An example of an advertising campaign for a children's center. How to promote a new children's club

However, the peculiarity of this business is that the clients here are funny and curious kids, each of whom is unique by nature and needs a special approach.

Sofia Timofeeva and Anastasia Shevchenko, co-founders of the children's eco-club “Umnichka” and founders of the “Your Club” project, will tell you how to attract new children to your club and how to win over their parents.

Let's try it out

Currently, the Internet, print media, and city streets are literally full of advertisements offering early childhood development services. And among all this diversity, it is quite easy for parents to get confused.

They are constantly faced with a choice: which club to give preference to? What courses should I take my child to? So invite your potential clients to attend your trial classes. While the kids are studying with teachers, the club administrator can have a fruitful conversation with parents, introduce them to the full range of services, tell them about traditions and achievements, bonuses and promotions.

And parents, in turn, can get acquainted with the methods, inspect the situation, and generally get into the spirit of the holiday and creativity of your club. It is this factor that can play a decisive role when parents choose a children's club for their baby.

Trial lessons can be either paid or free. But if you conduct trial classes for free, then be sure to include their payment in the price of the subscription when you sell it. In other words, if the client liked the course and decided to attend your club, then payment for the course should begin with a trial lesson.

Otherwise, if trial classes are simply “gifted” to clients, you risk incurring significant losses, because Nobody canceled rent and salaries for teachers.

Give gifts

What do children love most? Of course, gifts! But the most interesting thing is that adults love gifts no less. They just like gifts a little differently. If a child who has crossed the threshold of your club for the first time, you can give small souvenirs, small cars, pencils, notebooks, thereby winning him over and leaving a pleasant memory of your club.

Adults will like bonuses, promotions and discounts on your services, with which you can significantly save the family budget. Although the point, of course, is not so much about saving as about the psychological aspect. It's always nice to receive gifts!

And this will be another important factor that will set you apart from your competitors. So regularly hold promotions, provide discounts, and award bonuses. Some of the most effective promotions that influence the influx of customers into the club are promotions such as “Bring a friend” or “To the club with friends.”

The meaning of this promotion is that those clients who bring their friends to the club are given a discount on the cost of classes. It is worth noting here that the best advertising for a children's club is word of mouth, and it is in your power to make sure that it broadcasts exclusively on your wavelength, notifying the target audience about the high quality of your services.

Don’t forget that in addition to the club, your clients visit a number of other children’s places - these are playgrounds, kindergartens, and clinics. And while the children are frolicking with each other, their mothers manage to discuss more than one topic.

And one of the most discussed is early childhood development. Therefore, the “Refer a Friend” campaign can become a strong enough motivation for parents to tell your potential clients about all the advantages and advantages of your club and invite them to visit you.

Sector "Prize"

What else do children like besides gifts? Participate in games and competitions, win and receive prizes. The most interesting thing is that, growing up, many of us continue to participate in competitions, striving to win and receive a well-deserved reward for this.

The spirit of competition still lives in us! Apparently, this is why competitions and quizzes held on social networks are so popular among community members.

Take advantage of this opportunity too. Organize a competition on your social network page and win a membership for classes at your club. Incentive prizes may include trial lessons in your club for all participants.

We welcome guests

“Whoever goes to visit in the morning acts wisely.” Winnie the Pooh's point of view is shared by most modern children. They simply love to visit, especially to places where they are greeted warmly. New environment, new friends, new toys. What could be more interesting!

Therefore, organize a free creative master class in your children's club. Post notices on nearby houses, hand out leaflets, ask your clients to tell their friends and neighbors about the free master class that will be held at your club.

This is a very effective way to increase your customer base. Indeed, in addition to the wonderful fake that the child will have as a memory of your club, he may well have a desire to continue acquaintance with the children, and with the teachers, and with the type of creativity that he touched.

