Helping childcare business owners build successful, sustainable businesses through practical strategies, real-life experience, leadership, faith, and encouragement.

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Building Your Brand While Marketing on Facebook

A Photo of my Child Care Business Facebook Page!

Social media in 2010 will cease being the shiny new object

and instead, become part of the everyday lexicon of business.

~Charlene Li, Altimeter Group

I’ve been marketing my Child Care Business on facebook since 2009 and I must say that social media has increased my Business exposure. Furthermore, I love the fact that it is free advertising!

  Does  your childcare business have a  Facebook Page?  If not, are you wondering why you should market your business on Facebook?

Here is a great reason.…According to the Facebook press room, there are over 500 million active users  and people spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook. Furthermore, 70% of  Facebook Users are outside of the United States and this increase your chances of doing business on an international level.

Having  a Facebook  page for your business is not only free, but it is a great way to market your child care program online and build your brand.  I challenge you to market Your Business on Facebook daily.

Why daily? Repetition and Consistency is one of the keys to building a strong brand for your Business!

There is no longer a need to spend hundreds of dollars on advertising, when you can advertise your childcare business for Free on Facebook.

Here are 3 effective ways to build your business brand while marketing your business on Facebook:

  1. Share photos of classroom activities at least once a day. This sends the message that your program is an educational place for young children. (get parents permission to share photos)
  2. If you are enrolling, be sure to only promote that you have openings at least once a week and add an now enrolling image for parents to share with their Facebook friends. (You don’t want to spam your followers)
  3. Be sure to share only quality photos and do a spell check before posting a status
  4. Only post information that is related to your childcare business or parenting (it will help to build your brand)
  5. Consider Investing in Facebook ads. You can get advertising for as little as $5 and it will reach up to $2,000 (targeted) people.

I look forward to reading you thoughts about this post, so be sure to leave your comments below and feel free to share a link to your childcare business facebook page!

Shiketa

“For more online marketing tips, Check out my Marketing 101 toolkit. 

Be sure to watch the video below!

Category:

Administration, Enrollment Building, Marketing, social media

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FIVE ESSENTIALS FOR COLLECTING TUITION by Karen Marx

Timely TuitionThe following post is a Guest blog post by Karen Marx of Timely Tuition, LLC.

Collecting tuition may be one of your least favorite jobs.  But without enough money coming in, you can’t do all the other things you love.

Here are 5 tips to make collecting tuition a little easier:

1.       Give yourself permission:

You are running a business.  You have a right to be paid for the excellent service you provide.  Any time you feel guilty or reluctant to talk with a parent about payment, remember all of the things you purchase for your center and how you can use the money to improve your service or give your staff better training.  Parents agreed to pay you a certain amount when enrolling their child.  You are simply asking them to keep their word.

2.       Keep it simple:

Create policies that are simple to monitor and easy to follow.  Consider late fees, vacations (yours and students’), sick days, late pick-up, deposits, enrollment fees, and supplies.  Be strategic.  For example, charge annual fees in August for everyone, instead of tracking individual family’s anniversaries.  As much as possible, set up charges so that families pay the same amount every billing cycle.

3.       Put it in writing:

Regardless of the size of your facility, be sure to have a written policy outlining your expectations and the consequences for failing to meet them.

4.       Set the tone:

Go over your payment policy with new parents.  Be polite but firm about your expectations.  Don’t apologize for your prices or fees; instead explain the benefits you offer.  “The supply fee will cover all Monica’s art supplies for the year.  Expect to see some really creative projects come home.”  Require parents to initial key points and sign the policy before enrolling their student.

5.       Be consistent:

This cannot be emphasized enough.  Set your policies and expect them to be followed.  Follow up on consequences (like late fees) immediately and consistently for every parent, every time.  If you don’t care enough about your policies to follow them, neither will your parents.

Would you like a free review of your tuition policies?  Contact Karen@timelytuition.com for more information or visit Karen’s website at www.timelytuition.com. Would you like to be a featured expert or submit a guest blog post? If so, click here to review our theme and submission procedures.

Category:

Accounting, Administration, Policies, Tuition

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