19 Ways To Market Your Child Care Business [2024]

Updated: January 20th, 2022

Wondering how to market your child care business?

Marketing your child care business is certainly not easy, but there are many ways to promote and advertise your child care business.

We put together a list of the best marketing ideas for your child care business, so you can get your small business out there.

Here’s the list:

1. Direct Sales: Build A Sales Team

Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.

For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.

  • Topic: Sales
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: High - Typical costs to consider when hiring: hiring costs, training costs, plus salary and incentives.
  • Result: Lead Generation

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Check out our full guide on direct sales ➜

2. Pay Per Click Advertising: Set Up A Pay Per Click Campaign

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a performance-based marketing method that allows you to show specific ads for services or products oriented to a very defined target, with the goal that the user visits your website or landing page.

  • Topic: Affiliate
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Low - Average is typically $1 per click
  • Result: Brand Exposure

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3. Referral Program: Launch A Referral Program

A referral program is the type of marketing where you state an offer to your existing customers for the act of creating a word-of-mouth referral that converts.

According to SEMrush, word-of-mouth is considered to be one of the top traffic sources for small businesses that practice affiliate marketing.

Launching a referral program is a great marketing strategy for growing a small business. An effective referral program enables startups to increase lead generation and an active audience.

  • Topic: Word Of Mouth
  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Cost: Low - $10-$100
  • Result: Brand Exposure

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Check out our full guide on referral program ➜

4. Handwritten Marketing : Send Handwritten Notes to Customers

Handwritten marketing is a common strategy used by sales and marketing teams that aim to maintain close relationships with their customers.

Sending handwritten notes to customers helps marketers achieve personalized marketing, improve customer loyalty, and improve open rates.

The concept of sending writing handwritten notes to customers is ideal in lead generation, sending thank you message after the customer made a purchase, retargeting abandoned shopping carts, and several other scenarios.

  • Topic: Relationships
  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Cost: Low - $0-$50
  • Result: Brand Loyalty

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Check out our full guide on handwritten marketing ➜

5. Product expansion: Expand Your Product Line

Product line expansion simply refers to a way of focusing on your customer's requirements and offering them variants of the current products that they already love.

Before undertaking the product line expansion strategy, consider listening to customers' feedback. Focus on understanding their current pain points and look at ways to make your products appeal to a broader market.

It's important to note that adding new products and diversifying may not be in the cards for you right this moment, and that's okay. You can always consider it down the road.

  • Topic: Buzz
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Medium - $100-$2,000
  • Result: Brand Exposure

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Check out our full guide on product expansion ➜

6. Competitor analysis: Conduct A Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis refers to a report analyzing your competitors' strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own business.

For startups trying to break into the market, a well-researched competition analysis gives you the tools to reach strategic decisions.

A competitor analysis should be included in your marketing plan, your business plan, and all aspects of your high-level business and pricing strategy.

  • Topic: Sales
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Low - $0-$300
  • Result: Product Quality

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Check out our full guide on competitor analysis ➜

7. Franchising: Franchise Your Business

Franchising is a business strategy where private entrepreneurs sell the rights to their business logo, name, and model to third-party outlets.

A franchise is beneficial to small businesses that cannot afford much finance and capital investment to operate a business startup.

Franchises often have a higher success rate compared to startup businesses.

  • Topic: Buzz
  • Level of Difficulty: Hard
  • Cost: High - $20,000-$30,000
  • Result: Business Expansion

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Check out our full guide on franchising ➜

8. Yelp ads: Create Yelp Ads

Yelp Ads refers to the placement of promotional content on Yelp with the intention to reach more customers who visit Yelp.

The Yelp advertisements will appear in the search results and on business listings.

Through Yelp ads, you can bring more people back to your Yelp business page so that they learn more about your business and ultimately decide to contact you.

  • Topic: Social Media - (Paid)
  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Cost: Low - $0-$350
  • Result: Brand Exposure

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Check out our full guide on yelp ads ➜

9. Press Release: Get A Press Release Published

A press release is a marketing strategy that involves sending out a newsworthy bulletin.

Targeting journalists and potential customers, the press release provides a popular approach for getting immediate brand exposure.

For startups, getting more press is an attractive approach to gain traction, so that target customers know who you are, and what you are offering them.

  • Topic: Buzz
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Medium - $0-$2,000
  • Result: Brand Exposure

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Check out our full guide on press release ➜

10. Business cards: Create Business Cards

A business card is a card bearing information about a business or an individual.

Business cards may seem like an "old" way to market yourself, but they still may be worth it.