To each according to his ability

Imagine the situation: a child came to your club for a trial lesson, worked with the teacher, made friends with other children, he liked everything and so did his mother. But that’s not the problem! They can’t afford to attend your classes now. There are different situations in families: the birth of a second child, temporary unemployment, problems with business.

You never know. It would seem that there is already a potential client, but he may never turn into a real client. Therefore, in order for the club to truly make a profit, it is necessary to determine a diverse pricing policy. Those. provide different activities at the club, at different times and at different prices. For example, you can set lower prices for classes during preferential times, when club attendance decreases for objective reasons.

Thus, another problem will be solved - forced downtime, when groups are not recruited or are poorly staffed at lunchtime or in the morning. You can also provide different types of courses, some will cost more and others will cost less. However, all courses without exception must be of high quality!

And in conclusion of the article I would like to quote the outstanding businessman Bill Gates, who said: “Do not allow yourself to doze off in inaction.” In order for your club to bring you profit, constantly improve, come up with something new, unusual, non-standard, which will create a great desire among kids and their parents to look into your club and become its regular customers for many years.

© Sofia Timofeeva and Anastasia Shevchenko

Today, the services of children's centers that focus on the diversified development of children and their preparation for school are becoming increasingly popular. However, if you do not know how to advertise a children's development center, even high demand does not guarantee you success in this business. Remember, the right marketing strategy can help you make your institution profitable in the early stages of activity, while the wrong choice of promotion methods can lead to the collapse of even an effective business concept. This article describes the most correct and appropriate methods of advertising children's centers, and also mentions useless methods that need to be abandoned.

Point design

Facade

Signboard

In general, the requirements for signs for children's development centers are extremely simple - they must be large and thematic. In fact, you don’t even have to order more expensive LED signs, because you’re not opening a pharmacy or a 24-hour grocery store. The main thing is to remember that this is one of the most important elements of external design, which should also be made in a “children’s” style - the sign may contain images of the sun, flowers, rainbows, characters from children's fairy tales, the letters should be bright, and the font should be as bright as possible. "fun", informal.

Entry group

The entrance group is a comprehensive view of your room and the area in front of it. Try to ensure that all elements of outdoor advertising look harmonious and attractive, because this makes the most favorable impression on customers. If you have the opportunity to lay out a nice lawn in front of the entrance, equip the entrance itself, place benches and a few swings - by all means do it. For the opening celebration, the facade can be decorated with bright balloons and several animators can be invited. Such measures will not cost you a fortune, but will allow you to attract a significant number of clients.

Outdoor advertising

Billboards

Placing your advertising posters on billboards is a great way to make a statement. However, they need to be placed wisely. Consider which areas your business is targeting and place billboards in areas with the highest traffic. Remember, such advertising costs a lot, and if you don’t think through the issue of placement, it will simply be ineffective.

Streamers and banners

Advertising banners and banners can be placed both near the children's development center and in crowded places. Make sure that such posters are as bright and enticing as possible, and that their design matches the children's theme.

Signposts

If you want to attract the attention of passers-by to your children's center, pillars are perfect for this. They can indicate the main services provided in your institution - thanks to this, a person will be able to learn a little more and become interested in you, without even entering the center premises itself.

Advertising in elevators

You can also order advertising in the elevators of buildings in nearby areas. Its main advantage will be that it will be aimed specifically at your potential client audience. Remember, you need to try to make your ad clearly visible against the background of other advertising posters.

Internet advertising

Website

Having your own website will be a big plus for any children's development center. The only question is how much money and effort needs to be invested into it. So, if you are in a small city and are opening not a network, but one center, a business card website will be enough, which parents can go to after receiving your booklet. However, if you are opening a chain of similar institutions or a large center in a big city, you will need to promote your website. After all, if a parent enters “children’s development center (city district)” into the search, without promotion, he will most likely see the pages of your competitors and become their client. This is why unless your goal is to collect children from the surrounding area of ​​a small town, you will need to optimize your site for search queries.

