How to promote a small nursery

If you’ve decided to start your own nursery, you might need some help marketing your business to local parents. This guide will provide some budget-friendly ideas and tips that will help you promote your small nursery. 

Specifically, we’ll cover the following points:

• Remember who you’re advertising to.
• Encourage word of mouth.
• Use community centres.
• Contact your local council.
• Promote the environment. 
• Arrange specialist activities. 
• Offer online booking.
• Try to win awards. 
• Promote your nursery on social media. 
• Make a Google Business Profile.

Your customers are parents, so find out what they find valuable in a nursery and try to cater your service towards them. 

For example, you might find that local parents prioritise early opening hours and flexible pick-up times to accommodate a busy work schedule. Or there might be a significant number of young families looking for baby and toddler care. 

You can gather information about desired services by:

• Surveying new parents and existing customers. 
• Talking to health visitors and other day-care services. 
• Communicating with local schools and community centres. 
• Getting in touch with your local council’s early years department.

Doing some research like this will show you any gaps in the market that you can fill. Then, use that information to promote your business. 

Word-of-mouth advertising is incredibly effective. People are much more likely to trust recommendations from people they trust, like friends and family, especially when it comes to something as important as their child’s care. 

Encourage your existing customers to spread the word to other parents. You might even consider offering them a discount for referring you. 

Think about the kind of places parents are likely to visit with their young children, like community centres and leisure centres, and advertise your nursery there with posters and leaflets. 

Check your local council website to see if they have a register for local childcare services. Then, get in touch directly and ask about getting your nursery added to the list. Each local council may have different requirements in order to qualify, but it’ll be worth it to get your name on a trusted list that loads of parents will see. 

The quality of your nursery is as much about the environment you provide as your childcare skills. It’s something that parents definitely consider when choosing a nursery. 

There are a number of things that can contribute to a positive environment, such as:

• Outdoor space for playing. 
• Regular day trips to local parks. 
• A wide variety of play materials, including toys, books, and crafting materials. 
• Planned activities. 
• The other children in your care and the way they interact. 

The best way to show off these sorts of aspects of your business is with plenty of pictures and videos documenting your daily activities. Remember to ask the parents for their consent first, then put those pictures on your website and social media pages. 

You’re bound to have some days that are quieter than others. Times like that are the perfect opportunity to go the extra mile for the children in your care. 

You can offer specialist sessions on quiet days that focus on developing particular skills for the children in your care. The sessions should be fun and have some kind of academic or social merit, such as:

• Music lessons. 
• Arts and crafts. 
• Language lessons.
• Sports coaching.

You may need to find outside help if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself. But if that’s not an option, you can find online tutorials that’ll help you run basic sessions. 

Being a parent is a full-time job, so anything you can do to make things more convenient for your customers will be a huge draw for potential customers. 

An online booking system will make it easy for parents to schedule appointments with you at a moments notice, allowing for a more flexible service that they can fit around their often hectic lives. 

It doesn’t stop at booking though, some apps like Kinderly and ConnectChildcare have loads of features that can make the whole operation a much smoother experience for everybody. 

Winning awards from bodies like DayNurseries and NurseryWorld are impressive achievements that will attract new parents and inspire confidence in your nursery. If you win or you’re placed highly, make sure you display your accomplishments on your website and social media pages. 

Building a strong social media presence is a great way to promote your small nursery. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube can be powerful tools to find new customers. 

First off, it’ll allow you to connect with parents, schools, and other childcare businesses, giving your nursery a strong online presence and distinct personality. But also, it’ll allow you to see what other childcare businesses are doing right and how parents are responding, so you’ll be able to keep up with new ideas and trends in the industry. 

When posting content for your business, make sure you include photos and videos of your day-to-day activities, particularly the ones that your kids have enjoyed. As we mentioned above, it’s crucial to ask for a parent’s consent before posting any pictures or videos of their children. 

If you register for a Google business profile, your business will appear when people search for nurseries with Google. This is an obvious bonus because a large number of parents will use Google when researching childcare options. 

On top of that, the service allows people to leave online reviews that will appear next to your business. The more positive reviews you get, the higher you’ll appear on search engine rankings.