#66 – Effective Child Care Brochures

As child care owners and directors, many of you understandably have never been trained in creating effective marketing materials, including brochures. So I’d like to share with you the three “must-haves” you need to make your child care brochure stand out and work harder for you.

First of all, your brochure should focus on communicating how your program is unique and different from most (or all) of the other programs in your area. Let your brochure provide prospects with specific unique benefits that speak to how you transform the lives of children and families. Ideally, you have identified 4-6 concrete, specific differences in a bulleted point list. Put those front and center in your child care brochure.

Second, you need social proof to back up what you say. Did you know that testimonials and reviews from parents are more than 20 times more powerful and credible than what you say about your program? Let the “voice of your customers” work wonders for your business and enrollment. Ideally, your brochure will include two or three detailed parent testimonials or five-star reviews. People are now conditioned to look for 5-star reviews of local businesses, so if you can frame your brochure content to include these, all the better. “Best of” awards from the local community and/or experts are also incredibly valuable and you should include these in your child care brochures.

Finally, you need a call to action. Your brochure should clearly tell your prospect or visitor what to do next. Yes, you can say “Come visit us” as a call to action, but that’s not very compelling. How about one of these calls to action:

• Free gift valued at $237 just for taking a tour
• Visit us within 7 days of receiving this brochure and save $100 additional on enrollment fees
• Free child Pre-K assessment valued at $250 just for visiting us
• Free Trial Day of care
• Free 2-hour session of learning
• Free diapers for 3 months with this brochure

So you might be wondering: how many brochures should I print? I recommend enough to get you through a 3-4 month supply needed for tours and special events in the community. This way, you can change up your brochures with new features or new call-to-action offers, and keep your brochure fresh and up to date.

Your Assignment: Pull out your brochure now and “grade” it based on how it meets the above three must-haves. Use these ideas to improve your brochure, or give it a total re-vamp. Good luck, and let me know your results!

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