How Do You Advertise?

[Meeko]

DEX.....I get calls daily.

[Willow]

I don't advertise at all. My families past and present drum up more business than I even want most days :P

[countrymom]

I posted my sign in the decor section. Please do not post it on here. I live in a small community and I'm the only daycare lady (ok the tpt one, but thats a whole other story)

[Sugar Magnolia]

DEX.....I get calls daily.

What is it?

[Blackcat31]

What is it?

http://www.dexone.com/

Yellow pages (maybe white....I dunno what color they are now....LOL!) but it is advertising in the phone book

[MaritimeMummy]

My home day care agency advertises for me. It's pretty sweet.

[Blackcat31]

My home day care agency advertises for me. It's pretty sweet.

That is cool....but don't they get a cut of your income then too?

[Country Kids]

My home day care agency advertises for me. It's pretty sweet.

OH, I forgot about that! I guess I do advertise through resource and referral every month.

[MaritimeMummy]

That is cool....but don't they get a cut of your income then too?

No, I don't give them one red cent for anything they do for me. They're a completely not-for-profit service (well, not from the day care providers, they get their funding to operate from the government, in NS).

[Blackcat31]

No, I don't give them one red cent for anything they do for me. They're a completely not-for-profit service (well, not from the day care providers, they get their funding to operate from the government, in NS).

Oh ok... I had no clue.

I just asked because for some reason I thought I had read that if you belong to an agency, then they send you clients which is awesome but they also take like $10 a day per kid.

I am on another daycare forum where 80% of the members are Canadian so I think that might be where I read it. I know it wasn't the case in every area but wasn't sure.

[DCBlessings27]

Listen people I'm going to tell you how:

YOU NEED TO PUT A SIGN OUT ON YOUR LAWN

I had a mom last week who came for an interview, and you know what she said, she grew up in our community and came back after moving in with her mom, and saw that I was still up and running after several years. She said that by having my sign up showed her that I'm still here and that I was serious about my business. She starts in sept and her girlfriend is also signing up so I'm going to be full again. ( I have a couple of kids going to school)

newspapers are a waste, many people don't read the ads anymore, heck alot of people don't even get the paper.

online, be specific. I have read so many ads that talk about how great their daycares are. use point form, and get to the point.
*don't tell people why you are doing this job
*don't repeat yourself in the ads
*TELL THEM YOU HAVE A CONTRACT--that weens out alot of people

We aren't allowed to put signs in our yards here (KS). The sign would have to be on our actual house to be ok. The city also won't allow signs posted on street corners anymore. I've gotten all but 2 of my parents for the last 3 years through Craigslist. I just post the pertinent info and then the link to my website. As for Craigslist crazies, I can usually tell by the email address if it's a valid person. I just delete the others. One parent was through word of mouth. I don't think I've really advertised for over a year though, so I might be out of practice.

[MaritimeMummy]

Oh ok... I had no clue.

I just asked because for some reason I thought I had read that if you belong to an agency, then they send you clients which is awesome but they also take like $10 a day per kid.

I am on another daycare forum where 80% of the members are Canadian so I think that might be where I read it. I know it wasn't the case in every area but wasn't sure.

I think the word "agency" is deceptive. They don't send me clients. When they advertize for me they list my name and phone number so that people are more likely to get in touch with me as a first point of contact.

I'm really not sure why they refer to them as an agency. They are the ones who come to my house to make sure I am following provincial laws. They get their agency status from the Department of Community Services, which is also where they get their funding.

[Michael]

I've been listed here for years - no one has ever mentioned they found me here and when I do a google search for "daycare, my town" daycare.com doesn't come up.

That's pretty harsh. You actually have not been listed for a year yet. Daycare.com gets a lot of direct navigation and internal searches. We've seen areas that get great results from the internet depending on how internet savvy a region is. Obviously if more people in an area use the internet, more will contact through it. I always tell providers to offer some kind of discount if a client mentions Daycare.com. We found on PalmSprings.com that most bookings did not mention that they came through our site until the advertisers offered a 10% discount if they mentioned PalmSprings.com. That made all the difference. People will mention where they found a discount even if its for a dollar off!

Many internet users think the internet is Google, Yahoo or Aol. Many times they are not sure how they get were they ended up.

Marketing is not easy. Keep changing your content and advertising strategies until something works. We have had paying providers since 2003 that are still with us. KinderCare pays us every year to list all of their facilities (1700) and they KNOW were their money is coming from. They renew yearly.

[Meeko]

What is it?

Dex is the yellow pages here, but they are also a big thing online. People either find me listed in the book or they just enter "daycare (my city)" or such and up pops my info. I can't remember the last time I went a whole day without at least one call. It's a holiday in Utah today (Pioneer Day) and I only have 4 kids here out of 16.
Still got two calls this morning. I get a lot from folks who are moving to the area from out of state. They don't know where to begin, so they look in the yellow pages or online and find me.

[Kiki]

I didn't cast a vote because there isn't an all of the above option. :: I don't have a way that I advertise more than another, I use a lot of things:

Facebook
My Website
My Listing here (Thanks again! lovethis )
Google+
Care.Com
Craigslist (Actually I think that ad has expired)
KSL.Com (Newspaper, free online Advertising)

I just started working on Dex, I didn't even think about that! My site actually shows up as the first one for my city when I search 'In home day care near X City', or similar phrases on Google.

While I was typing this I did a Yahoo! search, and nothing popped up on the front page, so I guess it's time to set a local there too. ::