Why Parents Should Choose You: How To Attract Parents Attention
Check the slides with the essentials.
You’ve built a great business! It’s something you are passionate about and want to share that passion with others! Congrats! You’re offering a product or service that you believe in, and now it’s time to share it with the world. However, your strategies to promote your business to the public can make or break your growth. You want to make sure your business maintains a great reputation and gets great word-of-mouth.
You’ve created a great service or product for kids. Maybe it’s a coaching program, after-school tutoring, educational program, music lessons, daycare, summer camp, or something else. You’ve seen the kids in your program improve and enjoy themselves, so you know it works. Your mission is to get more kids involved. How do you get more people to see the magic you’ve created?
Consider these tips to convey authentic marketing about your business:
Think about your competitors and what they offer. You can even go visit a few of them yourself to get better idea on what they are doing. Consider what sets you apart from your competitors. This could be your facility, the talent you employ, your methods of teaching, schedule flexibility, or something else. Once you have identified what makes you stand out, build your marketing around that.
For example, let’s pretend you have created a great youth science program. The youth science program down the street has a bigger facility than you but hires people who are not passionate or proficient in science subjects, leading to a very basic program. You can use your passionate and knowledgeable teaching team to your advantage, by advertising all the cool projects they have led the kids through.
If you have a very close competitor, try offering something they do not, like extended business hours. This could drive some of their current customers to come to you.
2. Create Fun and Informative Marketing Materials
The best marketing tells a great story. By shooting videos and taking photos of your facilities and what kids can do there, you can tell a compelling story about the children you have helped.
If your facility features lots of comfortable hang-out spaces, feature them by taking a picture and posting it to your website with a bit about the importance of downtime for kids. If your staff will be completing a big project with the children soon, ask them to take a video of all the finished projects and what the children learned on each step.
Kids love to help adults and adults love the cuteness of kid’s artwork. You could have the children create an art piece, or short paragraph, showing what they love about attending your program. These can be hung in your facility and photographed to put online. Having brochures and business cards printed would also be smart for those moments when you meet parents in your leisure time, who may be interested in your business.
3. Share Your Business with Your Target Audience
Once you have produced some fun and effective marketing materials, like photos, videos, and brochures, it is time to identify your target audience and find the best platforms to reach them!
If you’re targeting kids interested in sports training, maybe hang a few brochures or business cards at your local sports center. You can also network with local coaches in hopes they will refer kids and parents to you.
If you offer music lessons, see if any nearby music stores will allow you to hang a flyer or business card in their lobby. Network with employees to see if they would refer anyone to you.
Apart from networking and word-of-mouth in your nearby area, you will also benefit from an established website and some social media presence.
Social media is a great place to share short videos and photos. You can also add hashtags that relate to your target audience, this will drive more clicks to your page from people interested in what you are talking about. It will also reach a larger number of people more quickly. Just make sure you are ready to respond to message requests and emails.
Your website is super important as it gives your business credibility. Try to fill it with all the relevant information parents will want to know, such as your hours, estimated pricing, benefits, your staff’s credentials, programs offered, happy customer testimonials, and the like. Make sure it features lots of tangible examples like photos and videos.
4. Be Authentic and Trustworthy
Parents cherish their children and protect them with their lives. You must earn parents’ trust by using authentic and real marketing strategies. When it comes to authenticity, lots of people prefer real stories. Try to see if you have any current customers who would be willing to leave a testimonial or positive review about your business and the positive impacts on their children. Or see if you can partner with an influencer who has a large following of parents and is trusted within the community. They can shed a positive light on your business to a bigger audience. A good place to find trusted influencers is on parenting platforms like kidazzler.com. Their platform connects businesses with parents, moms , influencers and bloggers. You may find new opportunities to promote your business within the Kidazzler community.
Your marketing strategy should be focused on honest and real feedback. If you helped a child with getting their grades up, ask if you can use them as a successful example in your marketing materials. You could show a report card or test results to show the improvement in a real and tangible way. Do not make up fake stories or results to try to boost business. Instead, take a closer look at what you have accomplished with your program in the past, and use those examples to create authentic messaging.
In Conclusion…
Running a successful business involves a lot of components. One of the most important components of any business is your marketing, particularly when it comes to businesses and services geared toward kids. By identifying the key features that make your business unique, displaying your business in action via video or photo, targeting and networking with your preferred audience, and keeping your authenticity and story at the forefront, you can create a strong marketing plan.
