Question About Opening Pre-K

Updated on February 07, 2012
R.M. asks from Evanston, IL
8 answers

Hi Mamas!

I have finally gotten licensed and am ready to open a Kindergarten Readiness Program out of my home beginning next month. I have a few friends who would like to enroll their children but I need to do some advertising as well. I am working on a website that should be ready in the next few days, but I wanted to get people's opinion about placing card flyers on the doors in our neighborhood. I was thinking of having some nice 5x7 postcard type "flyers" professionally made to place on people's doors. Do you think that this is tacky? Thanks!

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

http://www.projectwonderful.com/
If you have a website, this is a good way for advertising.
You bid, on a price.
I have used it for my home business.

Also:
www.vistaprint.com for having ALL kinds of business things/advertising materials made. Good prices, nice products. I have used this too.

DO NOT, place fliers on doors of homes. I HATE when people do that... it is also an invasion of privacy. I DO NOT LIKE, 'strangers' coming up to my home/door, to place anything.
It is a turn-off.

NOR is it legal, to place things inside a person's mailbox. ONLY a Mailman, can do that.

Put fliers up at community bulletin boards/at Universities/Grocery stores etc. or community newspapers.

Also: advertise in your local, community websites.
or local Mommy groups.

2 moms found this helpful

J.C.

answers from San Francisco on

I have a childcare/kindergarten readiness program that I just opened in my home in June. What I found most helpful in getting clients is advertising on craigslist.com. I have also gotten one person through care.com. It's great to have a website! :) I also have a website, so many questions can be answered before they even contact me. I have also printed cards through vistaprint.com. I put them in windows of cars with booster seats in them. I go to ToysRUs, BabiesRUs, Gymboree, the park and other kid-friendly places to pass them out, but honestly....I don't get much of a response. I have handed out over 600 cards and have only received 1 call.

Also, when schools open up, bring your flyer to each neighborhood school.

Good luck!!!

1 mom found this helpful
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L.R.

answers from Washington DC on

I think that leaving cards at homes is a waste of your money. You need to target people with preschoolers -- and unless you are sure that most folks in the neighborhood have them (or you know they have grandkids that age etc.), your nice flyers will end up in the trash. See if your local area has a targeted web site for parents/moms; in our area there is a "(town name)Moms" online group. If you're part of a larger metropolitan area, that area surely will have several online parents' groups and message boards, and you should check in on those. Some will have rules prohibiting ads within what are supposed to be messages but they also sometimes have other boards especially for folks to advertise services or search for services.

1 mom found this helpful

R.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

Your plans are quite good. Using flyers is a good way to promote your event. Problem is, either these prints can get lost easily or people will misplace them. I think you'll do better if you try custom sticker printing services. Custom stickers can be posted anywhere and readily grab people's attention. If you're interested, just want to share the site I tried before http://www.printrunner.com/sticker-Printing.aspx

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C.S.

answers from Miami on

We have two preschools in our immediate neighborhood and I get the postcards from them regularly on my door. I don't think anything of it - but it is how I learned of the preschool we went to....only 1/2 mile from my house but I didn't know it was there. I think using vistaprint for some postcards to put on doors is a good idea.

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K.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

I think these days, online media is really a good way to start advertising. Create a Facebook page for the school and then make sure that any local business that caters to preschoolers knows about it.

Also make sure that any of your friends tell everyone they know and help spread the word by word of mouth.

Contact the MOMS Clubs in your area (www.momsclub.org) and do an Open House - invite them to come over and play, check out the school, get to know you, etc. This works really well at my son's preschool. You can do the same thing for meetup groups or offer the same type of thing to Gymboree/My Gym/Little Gym or any swim schools in the area, etc.

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A.N.

answers from Las Vegas on

Flyers are probably a waste. I agree with using Craigslist. I have found both of the babysitter/day care people to watch my son through there. Make sure you are kind of specific about where you are. My big thing when looking for someone was location, I wanted to be close enough to run to get my son if my husband had the car. I obviously cared about who was watching him as well, but that really narrowed down my search. The website also will help you, just make sure it is professional and you keep it updated.

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B.V.

answers from Los Angeles on

Sent the $25 card to your mother and tell her it is for a family present.
The in the future why not just send the boy a card and a letter?
He is clearly out of control.

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