When it comes to marketing, one of the most powerful tools you can use to build your brand is a good business name.

Choosing the right name for your daycare business is a very important task that requires a lot of thought and consideration. You want to choose one that fits your personality as well as your business outlook.

Here are a few guidelines that will help you choose the right name for your Family Daycare.

1.) Determine what thoughts and feelings you would like the name to convey.

Cutesy ( Little Explorers)

Straightforward (Jane’s Day Care)

Regional (Chesapeake Child Care)

Educational (Brainy Babies Academy/Pre-School)

Warm & Fuzzy (Home Away From Home) I’d urge you to stay away from this one due to it’s popularity.

2.) You want folks to “Get It.” – Don’t get so creative that no one understands what message you’re business name is trying to convey, it should clearly represent you and the services that you offer.

3.) Get it right the first time. – Put a lot of thought and consideration into choosing the right business name in order to avoid having to change it months or years from now. Your goal should be to find a name that will serve you well for the life of your business.

4.) Forget funky spelling. – Don’t get cute here, make it easy to pronounce and easy to spell.

5.) Do your homework. – Check for availability to avoid any potential legal conflicts. Imagine investing your time and money into marketing materials, only to receive a cease-and-desist letter in your mailbox. Arrrg!!!

6.) Dust off the trusty old Thesaurus. – When you need just the right word, this is the ideal guide for a quick study in the synonym department.

7.) Get down to brainstorming. – Come up with a master list of names and take it from there.

8.) Register your domain name. – If you plan on having a website (and surely you do, right?… right…), now’s a good time to snap-up your domain before someone else does.

9.) Limit the number of decision makers. – Decide who will have input in the naming process. I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage… “To many cooks in the kitchen”.

Use the tips and ideas above to come up with a name that will be just the right fit for you. Don’t rush yourself into coming up with a name too quickly, the time you invest in choosing a name for your daycare business is time well spent.

Visit http://www.FamilyDaycareMarketing.com for more articles, tips, and marketing resources for your Home Daycare Business.

That’s certainly no way to go about marketing a business, especially a home daycare business. So before I schedule any interviews, I’ve gotta whip this place back into shape pronto!

Did you know that within a few seconds of a potential client driving up to your home, they have already formed an opinion of your home daycare business, good or bad?

Does “Gone In 60 Seconds” ring a bell? That Nick Cage is so dreamy in a goofy boy next door sort of way… but, I digress. lol

No matter how awesome your daycare space is “inside”, your prospects may have already decided to move on simply based on their first impression of the “outside”.

Bummer, huh?

So how do we get the “outside” of your home daycare business to reflect the quality of care going on “inside”?

Besides the obvious tasks of mowing the lawn & trimming the hedges, here are 10 super simple ways to add a little curb appeal to your humble abode:

1.) Flowerbeds & Shrubs – Boy, what a difference a couple of bags of mulch can make.

2.) Got Spiders? – Yes, spiders do serve their purpose, but it’s time to say goodbye to Charlotte’s Web.

3.) House Numbers – Are they in good condition or should they be repaired, repainted, or replaced?

4.) Litter & Debris – Make sure that your yard, driveway, walkway, etc. are free of all litter, debris, & pesky leaves.

5.) Mailbox – Has your mailbox seen better days? This is another good candidate for a thorough scrubbing, repair job, or replacement.

6.) Mold & Mildew – Whether you go with a store bought product or a homemade solution, be sure to try it out on a test area to avoid any major “whoopsies”.

7.) Repairs – Address any flaking or chipped paint, loose screens, shutters, gutters, handrails, steps, etc.

8.) Stow The Stuff – Stow away unnecessary garden goodies & equipment, unsightly garbage cans, lawn furniture or any random item that doesn’t live in your front yard.

9.) Welcome Aboard – Add a homey touch to your entry way with a fresh new welcome mat.

10.) Yard Sign – Wash, repair, or replace your yard sign if necessary. Go a step further by adding some potted plants or flower box at the base to make it smile.

If you want to take this whole idea of creating curb appeal to the next level, stop by your local library to see what they have available on the topics of creating curb appeal, landscaping, home staging and such. (be sure to post some flyers while you’re there).