If you decide to create a website on your own, be sure to read our articles:

Here we have laid out our experience and opinions on the use of various tools that you will simply need in your work. This will allow you to reduce the time it takes to select the necessary resources for its creation and get profit from the site as quickly as possible.

Targeted advertising

Contextual advertising of your site is good because it is shown to interested people. Targeting, which can narrow and optimize the focus of advertising, will help narrow the geography and target a specific locality. You can also use targeting to narrow the time range, for example, so that your advertisement is seen from 10.00 to 2.00, because parents are unlikely to look for a children's center at 2 a.m.

Groups on social networks

Be sure to create groups on the largest social networks - Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook. This option is free and allows you to actively promote your children’s development center online. However, you should not think that this is passive advertising - you will regularly need to fill the page with interesting, educational and useful content. Don't focus solely on your own advancement, try to make sure that parents are interested in being in your group. Post funny photos, useful information for moms and dads, photos from your center’s holiday events, and research data. You can also advertise the community in larger groups in your city - such advertising is inexpensive, but will bring interested subscribers to you.

Advertisements on classifieds sites

Try to use the capabilities of the World Wide Web to the maximum. Explore all ad sites in your city and post information about yourself there. Such advertisements are free, but can bring you a lot of clients. It is also worth registering on city forums and leaving disguised advertisements. Most likely, they will be cleared by a moderator, but this will not happen soon, which means people will still read about you.

Printable advertisement

Leaflets

Be sure to order a large batch of flyers and distribute them before opening your child care center. You can arrange a hand-out, as well as leave leaflets in the mailboxes of houses located near your institution. Be sure to announce the upcoming opening - the holiday will be an excellent reason to visit your center, learn as much as possible about it and, of course, have a good time.

Business cards

Be sure to hand out business cards to all visitors to your child development center. They should indicate the address, phone number, website, and of course, contain concise information about your institution. Business cards will become a tangible reminder of you; moreover, parents who become your clients will be able to give them to their interested friends, relatives and acquaintances.

Other

Hosting an event

Hold festive and themed events for children and their parents. It is necessary to announce such events as widely as possible, because with proper advertising, not only your little pupils, but also children who do not yet go to your children's center can attend them. You should also periodically organize educational events - this will significantly increase your authority in the eyes of your parents and only confirm that they were not mistaken in choosing the center.

Registration in electronic directories

Be sure to post information about yourself on resources such as 2GIS and 2Geo. This service is free, but it can bring significant benefits to your business. However, remember, you should not pay for advertising in directories, because it is rarely effective.

What advertising does not work for children's development centers

1. Advertising on radio and TV. This is not to say that such advertising is not effective for such institutions. However, taking into account its cost, we can safely say that only large networks of children's centers with branches in all the largest cities of Russia will withstand such a burden on the budget. However, if advertising on your local TV and radio channels is not too expensive, you can think about such promotion. However, before ordering a broadcast, carefully weigh all the factors and make the right choice regarding the advisability of such a promotion.
2. Advertising in print media. Advertising modules in popular newspapers and magazines and even in local publications will not bring any significant benefit to the children's center, but will significantly undermine the budget. Therefore, it is better to abandon this impractical method of promotion.
3. Expensive outdoor advertising tools - LED boards, inflatable figures, video boards. Despite the fact that exterior design is of great importance for promoting a children's development center, its excessive elements will not bring significant benefits, but will hit the budget hard. Order a beautiful and large sign, decorate the facade and take care of the harmony of the entrance group - this will be quite enough for such an institution.

Examples of slogans for children's development centers

1. Cozy kids club.
2. We prepare children for school and life.
3. It's never too early to learn!
4. We teach children - we learn from children!
5. I'm playing. I'm developing. I speak.
6. Careful development of intelligence.
7. Childhood. Creation. Development.
8. Give joy to children and parents!
9. Let's get ready for school. Qualitatively!
10. Your baby will thank you!
11. Your child is talented. Come and see!
12. First school. Second house.
13. A world where knowledge is joy!
14. Find your path to success!
15. Let's learn by playing!
16. A fairy tale for children and adults.
17. Let's learn to explore the world!
18. Study? Easily!
19. Confidently unlocking your child's potential.
20. It’s more interesting to grow and develop with us!

