Position Your Child Care Business as an Essential Part of the Community

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child care provider at a table with children

As a child care provider, you’ve put in a lot of hard work to make your program a safe, nurturing, and high-quality learning environment for kids. You follow state regulations, participate in YoungStar, keep up with ongoing training, and always look for ways to improve. That means a lot to your community—they are looking for programs like yours. So, it’s important to let people within your community know who you are and the quality care you can provide. When you learn valuable ways to promote your quality business—you can do just that and enjoy the benefits.

Who wants to know about your quality child care program?

Families: Parents and caregivers are looking for a lot more than convenience when choosing child care. They want a high-quality program they can trust to help their child learn and grow. That’s you! Take all the opportunities you can to network with families and encourage the ones you serve to help spread the word about your business.
Community partners and businesses: Your quality child care business is a valuable piece of the community. Like many other local partners and businesses, you provide an essential service. Work together. Reach out and let them know what you do great and what you have to offer. Talk about how you can help each other out. Fostering mutually beneficial relationships is just good business.
Potential staff: Finding quality child care staff is a big challenge. For many early childhood educators, this career is a passion—and they’re often formerly educated and trained. Like you, they place a high value on the quality of work they provide. Marketing your program’s quality and dedication to ongoing improvement can help attract high-quality talent.
Talk about what makes your program great!: Remember, choosing child care is a huge decision for parents and caregivers. They only want what’s best for their child—and they need to trust that your program is the right choice. Again, you’ve done so much hard work to make your program great. Tell them all about it. Talk about why you feel your program is special and unique and why other parents and caregivers love what you do.

Here’s a few topics you should make sure to cover:

Health and safety: Highlight the steps you take to ensure a safe and healthy space for children. Assure them that all your employees have criminal background checks. Talk about all the safety training your staff has taken, like CPR, first aid, abusive head trauma prevention, etc. Discuss how you promote a healthy environment, like preventing the spread of germs, food preparation, and policies relating to sick children and staff. Again, make sure to mention that DCF does ongoing monitoring to ensure that all health and safety standards are being met.
Quality: Highlight your participation in YoungStar. Discuss your current rating. Talk about your program’s strengths and areas you’re working to increase quality. This shows your dedication to continual improvement. Let parents and caregivers know about ongoing staff training and coaching. Also, be sure to mention that you follow all state regulations set by DCF.
Learning and growth: Highlight how your program supports the healthy development of children. Go in-depth about your program’s curriculum and lesson plans. Discuss how you prioritize learning and preparing children for school. Talk about the activities you provide that promote healthy social interactions and mental health. Do you offer a good mixture of indoor/outdoor play and quiet time? This is all stuff parents and caregivers deserve to know. Show them you’re the expert!

Spread the word everywhere you can!

Now that you know who to talk to and what to talk about, it’s time to market your program everywhere you can. There are always effective ways to get your message out—and many are little to no cost. Here are just a few ways you can get the word out about your quality child care business:

Talk to your community directly: Look for community events or parent groups where you could introduce your program. It doesn’t have to be formal. Develop a short sales pitch that clearly communicates that value of your program in a short meaningful way. Include the main points from the topics we mentioned above.
On your website: Websites are a valuable tool for being discoverable online and for parents and caregivers to learn more about your program. If you don’t currently have a website, there are many free and easy platforms online to build your own.
Email newsletters: Email marketing is another powerful tool to connect with your customers and increase your business. Email is personal and lets you reach people right in their inbox. This is a great opportunity to share quality information, program updates, highlight staff, and more.
Social media: Using social media channels, like Facebook, can greatly increase your reach within your community. In fact, recent reports show that a Facebook brand page can influence two-thirds of the market business. Use this tool and use it often!
Posters and flyers: Create posters and flyers that you can hang throughout your community. Target places like local libraries or technical colleges, business partners, coffee shops, and public play areas. If you have a “YoungStar-Rated” window cling, make sure it’s shown proudly at your child care center.
Employment events and job fairs: Remember, highly skilled early education professionals want to work for quality child care programs. This is a great way to recruit new employees. Not only that, but you’ll also make your program visible to people looking to enter the workforce who may eventually need child care.