Marketing - The Strategy

1. Understand your customers

In order to ensure that you are meeting their needs you must understand what your customers want. This could be any factor from the activities you offer to the location of your premises. Get information from your existing customers about why they use your service. It is also important to ask what they would improve or change. Once you have this information you can ensure that you are promoting your strengths and addressing any negatives. Some negatives you may not be able to change immediately, e.g. location, however others like ensuring you have an answer phone so that the parents can leave a message can generally be set up straight away. Once you understand what your customers want and need you are in a much better position to target your services to them.

2. Ways to get information

Talk
Take the time to talk to parents and carers about their views on the services you offer.

Listen
Listen to what is being said by your customers. Understand why they may be using other peoples childcare services as well as yours.

Question
Using questionnaires is one of the more common methods of finding out what people think of your business.

It is critical that you are aware of all of the factors which affect the market you operate within. Most of these things you will have limited or no control over for example new legistation or an increase in taxation. In order to summarise these areas you may find it useful to complete a SLEPT (Social, Legal, Economic, Political, Technological) analysis. This will highlight the key external areas which will have and influence on how your business operates.

It is also important to ensure you understand how you fit within the market, are you at the luxury end or is your offering more functional. It is not important where you are positioned as long as you can plan to maximise that position.

EXAMPLE: Three Lions nursery is built on its own site within the grounds of a large rural house, approximately 8 miles from the nearest main road. Activities include horseriding and swimming. They provide full day care which is charged at £40 per day. They currently have 8 children on the register.

This group is positioned at the high end of the market they will only appeal to a very small number of users who can afford the cost and are happy with the driving time. They have to charge a premium for this service as they will never have large numbers of users. For this option to work it is essential that you understand your market. If you are sited in an area with low family income you are unlikely to find the parents who will be able to pay this premium.

4. Know your competition

It is important that you understand your competition, not only the other provisions offering the same type of day care as you, but also those that provide other types of care like childminders, family members etc. By understanding what they offer you can highlight your strengths against them. This is also useful when deciding how to package your services and how you charge for them.

5. Understand yourself

In most cases parents/carers want to feel confident that if they place their child with you your offering will not change. Be committed to the type of services you are offering, consider starting with full day care and then expanding your service to include holiday cover as your numbers increase. When you are clear about what you offer you can ensure that it is presented to your target market in a positive way which encourages them to find out more at every stage. Completion of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis will highlight the key area’s within your business which could be expanded or improved upon and those strengths which should be promoted to your target market.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is simply a breakdown of your company and its environment. It is a useful way to highlight areas for improvement and understand where you are strong.

It is also important to identify those things which make you different from your competition, your Unique Selling Points (USP), is it the range of activities you offer, the way you operate, your location etc which make you stand out from other in the area.

EXAMPLE: In Anytown there are 3 provisions which offer childcare. With all 3 you can choose to have 2 ½ hours per day Monday to Friday. Provision A is only open 5 mornings per week in term time, Provision B is also open 5 mornings per week in term time but offers a holiday club, Provision C offers the same 2 ½ hours per day five days a week but also offers a lunch club, with home cooked food, this costs and extra £1.50. Although they all offer the same core care, it is the extra’s provided by Provision B and C which make them different, and it is those strengths which should be focused on. The cost may be increased so it is important to sell the benefits.

Also in this Section:

The Strategy

The Action Plan

Have a strong message Names Logos Advertising Radio Newspapers and magazines Websites   News Releases Writing a News Release Posters Leaflets Brochures Portfolios Photo Albums Newsletters Clothing Signage

Targeting Your Audience

Monitoring and Evaluation