Every young children's club needs constant advertising. It is very important to earn a good name for yourself in your area. And to achieve this, it’s not enough to just post ads and hand out leaflets; to do this, you need to communicate directly with your future clients.

One of the options to attract new clients and maintain interest among old ones is to organize master classes.

Here are the benefits of this event:

Firstly, they attract people

They are cheap. If your club is very young, then you can hold events at a symbolic price. Low price leads to high demand. This means that many people will come to you, that is, you will reach a large part of the audience.

Secondly, this is a regular income

Even taking into account the fact that they are cheap, the profit from them, although small, is regular. Let’s say a master class costs only 200 rubles and is attended by 15 people. Total 3000 rubles at the box office. Of course, this is not much, but it is every month. And from this follows the next point.

Thirdly, they create regular customers

Customers get used to buying from you. Yes, even if it's inexpensive. But when they need to prepare their child for school or send them to dance, they will turn to you, and not to the neighboring club. People attending master classes get to know your teachers and your premises. They see that everything is clean and tidy, that your employees are polite and tidy, and that children like your children's club.

Fourth, they include word of mouth

People will talk about you on playgrounds. “My Masha made such a gorgeous craft yesterday, we’ll take it to the kindergarten competition.” “Yes, Masha made a postcard for her grandmother at the master class yesterday. So cool! Grandma was very happy! Which master class? Yes, at the Umnichka club, not far from here.”

Fifth, it’s easy to recruit a group

Sixthly, this is an excellent reason to wisely sell subscriptions

While children are creating in class, the administrator should actively work with parents. “These classes always produce such amazing crafts! Our art teacher comes up with this. Do you know what beautiful pictures her children draw? What a sight for sore eyes! Last week Petya even won a competition at school with a picture he drew in our art! Would you like to sign your child up for a trial lesson?”

And if there are some tasty discounts on course sets for master class participants, that would be just great.

Let's sum it up

Master classes do not require large expenditures of funds, but they themselves bring in some direct profit. But at the same time, in the future they create regular customers for your club, a good name and attract new little guests to your children's club.

Interview with the head of the franchising department of the international school of leadership "Stars" - Georgy Kartashev.

The basis of success is teachers

Working with incoming requests

In general, the concept of working with clients is built on the basis that you are not selling courses, but child care. Therefore, never remove clients from the CRM system; be sure to describe the situation in detail and set a date for the next call. The client may need to call in six months or a year. It is very important to write down everything that can be taken from the conversation, including the emotional component.

This will help in your next communication with the client. We need to listen to the problems and needs of each child and parent and try to help them. Remember that you are working with real people who have their own characteristics and preferences. You need to talk to the client not only according to the sales script, but also in order to understand his problem and try to help solve it.

Promotion methods

Working with clients in your area

1. Your audience is mothers with children who live in the same area with you. Therefore, you definitely need to make a sign for your center in order to attract the “hottest” customers.

2. Posting posters at entrances is ineffective. If you are going to glue them, do it after 12:00 and be prepared for the fact that they will be removed the next morning.

3. “Letters of happiness.” For example, on New Year's Day you can write letters to your entire district about your center and that you want to invite them to the New Year's Eve party on such and such dates. And also tell us about the courses you have. Write this letter not formally, but as neighbors, sincerely and from the heart. And to get to the New Year's party, you need to sign up by coming to the center.

Work with kindergartens and schools

20. Come to the directors and tell them that you are ready to sponsor their events and give them certificates for your courses.

Act as sponsors in Olympiads (sporting events, conferences, and anywhere else where your certificates can be presented). Come to the Department of Education and offer cooperation.

You can also come to enterprises and offer a loyalty program - children of the best employees or those who win a competition can participate for free, and everyone else receives a big discount.

