Marketing is critical to all types of business it helps you better understand and anticipate your customer needs. It gives you expertise and the right tools to adapt quickly to a changing market and ensures your childcare business competes successfully.

Early years and childcare providers are a unique type of business organisation as you are marketing yourselves to parents and carers to offer to look after and educate their children – involve your families so the service you develop meets their requirements, as much as possible. This means that you need to think carefully about what messages you want to give to both parents and children about your provision, and what you can offer.

Marketing is about more than flyers and posters – it’s about being aware of what you want your business to achieve, how you want it to be viewed by others and how you communicate your message. A good overall marketing strategy for a business needs to explore three areas:

Your market – who are your customers and who do you want to attract in future?

Your messages – what information do you need to get across and what impression are you trying to create? what is your Unique Selling Point (USP)?

Your methods – what activities will ensure that the right message reaches your target market?

All settings in Buckinghamshire are able to promote their service to families looking for childcare through the Buckinghamshire Family information Service childcare search.

Suggestions on what to include in your profile are:

• The values and ethos of your setting.
• Ofsted grading, ratios and qualification levels.
• An explanation of your building and surroundings (are your rooms fully accessible? Do you have parking? Is there a secure garden? Do you link with local schools)
• Added services and experiences
• Local Offer - You are asked to use this entry to summarise your settings Local Offer for children with SEND. Link to LO guidance