Holiday Club Marketing Ideas

[godoit]

Hi Guys

I wonder if anyone had some good ideas for marketting this Easters holiday club. I am struggling for numbers at the moment. A bit of background, we are a holiday club for primary school children based at a school with 5 other schools in walking distance.

I have leafleted in school bags.
Social media is up and going
I am out and and about discussing with people but need to reach a larger group.

any ideas
thanks
simon

 

[james_firmsites]

Hi Simon,

• I would start with looking at your site, since this is often the hub of marketing efforts. Try to get some photos of the kids on there, make it personal. Perhaps add a call to action button in the top for booking. I would revise the home page with buttons advertising the various activities and be aware of letting the site auto resize images since it has make the Easter activities page hard to read. Finally I found it hard to determine your age group which would put me off, even if it's all kids then it should be made clear!
  
• Have you put up flyers at local baby and toddler groups? There are often lots of these and many will have older children as well that they want to get off their hands to focus on the smaller ones. If nothing else it could be good marketing for when they are older (depending on your age range)
• Look for bulletin boards around town, lots of takeaways & churches have them, often free marketing.
• Consider holding a charity event, such as a Easter egg hunt for X charity, it could get you some good free PR.
• Make an email list of people who book and market back to them offering discounts for referring other parents (such as send your child free if you refer X number of other kids!)

Hope those rough ideas help!

 

[ethical PR]

Hi Simon

When you set up your business, what did your market research show was the best ways to reach the sort of parents who were likely to use your services?

Just having a one off leaflet drop in school bags and doing a bit of social media is unlikely to get parents using your club.

Are you cross promoting the club to parents of your after school or breakfast clubs?

Are you investing in online and third party marketing?

I would go back to your marketing plan and review what has worked well in terms of your marketing activities and what not so well and what information you have on which marketing channels will be most affective for you.

Website reviews are only for full members, so I can't comment on your website but I agree not having ages that you cater for on your homepage will put a lot of parents off .

 

[godoit]

Hi Thanks for your replys, usual marketting isnt being as productive. definatly cross selling but thinking quirky.
Kids bikes at the local park with advertising boards in them

 

[ethical PR]

Not sure from your post what your usual marketing activity is but.....

Because of the short time scales involved I think your are going to need to invest some money in this (the local council won't be too happy if you try and use their premises as a venue for free advertising).

I would suggest;

1. Pay to advertise in school newsletters that go to parents in your catchment area/age group
2. Local online advertising using search terms parents use when looking for holiday clubs
3. Advertise at local swimming pools and other venues parents go to
4. . Review information on your website to make it clearer about the age groups your clubs cater for and the benefits of using your clubs rather than your competitors
5. Take out advertising on local parenting magazine websites.

The other point I was going to mention is do take into account that as a parent who needs a holiday club for their child, most who work, will have already booked a club by now to ensure they have cover.