How to Create a Daycare Brochure
Making the neighborhood aware of a daycare is important, but it can be costly. A simple, self-designed brochure that only costs pennies to print is very effective. Many brochures, though, are confusing, hard to read and lack critical information that the parents want most.
With a little bit of time and thought, a brochure that makes a compelling case for a daycare can be written, designed and distributed.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Software with brochure templates
- Printer with design capability (alternative)
- Appropriate images
Instructions
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Determine the purpose of brochure--whether it's announcing a Grand Opening, a remodeling, new equipment, new convenient hours, a summer program, an expansion of openings or something else that will cause prospective clients to take notice. An effective brochure only focuses in on one major point at a time.
Even a general marketing brochure should have one focus. While other, important information is given in the text, there should be an immediately obvious reason why the reader should be interested in continued reading.
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Write the brochure from the customers' needs. If the community is focused more on education, then focus the brochure on the curriculum taught. A professional community might want to know more about the educational qualifications of the staff. Those in a lower-income neighborhood will be interested in how they can be helped in obtaining government assistance in paying for the daycare.
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Write copy.
Draw people into reading it by writing a compelling front page headline. Questions or promises are often good on the front, with the implication that the information they need is just inside. "Is Your Child's Preschool Curriculum Sufficient?" or "How to Afford Preschool With Government Help" are examples.
Decide which of two directions to go for the copy length. One is to decide the format of the brochure (four panel, six panel, eight panel or more) and then write copy to fill it, or write the copy that is desired and then match the brochure format to the copy. A six-panel brochure is often the most cost-effective, and can incorporate a lot of information.
Write simple, short sentences. View the copy from the readers' point of view, and avoid jargon or other phrases that might be difficult to understand. Put the information that the parents most need to know up front.
Always include a benefit to the parent with a feature of the daycare. For example, if you close each day at 8 p.m., point out that this allows parents to run late coming from work without worry.
Provide a feedback mechanism such as a free offer of more information so that you know the brochures are being read. This also allows you to capture names for further marketing programs.
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Lay out and design the brochure. It's very hard to read a brochure that has so much unbroken text that it looks "gray" from a distance. Use design tricks such as bullets and headings or sub-headings to give focus to the important items and make the overall effect more attractive.
Take an important sentence from a paragraph and repeat it in larger type at the top or bottom of the page. Highlight it in some manner such as boxing it in or using a different color. This "pull quote" is quite effective in communicating key points. More than one a page can make it look overly busy.
People love to see pictures of other people, especially happy people. Ensure the pictures relate to your main subject. For instance, if the focus is educational, show the children being read to, and not on the playground.
Keep it simple; don't make it so busy that it becomes confusing.
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Ask local businesses to trade marketing materials with you---they have your brochure in their business and you feature theirs. This works best with businesses that also market to parents with young children.
Place in restrooms where children and parents go, such as playgrounds and parks. Have an option where an existing family of yours can add their name to the brochure to pass out to their friends and family. If you gain a new student from that, reward them with a discounted rate.
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Tips & Warnings
Black-and-white brochures on colored paper have almost the same response as four color brochures, and are much cheaper to produce.
Ensure any photos you use are legally available for reproduction. Any recognizable people should have clearances filled out and filed away.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit boy behind parents image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com
