Marketing is Selling. Are You Selling Your Family Child Care Program?

Marketing is selling.  To market your family child care program you need to be able to identify, articulate, and sell the benefits of your child care program to potential clients.

You can’t do any of this if you don’t have a real clear vision and mission statement because you have to know what you’re selling, what services you are providing to parents and families… and you have to believe in your philosophy and vision..

Once you are clear on what it is you are offering to parents, make a list of all the features your program offers.  But don’t stop there because features don’t sell.  To sell your program, you have to talk about the benefits of each of those features.  Don’t just say you provide meals and snacks.  Tell the parents why it matters that you offer home cooked, nutritious meals and snacks.  Talk about the health benefits, the convenience for parents and what the children are learning during everyday routines like meals and snacks.

Sit down and do this for each of your program’s features.  Then pick a few top features and their benefits and use them in your marketing materials and strategies.  You will no doubt pick different features for different target markets.  For example, if you are marketing specifically to fill an infant opening, you are probably not going to focus on the benefits to school age children and their families provided by your homework assistance and afterschool pick up service.  Tweak your message to sell your program to different target markets.

Try this and let me know how it goes.  Have fun with it!