Every child care center needs to build a strong local presence.
Your local presence plays a big role in how new families in your area find you, and it’s also a key part of maintaining relationships with the current families you serve.
Here are seven local marketing tips for child care centers that will help you build a strong presence in your community:
1. Get listed on local sites and directories
Parents looking for child care turn to many different local directories, sites and apps, like Google Business Profile, Facebook and Top Rated Local®.
Make sure your child care center is listed on as many of these platforms as possible.
Include essential information on all of your listings, like your child care center’s name, address, phone number and website URL. And, be consistent with the NAP (name, address, phone number) information you use across all local listings.
Consistency across local listings can help improve your child care center’s search visibility and click-through rate.
2. Optimize your child care website for local SEO
Local child care SEO is all about making sure your website appears as high as possible in the search results on Google and Bing when parents in your area are searching for child care options online.
To optimize your child care center’s website for local SEO, start by doing keyword research to identify the best keywords to target.
Then, include those keywords throughout your website’s content, including on your child care center’s home page, service pages and blog posts. Try to include keywords in your page titles, headlines, title tags, meta descriptions and anywhere else you can do so naturally.
It’s also important to make sure that your NAP information is included on your website and is consistent with the NAP information you use on your local listings.
Including local keywords and phrases on your child care website can help you rank higher in the search results, which can lead to more website visitors and new child care enrollments.
3. Create local content
One way to stand out from other child care centers in your area is to create local content that is relevant to the families you serve.
Your content marketing strategy could include blog posts about local child care resources, events happening in your community or even just a list of your favorite local hotspots for young families.
By creating this type of content, you’ll not only attract new families to your child care website, but you’ll also show current and potential families that you’re invested in the community.
Both of these things can help improve child care enrollment numbers.
4. Manage your online reviews
Online reviews are one of the first things parents look at when they’re trying to find child care. Plus, Google, Top Rated Local and other local directories use reviews and average star ratings in their ranking algorithms.
That means it’s important to actively manage your child care center’s online reviews and make sure you have a good mix of positive reviews from current and past families.
The best way to do this is to simply ask parents to leave a review after they’ve had a positive experience with your child care center. You can send an email, post a sign in your center or even include a review request on your child care invoices.
When you do get a positive review, be sure to share it on your child care website and social media channels. You can also respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, to show that you value feedback from families.
5. Build strong local connections on social media
Parents in your community are likely already using social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Make sure your child care center has a strong presence on social media by posting regular updates, sharing local content and engaging with other local businesses and organizations.
You can also use social media to run targeted ads that reach parents in your area who might be interested in child care.
Building a strong social media presence can help you attract new families, improve child care enrollment numbers and even increase referrals from local families.
6. Drive local child care leads with Google Local Services Ads
Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are a great way to attract new child care leads from parents in your area who are actively searching for child care options online.
With LSAs, your child care center’s ad will appear at the top of the search results when parents in your area are searching for child care, and you only pay for qualified leads.
Plus, after taking the right steps, your child care center can earn a badge that shows your business is Google guaranteed, which can help give parents peace of mind and encourage them to choose your child care center over others.
If you’re not already using LSAs, now is the time to start. They’re an effective way to attract new child care leads and grow your child care enrollment numbers.
7. Partner with other local businesses
Partnering with other local businesses can help you reach new families in your community and improve child care enrollment numbers.
There are a few different ways to partner with other businesses. For example, you could offer a discount to employees of a local business or collaborate on a marketing campaign or event.
You could also try cross-promoting with other businesses. For example, you could promote a local family-friendly restaurant on your child care website and social media channels and in return, they could promote your child care center to their customers.
No matter how you choose to partner with other businesses, make sure you’re selective about who you partner with and that the partnership makes sense for both businesses.
These are just a few local child care marketing tips that can help you attract new families and grow your child care enrollment numbers. By following these tips and using the right marketing strategies, you can build a strong local presence for your child care center.
The Marketing 360® child care marketing platform has all the tools you need to build a beautiful website, drive exclusive leads, master SEO and content marketing, build connections on social media and so much more.
