The strategies for the development of marketing plans are consistent across companies, industries and geographies. Some special considerations apply for day cares that may be independently operated and draw clientele from a small market area. Following specific strategies can help day care operators achieve success. These strategies include thoroughly understanding the target audience (decision-makers and clientele), understanding the competition, reaching out through effective communication channels and measuring success.
Thoroughly Understanding the Target Audience
For day care providers there are two audiences to be concerned with: the decision-makers (parents) and the clientele (children). When developing a marketing plan, day care operators need to think about the type of children they most want to serve, and whether they will target a broad audience (any child from 6 weeks to 6 years old), or a very narrow audience (children with a specific type of learning disability). Similarly, the decision-maker audience must be considered: what geographic area do they live within, where do they work, what is their income level. The more narrowly these issues can be defined, the better the day care operator will be able to develop on-target messages and select communication tools designed to reach their target audiences.
Understanding the Competition
The competition in the day care arena is broad and includes other independently operated day care facilities, large day care centers, company-based day care services and even parents who choose to care for their own children at home. Competition, in its purest sense means "any available alternative.'' When considering the competition, day care providers need to take their customers' point of view. They need to think of the various ways in which what they have to provide, and how it is provided, is different--and, hopefully, better--than what the competition has to provide.
Day care marketing plans need to include careful consideration of the communication channels most likely to achieve desired outcomes. It is important to be creative and think of the multitude of opportunities you have to connect with your audiences in places where they live, work or play. For instance: flyers at beauty salons that cater to women of childbearing age, gyms and fitness centers or children's clothing stores can all represent unique, yet effective, ways to connect with potential customers.
Successful marketing plans must incorporate some method of monitoring and measuring success. For each of the communication channels selected, consider how results can be monitored and measured. Perhaps this can be done through a coupon or specific code. Or, if using online marketing techniques measurement can take place through online analytics. Whatever the process, an important strategy is to ensure that success will be measurable so the day care operator can determine what worked and what might work in the future.
- "Marketing Plans": Malcolm McDonald and Hugh Wilson; 2005
- "Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them; How to Use Them; Malcolm McDonald and Hugh Wilson; 2011
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