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m super excited about the idea of giving my home and business a little Spring Time pick me up.

What have you got planned?

Visit http://www.FamilyDaycareMarketing.com for more articles, tips, and marketing resources for your Home Daycare Business.

What I’m referring to here is those signs you see all the time on the sides of cars or trucks. A lot of small business such as construction companies, landscapers etc use them. I used a magnetic sign. You could also have sign stenciled onto your car for a little bit more money, but regardless, this was one of my best marketing tools to promote my home daycare. For $40 we got years of advertisements out of this simple sign and signed up several kids. Parents would mention the car sign all the time and that recognition made them feel good about my home daycare.

Think about it. Every time you go to the store, every time you go to diner, every time you leave the house you are advertizing your business in the exact community you want to be recognized. Parents see your name constantly and over time it builds a lot of awareness and trust.

It terms of the sign it was very simple, yet professional in appearance. The sign said our name, city and phone number. My name was “Daycare By Tania” so people automatically knew what I did. And by the way, I highly suggest you create a simple, short name with daycare or child care in it. I’ve heard a lot of people use long confusing names like “Julie’s Cuddle Bear Factory” or something similar and it creates confusion and takes up a lot of text on advertisements.

In addition, you can get really creative and maybe a little aggressive with it. For example, about two years into our daycare we suddenly lost half our enrollment, which was a little nerve wracking to say the least. (For complete random reasons too). We needed to bring our enrollment back up fast. We keep thinking about what the best way was to get the phone to ring. How were we going to reach as many parents in our community immediately – the car sign was the trick.

Our local elementary school has a single entrance and a single exit. During drop-offs and pickups all of the parents have to exit the school by using one single location. They have no other way to leave the school other than the one exit. So we put our brains to work and decided to just park our car (with the car sign on it) across the street from the exit so the sign was as clear as day. The parents pulling out of the parking lot couldn’t help but see the sign. The first time we did this the phone rang within minutes! To this day I laugh at how simple yet effective this was.

Parking the car in front of the exit worked on several levels. First of all moms would call right then and there as they were pulling out. Secondly, it built that name awareness in the exact community we got 99% of our kids. This is a no brainer for you to do. Go to your local sign store to get this done.

Had I wanted to take this to the next level I could have put on the side of the car something like “current vacancy for 12-24 month old” and that would have really caught their attention. It would have let them know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I parked the car there on purpose. And it would have built that urgency and legitimacy I’ve mentioned.

Stay tuned for part 4 of 4 on Starting a Home Daycare – Marketing

Tania Rauth wrote a book on how to start and run a home daycare. More info at starting a daycare or how to run a daycare

In general there are a few common marketing themes that you want to keep in mind in order to start a daycare. Number one is you want to keep all efforts very focused in a three to five mile radius of your home. Most of your kids are going to be coming from your neighborhood. Also, you want to show your location on all of your advertisements via a simple and easy-to-read map. The most important thing here is to point out your daycare’s location relative to the parent’s home or job. The more convenient/close it appears the better.

Number two is to create “urgency” and legitimacy right from the beginning with your ads (I talked a lot about this in my book and the other articles). In other words, you want to let the parents know that a rare vacancy has popped open. Say something like “Spot just opened for 12-24 month old” on all of your ads. Wording your ad like this implies a couple of things – the spot won’t stay open for long. And that you have customers, which seems to imply that other parents trust you so you must be ok.

Number three is consistency. Whatever marketing tools you decide to put into place, you have to be patient enough to see if they will work or not. They all take time, some more than others, but I certainly learned that you have to give them enough to see if they are working or you will just waste your time.

Last word, I have to admit the marketing aspect was a good kind of challenge for me. It was fun and exciting to see what worked. It was one of the aspects of the daycare that really felt like a business. We had to get clients and do it in the most cost effective way so that we would still make a profit. Getting the phone to ring felt really great and was rewarding. So use your creativity, with the idea of getting in front of as many parents as possible with the least amount of effort or cash to reach them.

Tania Rauth wrote a book on how to start and run a home daycare. More info at starting a daycare or how to run a daycare