| Your day care marketing plan is a section of your | | | | It is more important to give an overall explanation |
| business plan which offers readers with a | | | | of how pricing decisions will be made than to list all |
| description of how you will communicate your | | | | of the prices in detail. Individual prices mean little |
| services to prospects and convert them into real | | | | to readers without an understanding of the value |
| customers, as well as what you will be | | | | to the customer and the prices charged by |
| communicating. A marketing plan includes the 4 Ps | | | | competitors. Show your understanding of where |
| (Product/Services, Promotion, Place, and Price) as | | | | your pricing will fit in the range of other options |
| well as key partnerships and a customer retention | | | | parents have in your community. |
| plan. Use this outline to provide needed structure | | | | 5) Partnerships |
| to your marketing plan. | | | | Focus on quality rather than quantity here, |
| 1) Product/Services | | | | describing one or two key partnerships that you |
| Give readers a clear and complete understanding | | | | will build with existing area businesses or services. |
| of what services your day care center will | | | | Partnerships should only be included if they will |
| provide through a short description and a chart or | | | | lead to significant benefit for your company. To |
| menu of options, if appropriate. Be clear as to | | | | be believable to readers, it must also be clear |
| what the basic services and what are considered | | | | what kind of significant benefit the parter |
| add-ons. | | | | receives. For example, a viable partnership deal |
| 2) Promotion | | | | could be offering discounted pricing to a large area |
| Spend the most time on the promotion section, | | | | business who, in turn, handles the legwork of |
| which should detail your choice of marketing | | | | selling to their employees. The business would |
| tactics based on the implicit rule that each must | | | | have the benefit of being able to say they offer |
| be useful at reaching your customer target | | | | discounted childcare to attract the best |
| market. List each marketing tactic (such as | | | | employees. |
| advertising, public relations, direct mail, etc) along | | | | 6) Customer Retention |
| with at least a few sentence explanation of how | | | | In a perfect world, your customers would only |
| the tactic will be used. | | | | leave when families move away or children age |
| 3) Place | | | | out of day care. Of course, this will not always be |
| "Place" in the marketing plan means how services | | | | the case. Nonetheless, pay attention in this section |
| will be delivered to customers and is not just a | | | | to what you will do to keep your customers. For |
| description of the location. Include an | | | | example, seek to build customer identification with |
| understanding of how you will sell to parents, | | | | your day care center through long-term projects |
| whether online, on the phone, through in person | | | | and parental involvement. Customers may be |
| appointments, or through a combination of these. | | | | uneasy about switching to a new day care |
| | | | | provider when they feel personally invested in |
| 4) Price | | | | yours. |