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. There are a number of relatively small, easy to do and cheap methods of achieving this end. 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.

Information, publications, conferences, networking and workshops are just some of the invaluable support you will receive from your third party organizations. Accreditation can be acquired from some of the following places: * Canadian Childcare Federation – www.cccf-fcsge.ca/home_en.html * National Association for Family Childcare – www.nafcc.org * Council on Accreditation – www.coanet.org * National Association for Education of Young Children – www.naeyc.org * National After school Association – www.naaweb.org

Unfortunately, horror stories abound focusing on children being abused and neglected in day cares all over the world. Take every possible step to provide parents with evidence that yours is a legitimate, quality, caring day care. Get yourself background checked and display the results for all to see. A small fee will procure this valuable service from a professional company. Have an open door policy and promote it with gusto. If you want to see pure relief wash over a parent’s face think about installing a CCTV in your service. The peace of mind from being able to see your little one on a daily basis is invaluable.

New parents will walk several steps closer to enrolling their child in you day care if you take some or all of the above mentioned steps. Forming a bond based on trust is vital for new parents and if you can ease some of their fear and apprehension that trust has begun. Stand out from the crowd by presenting proof of your exceptional, quality care. ———————————————————-ARTICLE END

To discover more about how to start a daycare, visit Child Care Only where you will find this and much more, covering all aspects of starting a daycare center.

- Fiona Lohrenz