Family In-Home Daycare?

[Deneen73]

This is for people running an family daycare, what advertising techniques did you use to get the customers you have now? Was it passing out fliers? Online classifieds? Spreading the word through friends and family? I'm now just starting and having difficulties getting customers and I was thinking of putting a few fliers around town but before I do I want to know if this kind of advertising actually works.

[lovemykidstoo]

This is for people running an family daycare, what advertising techniques did you use to get the customers you have now? Was it passing out fliers? Online classifieds? Spreading the word through friends and family? I'm now just starting and having difficulties getting customers and I was thinking of putting a few fliers around town but before I do I want to know if this kind of advertising actually works.

I have an in-home family daycare and I have only gone by word of mouth. When one of my daycare families refers me a new family, I give them a $25 giftcard somewhere to thank them. I did one time have a dcf post a flier up on their church bulletin board. I tried CL once and got nothing but whackos so I didnt' do that again.

[Sunshine44]

I think it can work if you put it in the right places. I have used word of mouth for the last four years and it seems to have worked. Most of my clients were here the whole time.

[allsmiles]

I passed out flyers at baby r us, toys r us, wal mart and neighborhoods around my 5 mile radius.. i think TWO of my clients called from my flyers/cards. Almost all of my clients found me on Craigslist.
I can't say that i would NEVER pass out flyers again, but it would be only if I'm really desperate to fill a space. Another caregiver actually told me word of mouth was the only way she got clients even after going all over town to pass out flyers but i still had to try LOL.. the word of mouth thing hasnt worked for me but then again, Ive only been in business 4 mnths??

[spud912]

Half are from Craigslist and the other half from Care.com.

[Crazy8]

I think google/my website get me the most clients now. I think I come up some way in almost any search someone does for daycare and my town.

When I started I did more with flyers on grocery store bulletin boards, ads in papers, talking it up at my kids schools, gymnastics, etc. but now that my kids are older I feel I'm a little out of contact with parents who would need daycare and my website is what brings most in now. I have never had luck with Craigslist although some areas it seems to work and I'm on Care.com but haven't gotten anything that would work out from there.

[daycare123]

Mine are all from CL

[earlystart]

I'm in San Diego, and I did flyers but got nobody because of them. Everyone has been from craigslist. Now that I'm fully enrolled and removed my craigslist ad, I still got a couple emails, not sure where they heard of me, could be my google business ad listing, google adwords, care.com, maybe my website is showing up on google search for my area.

[Soccermom]

I am in a small rural town so I just put up flyers at a few local stores when I started. I got a few clients and then took the flyers down. I haven't had to put up anything since though, people call because they were told by so and so that I have an in home daycare
Once you get going, you will likely see the same thing happen. It takes time to build a good reputation but once you do clients will come looking for you instead of you having to go out and look for them
Good luck!

[Lyss]

most of mine are from CL, but I did get one from flyers o posted at local secondhand children's store. I've had no luck with care.com or sittercity

[MyAngels]

I put a couple of tags at the bottom left of the thread - you can click on them to find other threads with lots of great advertising ideas .

[Provider_Manda]

Word of mouth and I also made a facebook page, I have gotten several from there. I love my fb page, I have all my info. pics and hours and rates. Its a great way for them to get a little look at what we offer

[spud912]

most of mine are from CL, but I did get one from flyers o posted at local secondhand children's store. I've had no luck with care.com or sittercity

Haha I would agree with you on care.com and sittercity. I can't believe that half of my full time families and my only drop in are all from care.com. Plus, I haven't had ANY phone calls or emails from either site in the past 8/9 months, which I find particularly odd. When I first started, 100% of my enrollment was from CL. If I had any openings in the past year (which I didn't thank goodness!), they probably would have been filled via my website.

[Unregistered]

When I first opened I did put flyers door to door around the neighborhood, I also wrote outta letter to all the local business (especially realtor offices and schools) introducing myself and explaining wha I was offering. I also did Craigslist ad, that was how I got my first group of kids. Since then (5years ago) I've not had t place an ad on Craigslist. All my other families come from word of mouth. Does the area you live in have a Mothers Club? I would ask any if your parents who are part of the club to post your information within their forum, that has worked great as far as word of mouth for me. Hope this helps. And just be patient, your first group kiddos is always the hardest. It does get easier :-)

[familyschoolcare]

Currently 1 is from word of mouth, 2 CL, 3 from the local referral agency. I tried flyers got calls but not even an interview