Defining your nursery’s unique selling point – marketing your nursery – part 2
In this series of blogs, National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) provides top tips on developing and implementing a marketing strategy for your nursery. The articles address each important aspect of promoting your nursery. We also provide links to where you can find further training and information. Don’t forget to read Marketing your nursery – top tips part 1.
In part 2, we advise on how you can define your nursery’s unique selling point (USP), which means how your nursery is different to others. When you have your USP, you can use this to market your nursery to parents who will be most keen on what you have to offer. Read on to find out more.
Research parents’ views and needs in your area
In the previous blog, we looked at how to research what childcare is available in your area. The next step is to look at the needs and views of parents in the area. Before you do that, it is best to “segment” your market, so that you can begin to understand the needs of these segments.
Think of everyone who could use your childcare business. This is your market. Now break this down into smaller groups. These groups could be people who work in a nearby industrial park, people who have older children at a nearby school, or people from a minority group. The more groups you can think of, the better. These are your “market segments”.
For each market segment, list what you think, or know from your research, they need. For example, do they need childcare in a convenient location? Do they need flexible pick-up times? Do they need somewhere for their children to play outside? Do they need older siblings picked up from a local school? Now think about how your nursery meets their needs.
You could go to local parents’ events or talk to schools and training providers in your area, and seek views from parents about local childcare needs.
Select the market segment most likely to be interested in your nursery
After defining your market segments, the next step is to decide how to ‘target’ these groups. Think about how effectively your setting meets the needs of each group. You may even want to prioritise certain segments. You can then decide how to market your childcare offering to these target groups. There are a few different approaches you could use for promoting your nursery:
- You can target all segments using the same messaging, literature and promotional materials for all the groups
- Target different segments using different messaging and literature. For example, a flyer in a different language for a target group that does not have English as a first language, or a poster in a local working area, such as an industrial park or office complex
- Target just one segment – concentrating on the group whose needs you most closely match and tailoring all your marketing to them.
How you ‘position’ your business in the marketplace will affect the perception the target market has of your services. This can be reflected in your mission statement. For example, ‘We provide top quality childcare’ or ‘We provide a range of different services for working parents’ and so on.
Define your USP
Armed with all this research, information and data, you now need to decide what your nursery’s ‘unique selling point’ is – your USP. This is what sets your nursery apart from your competitors. Your research – particularly into what parents need and what your competitors offer – will help you to identify your USP – and you may find you have more than one!
At your next staff or management meeting, plan some time to talk about your setting’s USP. Emphasise to your managers/staff the need to highlight the USP and explain that this will give parents a reason to choose your setting over another. Allow your managers/staff to contribute to developing the USP for the setting – what do they think are its unique selling points that other nurseries nearby may not have? How does your setting meet the needs identified in your research into parents’ views? How can you use your USP in your marketing literature and activities?
Next steps – how to use your USP
Thank you for reading this blog on developing your nursery’s USP, part of NDNA’s series of articles on how to effectively market your nursery. Read our next article on how to use this USP, by developing a marketing plan and choosing the right marketing channels. The next part in the series is available on www.ndna.org.uk/blogs. You may also be interested in NDNA’s online course, free to NDNA members – Effective Marketing and Promotion.