A skillfully designed business card can be your best marketing tool especially if you meet many clients in person.

  • Topic: Print + Traditional
  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Cost: Low - $25-$200. Price depends on how many business cards you order.
  • Result: Brand Awareness

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Check out our full guide on business cards ➜

11. Promotional videos: Create A Stellar Promotional Video

A promotional video is any type of video you record and post with the intention of promoting a particular marketing initiative, sale, or event.

According to Wyzowl, 83% of video marketers say video gives them a great ROI.

Creating a stellar promotional video grabs the audience's attention and draws them to learn more about the featured product or service.

  • Topic: Content
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Medium - $100-$10,000
  • Result: Brand Awareness

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Check out our full guide on promotional videos ➜

12. Direct Mail Campaign: Design A Successful Direct Mail Campaign

Marketing through direct mail is a process where a business sends print advertising to their customer using the mail system.

Although this may seem like an old school way of doing marketing, it's proven to create brand awareness and convert customers.

This form of marketing can be done through various different methods, such as brochures, letters, postcards, flyers and much more.

  • Topic: Print + Traditional
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Low - $.50-$3.00 per piece of mail
  • Result: Brand Awareness

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Check out our full guide on direct mail campaign ➜

13. Checklist Content: Create A Checklist For Your Blog

Checklists provide readers with a concise list of tasks for how to solve a specific problem.

This type of content typically drives your customer to download, use, and share your content - all great ways to improve your SEO and brand exposure.

  • Topic: Content
  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Cost: Free - There is no cost to create a checklist.
  • Result: Brand Exposure

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Check out our full guide on checklist content ➜

14. Caption Contest: Run A Caption Contest

A caption contest giveaway is when brands share an image on social media and ask their audience to come up with a description for it.

Typically, whoever creates the best caption is chosen and rewarded with a gift or prize.

Not only can this engage your audience, but the results are often so clever that they can be used for future marketing material. You could even use the best entries to create a hilarious meme for your business. The opportunities are endless.

  • Topic: Social Media (Organic)
  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Cost: Low - $10-$500. Depending on the giveaway prize, the cost may vary.
  • Result: Engagement

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Check out our full guide on caption contest ➜

15. TV Advertising: Create A TV Ad Campaign

Television advertising refers to broadcasting programmed promotional messages that target potential TV viewers.

Brands use TV commercials to convey promotional messages that market a product or a service.

Throughout the decades, brands have used TV commercials to attract a massive customer base for their products and services.

  • Topic: Print + Traditional
  • Level of Difficulty: Hard
  • Cost: High - $115,000 per 30 second commercial
  • Result: Brand Exposure

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Check out our full guide on tv advertising ➜

16. Brand Story Email: Create A Brand Story Email Campaign

A brand story email narrates the story of how and why your business was started and expresses how that narrative is still apart of you today.

Emails that explain your brand story can be a very effective way to connect with your customer.

  • Topic: Email
  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Cost: Free - -
  • Result: Lead Generation

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Check out our full guide on brand story email ➜

17. Billboard Ad: Create A Billboard Ad

Billboards are large outdoor advertising structures that are usually found on busy roads and high traffic areas.

Billboards are effective because they can reach pedestrians and drivers.

Based on a recent study, 71% of Americans consciously look at billboard messages while driving.

  • Topic: Print + Traditional
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: High - $700-$30,000 - depending on location and size.
  • Result: Brand Exposure

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Check out our full guide on billboard ad ➜

18. Print Media Marketing: Create A Print Media Marketing Campaign

Print media marketing is a form of advertising that uses physically printed media to reach consumers, business customers, and prospects.

Examples of physically printed media are magazines, newspapers, newsletters, consumer and trade magazines, and direct letters to target customers.

By creating print media marketing campaigns, businesses are able to reach a very wide audience and target different readerships.

  • Topic: Print + Traditional
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Medium - $500-$20,000
  • Result: Brand Awareness

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Check out our full guide on print media marketing ➜

19. Newspaper Ad: Experiment With Newspaper Advertising

Newspaper advertising refers to running an ad for your business in a print publication.

Placing ads in newspapers and magazines has been an effective way to reach a wide range of customers. Advertisers can use newspapers and magazines to run targeted advertising.

To ensure effectively targeted marketing using newspaper and magazine ads, the advertiser must research the interests of the target audience.

  • Topic: Print + Traditional
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Medium - $500-$20,000
  • Result: Brand Awareness

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Check out our full guide on newspaper ad ➜

meet the author
Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.