21. Parent meetings. It is important to be different from everyone else who is making presentations, and it is necessary to emotionally connect with your parents. You also need brochures to give to parents.

To get to the parent meeting, you need to come to the head teacher for extracurricular activities and tell them that you would like to develop the students of this school and nurture Olympiad athletes. Ask for an opportunity to speak to parents and post a poster.

Speaking in front of children almost doesn't work. Posters should be hung in schools, but don’t expect much effect from this.

Work at events and with partners

22. Work at events (city day, district day, holidays, quizzes, intellectual games, “what, where, when”, etc.).

Contact the organizers and let them know that you want to be their partners. There is no money, but there are prizes (your certificates for free training at the center).

There is also an interesting competition: the presenter at the event asks all parents who have children (whose age is suitable for studying courses at your center) to take out a mobile phone and then in the riddles that you previously provide him with dictates the phone number (example of a riddle: how many heroes appeared in Russian folk tales, i.e. simple and understandable questions that everyone can answer).

This is how people enter your center's phone number. Next, the presenter asks to send the name of his child to this number. The first three people who did it the fastest receive certificates, and you get a huge number of potential clients.

You can hold promotional events, for example, distributing coffee in the morning and at the same time talking about your center.

23. Hold open free master classes every Sunday. Agree in advance with 7 - 10 speakers who will take turns conducting master classes or trainings (for example, proper nutrition for children, how to become a blogger). It is desirable that parents with children could come there and everyone would be interested.

24. Affiliate promotion. For example, with a bookstore, pediatric dentistry, or even a grocery store, cafe - you make a poster in the design of their bookstore, which when purchasing textbooks for an amount of 1000 rubles or more. a month or several lessons of your courses as a gift. Everything should look as if this particular store chose your courses because you are the best (the buyer initially trusts the store more).

25. Affiliate envelope. Collect it with other partner centers (trampoline center, English language studio, dance studio, art school, etc. - certificates and gifts. And tell customers that those who manage to buy a 3-month subscription today will receive 10 prizes 000 rubles (with certificates or gifts). This can be done either in the form of an envelope in the same style or in the form of a website page. And do not forget to provide similar certificates to all partners.

The technologies presented in the article have been tested on real clients, in a real children's center and continue to bring a continuous flow of parents purchasing the services of the children's center.

For whom this article will be useful:

• for children's center managers
• for the manager of a children's center
• for the administrator of the children's center
• to all sales specialists, entrepreneurs selling independently
• everyone who doesn't know how to sell
• everyone who wants to learn this
• anyone who wants to improve their sales skills

Many people believe that the key to sales is product knowledge and a thorough understanding of the market. Of course, you can’t go anywhere without this. But let's dig deeper. To reach this stage, you need to interest the interlocutor, preferably showing interest in you. As in that “formula-cheat sheet” for marketers “AIDA”, first we need attention, and then interest. That's how it works. And in sales too.

How often have you encountered situations when, starting to introduce yourself to a client, he simply hung up. No explanation. You are already tuned in to the presentation of services, you are full of inspiration, and in response you hear beeps, and as a result, disconnection... Or - you introduced yourself: “Hello, my name is Ekaterina, I am the administrator of the Totosha talent club.” Then the standard text from the series “Olga, I have an excellent offer for you, we will soon be holding New Year’s matinees…” begins and then the soul rushes to heaven with a typical “managerial” text. The client hears the text for 2 minutes and in response says: “oh, no need”, “thank you, I don’t need anything”, “I don’t have time”, “call me back”...

Not a very pleasant feeling. Is it true? And how can they not give up after something like this?

Once upon a time I had to deal with this too. But fortunately, there is no need to reinvent the wheel; there are many technologies and practical techniques to avoid such situations. You will be able to include your interlocutor in the conversation to the maximum, interest him, and most importantly, convey the purpose of your call.

