Picking right back up where we left off last week with Community Marketing Made Easy | Part 1 – let’s continue right along with part two!
3. Exchange services
To move that idea to another level, think about the businesses and organizations in your community for whom you could provide a service in exchange for a product or service from them that would be of value to you. Suppose the same beautician would agree to spend one afternoon a week at your center, providing haircuts for your customers and children. You would market the availability of the beautician’s services, manage the sign-up list, and collect fees from parents. She would provide a discounted rate for the haircuts given in the center. It’s easy business for her and a nice ancillary service for you. You both benefit. And you receive the residual benefit of referrals from the beautician talking to her other salon clients about your child care center and the haircutting services she provides there.
4. Co-sponsor events
What are businesses and associations in your area with whom you could sponsor an event to benefit the community while giving you and the other businesses involved positive exposure to the marketplace?
A center in Virginia teamed up with the American Society for the Blind, a manufacturer of vision screening equipment, and a local media station to provide a weekend of free vision screening to anyone in the local community. The equipment was set up in the center and manned by society volunteers. Center staff provided drop-in child care while adults had their vision screened. The director was available to provide center tours to interested attendees. The media provided broad coverage both before and after the event.
This successful, well-attended event provided not only a useful service to participants, but gave exposure to each entity involved. For an expenditure of time and energy, each business involved generated awareness and recognition that would have cost high marketing dollars to generate through traditional advertising channels. And the public-private partnership created by the joining together of for-profit and not-for-profit sponsors opened marketing opportunities for each and communicated good will and understanding to the audiences served by the event.
5. Speak for an organization.
Colleges, corporations, and parent organizations such as MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and local PTA’s are always looking for knowledgeable professionals who are willing to share their expertise on the platform. Call and offer to make a brief presentation on a topic of interest, such as dealing with separation or what to look for in choosing quality child care.
Do not “pitch” your center in your talk, but do provide the meeting planner with an introduction that briefly tells about your center and positions you as the helpful professional expert. Be sure to have business cards and center brochures available for those audience members who want further information about your center and services.
Julie Wassom
“The Speaker Whose Message Means Business”
Marketing and Sales Speaker/Consultant/Author
Call me: 303-693-2306
Fax me: 303-617-6422
E-me: julie@juliewassom.com
See me: www.juliewassom.com
