When I was a registered child minder I was always keen to get my name ‘out there’ as word of mouth is the best form of advertising.
I had my people carrier vehicle sign written ( the cost can go against tax as an expense) it just had my name, the fact that I was a child minder and my website written on the back. I also had a poster, with more information in the back side windows so that when it was parked anyone walking past could read it.
I had a few t-shirts from Devon childminding association which I wore as often as possible and a handy draw string bag with the D.C.M.A. logo on it, I would use this to advertise that I was a registered child minder especially when I was doing nursery and school pick-ups.
My husband gave me a sweatshirt with my business name ( Little treasures quality child minding) printed on for Christmas. I could be seen in my neighbourhood regularly with a group of children, which people would comment on. I campaigned to get the play equipment in my local park upgraded and the newspapers, local radio and television were eager to take on my story; this turned out to be a fantastic form of advertising. read about my campaign here
I was also a frequent visitor of the library and was well known as a child minder because of my t-shirt or sweat shirt. Benefits of using library to child minders here
My health visitor became a good friend and would refer parents looking for childcare to me. Once when I was in the bank paying in my cheques the teller asked if I had any vacancies as her sister needed a child minder.
I got together with a few other child minders and we held a teddy bears picnic in the park to promote child minding in general, I invited the local paper along as the reporter knew me from my earlier campaign. Read using events to promote business here
Sometimes child minding associations have grants available to help with promoting your business; use the money wisely for getting flyers or business cards printed.
More on marketing child minding here
Read more of my child minding experiences in my e book available to download
As always questions and comments are welcome.
Until next time.
Karen
x
Linked with
Sounds like you were a real master of spreading the word about your business! #GlobalBlogging
Ha! Thanks
Popping back with a wave from #KCACOLS
Very clear and useful tips X #twinklytuesday
Thank you
Word of mouth is so powerful and I imagine blogging and social media plays a big part these days. #StayClassyMama Great with so many childminders being cash-strapped mums that there are some grants to help with marketing
Definitely, social media wasn’t around when I was a child minder!
Getting your face out there is so important when you have a business. I am sometimes amazed that people don’t use all the ways that there are! #KCACOLS
Great ways to get your business noticed, thanks for sharing #twinklytuesday
I think word of mouth is the best way to promote child minding in the local area. On the school playground I’ve seen good and bad childmiders and would easily know who to recommend! Thanks for linking up with #stayclassymama
Brilliant ideas. So helpful to think of different ways to market yourself. #KCACOLS
As a former local news editor there’s nothing like the good old local press for spreading the word! #KCACOLS
These all sound like great ways of promoting your business as a child minder! Getting out and about and spreading the word, as well as providing a great service so that others will recommend you, are clearly fab ways of making yourself known in a very positive way.
Thanks so much for linking up with #KCACOLS, I hope you’ll come again next time! x
It looks like you had thought of everything Karen! As a parent, I was always super grateful when childminders found ways of getting their name out there and noticed. Word of mouth is invaluable, but so are flyers, printed clothing and websites 🙂 Thank you for sharing these tips with the #DreamTeam xx
Once again thanks for your kind words, Annette, as you are aware I was passionate about my child minding career, s I did put a lot of time and effort into it
I have just started a new venture which includes babysitting and word of mouth is definitely the best way to promote locally! Thanks for linking up with #DreamTeam
Absolutely, Laura, thanks for reading
This is the creativity we all need to promote our businesses. KI have picked a leaf and will do some of these for my branding business. Thanks for sharing at the #SSPS
Thanks for sending your thoughts
Thank you for sharing your links with us at #272 SSPS Linky. See you again next week.
Thanks for hosting the linky, Esme