Childcare marketing in Australia: what actually fills places
Marketing a childcare centre is not the same as marketing a product. A family is choosing who looks after their child on the days they need care, close to home, at a price they can carry. The job of marketing is to make that decision easy to start and easy to finish.
I'm Martin Niedenfuhr, a childcare marketing consultant based on the Mornington Peninsula, working with providers across Australia. Delivery work runs through my company, Enrolment Boost.
Who this suits
- Centres with vacancies in specific rooms or on specific days.
- New centres or new rooms that need families before word of mouth exists.
- Centres losing enquiries somewhere between the first contact and the tour.
- Small and mid sized groups where one site is well behind the others.
How local parents actually search
Most families look within a short radius of home, work, or the route between them. They search by suburb and by need: long day care, kindergarten, before and after school care, a place for a specific age. Then they compare a small handful of centres on availability, hours, fees and how the place feels.
That means the practical questions matter more than slogans. Which days do you have free, in which room, from when, and what does it cost. Answering those clearly on the page gives a family less reason to move on to the next centre.
Choosing between Google, Meta and organic
Google search
Reaches parents already looking. Best when there is real search volume in your suburb and you need enquiries soon. Costs more per click in competitive areas, and it will not create demand that is not there.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
Reaches local parents before they search. Useful for new centres, new rooms and quieter areas. Enquiries are often earlier stage, so they need more follow up before a tour.
Organic search and maps
Keeps working when you pause advertising, and it is slower to build. Treat it as a foundation rather than a fix for this month's vacancies.
I will not recommend a spend figure before looking at your situation. The right channel mix depends on how many places you need to fill, how quickly, and whether your team can answer more enquiries without dropping any.
Trust signals that change enquiry rates
- Real photos of your rooms, yard and educators rather than stock imagery.
- Named educators and how long they have been with you.
- Clear fee information, or at least a clear explanation of how fees work.
- Recent reviews, and visible replies to them.
- Current availability by room and by day, kept up to date.
Landing page and follow up
An ad should land on a page that matches what it promised, with one obvious next step and a short form. Long forms lose families who are filling them in one handed.
What happens next matters just as much. A same day reply, a specific tour time rather than an invitation to call back, and useful, respectful follow up that fits the family's own timeline. This part is worth as much attention as the advertising.
Filling specific rooms and days
Occupancy is rarely evenly spread. Fridays sit empty, the toddler room is full and the babies room is not, or the reverse. Marketing that targets the actual gap performs better than marketing that says "enrol now". If Wednesdays and Fridays are your problem, say so.
Measuring it honestly
Track four numbers in order: enquiry, tour booked, tour attended, enrolled. The drop between any two of them tells you where to work next. Reporting enquiry volume alone leaves out everything that happens after the first contact.
Questions I get about childcare marketing
What does childcare marketing actually involve?
Childcare marketing is everything that gets a local family from first hearing about a centre to enrolling: being findable when parents search, giving them enough information to enquire with confidence, answering that enquiry quickly, and following up after the tour. Advertising is one part of that, not the whole of it.
Should a childcare centre use Google Ads or Meta ads?
Google Ads reach parents who are already searching for care, so they suit centres in suburbs with real search volume and places to fill now. Meta ads reach local parents before they start looking, which suits new centres, new rooms and areas with little search demand. Many centres run both, and the balance depends on local demand, available places and enquiry quality.
Where does organic search fit in childcare marketing?
Organic search and your Google Business Profile keep bringing in enquiries when you pause advertising, but they build over months rather than weeks. Paid advertising covers the places you need to fill sooner.
How should a centre measure whether its marketing is working?
Measure the whole path in four steps: enquiry, tour booked, tour attended, enrolled. The drop between any two steps shows where to work next. Enquiry numbers on their own hide everything that happens after first contact.
How much should a childcare centre spend on marketing?
There is no single right figure, and I will not quote one before seeing your occupancy, your suburb and your follow up process. Spending more on advertising while enquiries go unanswered makes the leak more expensive, not smaller.
Why is my centre getting enquiries but not enrolments?
Enquiries that do not turn into enrolments usually come down to four things: slow or inconsistent follow up, tours that do not answer what the family is actually worried about, no second contact after the tour, or availability that does not match the days the family needs.
Related pages
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