask about giving an informative, child care related talk at a PTA meeting or an educational/careers speech to the kids (remember, they’ll go home and talk about you).

These are just a few easier ways of marketing your day care locally. So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself out there.

Her daycare business of 10 years qualifies Fiona Lohrenz to write childcare articles on her website plus produce a ‘Start a Day Care Business’ DVD guide: Start A Day Care Business DVD You can find out more at: ChildCareOnly.com

- Fiona Lohrenz