How To Promote Your Home Daycare

I have been running my home daycare for a little over Four years. When I first started it was hard to fill, competition was fierce, I can still see one of my competitors from my living room window. When my livelihood at stake I put on my thinking cap and tried different ways to promote my daycare. Here I have put together some basic and advertising tips that I have used. Some worked, some didn't, but some may work for you. It depends on where you live and how much competition you have.

A name is all important, a name is how you are remembered, a name shows that you are a professional, not a babysitter. You can use own your name e.g. "Vickie's Daycare" or you can be more creative and come up with an original, one of a kind. This was one of my favorite things to do, come up with the name of my own daycare. I knew that I wanted rainbows in the name because my daughter loves rainbows. I wrote my ideas down and then looked on the internet to see if it as original. Even thou I thought I had an original someone had thought of it first. I had to rethink my name many, many times. Finally the name Tiny Rainbows was the name I came up with. I quite like it.

Think of Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Nike, you identify with that image. You'll stand out from they other daycare providers vying for to fill their spot in their daycare. I simply put my logo in my window people for walking by to notice, and for parents who are coming by for a viewing to easily to find my house.

There are many free logo makers on the net. I paid about $20.00 for mine from Dreamstime yes a little over the top but when I saw it I knew it was for me.

When one thinks of a branding, you think of an iron sizzling a poor cows butt. But what is that really doing? Its letting other farmers know that this is his cow. That's what you're doing in reality, is letting other people know that this is your company. I'm not saying use a branding iron on your kids, heavens forbid :-0 but you have to let others know that this child is in your daycare.

How do you do this? Clothing. With your daycare children decorate a t-shirt. They will have so much fun creating it, and will be so proud of their work, that they will want to wear it all the time. Have your logo and information on the back of t-shirt.

Brand the parents too, with pens and keychains. Brand their house, with a fridge magnet. Brand your house, with lawn signs and posters in your window. Brand your car with an advert on the car door. Brand yourself with tee shirts, hoodies, tote bags . Branding is endless, you can brand almost anything

A list of what worked for me over the years, and what did not.

• Newspaper ad: I have used this with not much luck. I just had one person take a look, but didn't sign up.
• Craigslist: Did not work at all! All I got was people emailing me to buy something from them or they were trying to scam me
• Kijiji: Haven't got anyone from it, On the plus side its free, and no one has contacted me with crazy scams or wanting me to buy from them
• Daycare Bear internet site: Canada, USA This is a free site to advertise your daycare. I have gotten all of my children from this site.
• Your own site: looks professional gives perspective parents to look at the daycare and what you have to offer. I use the free site of Wix">Dreamstime Uses a drop and drag system. In used in conjunction with the Daycare site
• Facebook: have your own page keep it up to date. Show lots of pictures
• Business cards: Give them out to your friends and family, community centers. Post in groceries store they always have bulletin boards. I give out magnet business card to parents that have had a showing with me. That way they see my information every time they open their fridge < see what I did there, branding