Email and SMS campaigns for a child care center
Child care has a longer lead time than almost any local trade. A parent inquires while pregnant and needs the spot five months later. Most centers lose that parent because nothing happened between the inquiry and the need.
So the highest-value list you own is not past customers, it is the waitlist and the inquiries that never enrolled. A monthly email with openings by age room, what changed in the program and one photo keeps you in the running. The tool costs $30 to $100 a month.
Four campaigns pay for themselves. The monthly waitlist openings update. The spring re-enrollment confirmation, which protects revenue you already have. The summer program push in April. The alumni referral note in July, because a parent whose child aged into kindergarten still knows six families with toddlers.
SMS is for the short list. Tour reminders the morning of, an opening that just came free, closure notices. Get written consent to text and honor a stop instantly.
The mistake is a newsletter about the season. Every send should answer one question: is there a spot for my child, and when.