Advice on Reaching Moms About Child Care.

I am not a marketing expert but I shop like crazy :) One thing I really look at is the ads that come to the house via mail. I get a couple of them that advertise their business. One is the coupon magazine and the money mailer coupon, I believe they have a website called moneymailer.com and you can advertise there. I also recommend the yellow pages, your business will show up in the book as well as on the internet when searching for a business. You have a great concept, I am sure your daycare will grow very quickly with the hours you are offering. Let me know when it is up and running, so I can help you spread the word. Good luck!

Here's my suggestion...

Contact Valu-Pack/Clipper/local ad runs and run your ads through here

Get a listing of local mom's clubs (MOMS International, multiples clubs, Mother-to-Mother, MOPS to name a few) and see if you can advertise in their newsletter. I am on the board for my MOM's Club and we will probably start accepting non-member advertising shortly after the first of the year. It's typically very cheap and a great audience.

Contact local newspapers. First see if you can do a Press Release (for free) and if so/not, place an ad in the paper. Many papers have special childcare sections.

Contact local parenting magazines and advertise here - ex. Chicago Parent, etc.

You could also simple take out adds in Trib, Sun-Times

You could also promote probably through Craigslist

Check out nanny sites/etc and see if you can advertise through them - ex. sittercity, care.com. Most likely you won't since it's an individual basis but you never know.

Contact local churches/pre-schools and see if you can advertise through them.

Contact local businesses for their vendor fairs and set up a booth. For example - Babies R' Us typically has once a month vendor shows at the store (I know Orland does) and you could set up a booth there.

Get onto Message Boards and advertise through here... Yahoo Groups, Meetup.com, etc.

That's what's coming to my head at the moment.

Congrats on the great start! Wow - 400 openings! How many providers do you have? Please PM with your information... you never know when I might need care. Thx

Hi! I am assistant director at FasTracKids in Naperville. We advertise monthly in the Kids Directory and have acquired many of our students that way. We are an technology driven enrichment center, not a daycare, so we are not your competition!! The directory is given out for free at doctors offices, Babies R Us, kids hair cut salons, etc. Good luck opening your center.

Have you thought of making flyers and sending them to local businesses?
Maybe giving a discount to multiples (several chains do that) and sending that info to local multiple's groups?

Taking out ads in the classified section of the local papers.

All of those options would probably be cheaper. I think if you sent flyers out to businesses, you may be able to get word of mouth advertising too