Let's start with the fundamentals. The first reason is the lack of purpose for the call

No matter how strange it may sound, you should always have a purpose for the call. Maximum focus.

The state is only here and now. You must clearly understand what you are doing now and where it will lead you. Why call clients and what do you need from them. Once you figure this out for yourself, the confidence and purpose of the call is guaranteed.

The second reason is the desire to “steal” and sell

Thoughts about only one thing - if only I bought it.

Good deals don't happen with this approach. Remember, verbal and non-verbal communication conveys information in your head directly to the client. He feels absolutely everything and can stop communicating with you at any moment.

How to get rid of this?

Think about the benefits of the service you are selling. Every time you dial a number or invite parents to a trial lesson, remember this benefit. First of all, you solve the client’s problem. Almost like doctors, you give a prescription, a magic pill.

Shift the concept of “sell, sell” to “help, solve a problem.”

The third reason, and also my favorite, is that you are boring.

It may seem to some that I have a radical approach, and the amount of criticism in this article of the average sales manager is off the charts. Let's face it. Are you interested in listening to a boring person, no different from other managers, who calls with an offer to buy an annual subscription to Natalie magazine?

Either you need to change something in yourself, or change your job. Selling is not for you.

A sales professional is a confident, charismatic, resourceful and enthusiastic person. Frank Bettger's book "Yesterday's Loser, Today's Successful Businessman" will help you with this.

The fourth point of our knowledge will be paralinguistics

She is a “must have” in communicating with clients. Using it, you can set the tempo, timbre of speech, intonation, pauses, sonority, volume, and articulation of sounds.

There’s no way without her. By working on paralinguistics, you improve your communication skills. Because 60% of what matters is how you say it, not what you say.

The fifth mistake is your own fear of the client and fear of rejection.

Most people are afraid of talking to strangers, much less being told “no.” There is an easy way to get rid of this fear.

You can take any yellow pages or database “that you don’t mind” and make about 30 calls with approximately the following text: “ Good afternoon Mikhail, my name is Ekaterina, I recently work as an administrator and am very afraid to talk with clients, could you help me overcome this fear and send me to hell right now?”

You can’t even imagine what an amazing effect this exercise gives. Solve all problems at once.

The sixth reason is misconception and complex incomprehensible text of the conversation

By misconception we mean clichéd greeting phrases with the client. Come up with original words, something that will make the client feel interested and involved. He will hear something unusual. Perhaps it will be an association with something.

No need to complicate things. Speak as clearly and simply as possible. If you need to explain why you are calling, make it interesting and simple. The client must turn on and understand who is calling him and why.

The seventh reason is the lack of active listening techniques on your part in the conversation

To turn your listening into active listening, you need to follow a few tips:

1. Encourage your interlocutor. Express interest, use neutral words that do not express evaluation. Avoid criticism.

Use: Aha, Uh-huh, yes, I understand, etc. Verbatim repetition of one or two words of the interlocutor will also help.

1. Clarification. Helps clarify what was said, clarify it, and get more information. Ask questions. Restate what you heard in a way that is not entirely accurate so that the speaker continues the explanation.

When, how did this happen? Did I understand correctly that...? As far as I understand, this is... I heard…

1. Asking again. Here you need to show that you are listening and understand the essence of what is being said. You also check your own understanding. Ask again, formulating the main sentences and facts in your own way.

That is, you would like... Wouldn't you?

1. Empathy. Show that you understand the other person's feelings. Give the person the opportunity to hear about his feelings from the outside.

You seem upset by this fact...?

1. Expression of empathy. Recognize the importance and express respect for the feelings and experiences of another person. We recognize the importance of the interlocutor’s problems.

I appreciate your desire to resolve this issue... I share your concern on this issue...

1. Summarizing. Indicate progress in the conversation. Bring together the main ideas and facts. Create a basis for further discussion. Here it is necessary to restate the main ideas and feelings.

Did I understand correctly that...? As a result, we can say that... Let's summarize...