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When opening a day care you are constantly and desperately looking for ways to market your new business. One of the most effective marketing events you can organize is an Open Day. I held one when opening my day care and it proved to be my most successful marketing endeavor reaping rewards to this day.

When you start a day care you should plan to hold this event just prior to, or shortly after opening. The purpose of the event is to allow prospective clients to come and view your facility, ask questions and generally discover your amazing day care service. . My big day was particularly fabulous and impressive (I'm very modest) so I figured what better way to give you some tips than to detail exactly what I did to create the perfect Start a Day Care Open Day.

- Prior to the event, I contacted my local radio station and arranged to run some advertising for a couple of weeks. I arranged to have the ads run during drive time when I knew my potential clients would be traveling to and from work. - The radio station threw in a guest appearance by their fleet of personalized, fun cars plus staff handing out fun gifts. They really added to the festive, special feel of the day. - I had promotional flyers printed and paid a few kids to distribute them locally. My intention was to entice people in by providing a fun, family day out and to that end I arranged; - A bouncy castle. - Face painting. - Story telling. - Clowns. - Snacks for everyone. - Local politician to do the official opening ceremony (so all the local newspapers came to take pictures and do a feature - free!). I opened my day care for tours so people could see first hand what I had to offer; - Polished presentation is very important when showcasing your day care. I carefully arranged the layout of all equipment in every room in order to show the day care to best effect. - Staff were positioned in all the rooms ready to talk, answer questions and hand out business cards. - As the day care owner you should be around to welcome people and answer questions. - We also arranged a raffle and asked people to provide their contact details (nice little database thank you) with the prize being a voucher for the day care. The results of that wonderful day are still felt today as many of my enquiries remembered attending the event or hearing about it. Word spread like wildfire as people who attended told friends and relatives. Take the time to fastidiously plan and organize a perfect open day and you will reap the rewards. Impressed people will return or will spread the word to those they know to be seeking childcare. Use this amazing marketing tool and have fun as you open a day care watching it fill up quickly with little kids.