How to market a daycare: filling spaces and waitlists in Canada

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For many child care centres in Canada, the problem is not demand in general. It is matching the right families to the right spaces at the right time. A centre can have a long infant waitlist and empty preschool spots, or a new room opening with no families lined up. Marketing a daycare well means being easy to find, earning trust before the first visit, keeping an organized waitlist and filling each space quickly when it opens. This guide explains how.

It is written for owners and directors of licensed child care centres, home child care providers, Montessori schools, preschools and before and after school programs.

Understand how parents decide

Parents often start looking for care during pregnancy or early in parental leave, sometimes a year or more before they need a space. Their search usually follows the same steps:

1. Search online for daycares near home or work and ask friends and parent groups.
2. Shortlist centres based on location, hours, ages served, reviews and fees.
3. Call or fill in forms to ask about availability and get on waitlists.
4. Visit two or three centres.
5. Accept a space when it is offered, often quickly.

At every step parents look for reassurance: safety, cleanliness, warm and qualified educators, good communication and a program that fits their values. Your marketing needs to provide that reassurance honestly.

Define what makes your program special

Parents compare centres side by side. Generic phrases such as “a nurturing environment” do not help them choose. Be specific:

• Philosophy: play based, Montessori, Reggio inspired, forest school, emergent curriculum.
• Practical details: hours, ages, meals prepared on site, outdoor space, transportation from nearby schools.
• People: educator qualifications and how long your team has been together.
• Communication: daily updates, photos shared privately with parents, regular parent meetings.
• Extras: language programs, music, nature walks, kindergarten readiness.

Get found on Google

Searches like “daycare near me,” “infant daycare” and “Montessori preschool” often show map results first. To appear:

• Set up your Google Business Profile with your real business name, the right category, accurate hours and your address.
• Add photos of rooms, the playground and meals. Avoid identifiable children unless parents have given written consent.
• Invite families to leave honest reviews without selecting them by satisfaction, never offer incentives, and reply without disclosing child or family information.
• Keep your listing current when hours, programs or holidays change.

Add website pages for each age group and program, and helpful content parents search for: how to choose a daycare, how to prepare a child for the first day, how fee reduction and subsidies work. Our local SEO service builds this for centres.

Build a website that answers every question

Parents want facts and feeling at once. Your website should include:

• A first screen with ages served, location, hours and a button to book a tour.
• Program pages for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school age children.
• A “day in the life” page with the daily schedule, meals, outdoor play and rest time.
• Educator profiles, with their permission.
• Licensing, health and safety information stated accurately.
• Fees, fee reduction and subsidy information as it applies today.
• A waitlist form and online tour booking.
• A virtual tour or short video of the space.

Make it fast on phones, since many parents browse while feeding or holding a baby. See our daycare and childcare marketing service for how we build these sites.

Be accurate about licensing and fees

Child care is regulated provincially. In Ontario, centres and home child care agencies are licensed under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, and unlicensed home child care is limited in how many children it may care for. State your licensing status clearly and accurately, and never imply a status you do not hold.

The Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system supports reduced fees in participating licensed programs, including eligible home child care. The $10-a-day wording describes a policy objective, not a fee every family or provider receives; current rates and eligibility differ by province and program. Describe your participation accurately, explain fees as they apply today and never promise future fee levels, which depend on government decisions. Add a note asking families to check current details. This is general information, not legal advice.

Turn tours into enrolments

The tour is where most parents decide. Make it count:

1. Schedule well. Offer times when rooms are active but calm, such as mid morning.
2. Prepare. Know the child’s age, start date and any questions in advance.
3. Introduce educators. Parents want to meet the people who will care for their child.
4. Show routines. Explain drop off, meals, naps, outdoor time and communication.
5. Answer fees and waitlist questions clearly. Give written information to take home.
6. Follow up. Send a thank you and next steps the same day.

Keep an organized waitlist

A waitlist is a marketing asset if it is well managed. Record each child’s age, desired start date, schedule and contact preferences. Update families periodically so they know they have not been forgotten. When a space opens, contact the best matching families quickly; parents often accept the first good offer. A CRM or child care management system makes this much easier than a spreadsheet.

Use social media to show daily life

Instagram and Facebook let parents see what your centre feels like. Post the garden in spring, a sensory table, a menu, an educator reading, a seasonal craft. Protect privacy: use photos of children only with written parental consent, avoid names and locations of individual children, and consider showing hands, artwork and spaces instead of faces. Share photos of each child privately with their own family through your parent app.

Advertise to parents, not children

Paid ads can fill spaces quickly when you have openings. Google Ads reach parents searching for programs near them, and Meta ads reach local parents with warm, real content. Aim every ad at adults. In Quebec, commercial advertising directed at children under 13 is generally prohibited, and everywhere the decision maker is the parent. Never use family or child data for ad targeting. See our Google Ads service for search campaigns.

Build community connections

Many enrolments come from word of mouth and local relationships:

• Host open houses and family events a few times a year.
• Connect with prenatal classes, midwives, family doctors’ offices and community centres where appropriate.
• Partner with nearby elementary schools for before and after school care.
• Talk to local employers about family benefits or reserved spaces.
• Ask current families to share your centre with friends, and thank them when they do.

Follow up fast and respectfully

When a parent inquires, reply the same day with availability, tour times and your waitlist process. Send reminders before tours and a follow up afterwards. Email and text messages must follow CASL: consent, sender identification and an unsubscribe. Keep enrolment, billing and daily update messages separate from promotional ones.

Recruit and keep educators

Many centres cannot open rooms because they cannot hire enough qualified educators. Treat staffing as its own marketing program: a careers page that shows your culture, training and benefits; job ads on the platforms early childhood educators use; referral rewards for staff; and relationships with college programs. Educator stability is also one of the strongest points in your parent marketing.

Opening a new centre

A new centre needs families lined up before opening day. Start six to twelve months ahead with a website and waitlist, set up an eligible Google Business Profile with the correct future opening date, run open houses at the new location or nearby, and target ads to families in surrounding neighbourhoods. A verified profile can appear up to 90 days before the opening date. Share construction and preparation updates without presenting the centre as already open.

Measure what matters

• Inquiries, tours and enrolments by source.
• Response time to inquiries.
• Tour to enrolment conversion rate.
• Waitlist size by age group and start date.
• Time to fill a space once it opens.
• Family retention and referrals.

What parents look for on a tour

Parents often arrive with a mental checklist, sometimes from parenting groups or provincial guidance. Expect them to notice:

• How educators speak to children and whether children seem relaxed and engaged.
• Cleanliness, safety gates, secure entry and supervision of outdoor areas.
• Ratios, group sizes and how rooms are organized by age.
• Nap areas, washrooms, diapering stations and food preparation.
• Artwork, books and materials that show an active program.
• How the centre communicates with parents during the day.

Prepare your team to show these things naturally. Parents also notice red flags: unanswered phones, unclear policies, rushed tours and staff who seem stressed. A calm, well run tour is your strongest marketing.

Explain your policies clearly

Families want to understand practical policies before they enrol: hours and late pickup, sick child rules, holidays and closures, meals and allergies, outdoor play in winter, screen time, toilet training, communication apps and how concerns are handled. Put these in a parent handbook and summarize them on your website. Clear policies reduce misunderstandings, and parents read them as a sign of a well organized centre.

Highlight your educators

Educators are the heart of a child care program, and parents know it. With their permission, introduce your team on your website and social media: qualifications, how long they have been with you, what they love about working with children. Celebrate staff milestones and professional development. Low turnover is a strong selling point; if your team has been together a long time, say so.

Serve families from many backgrounds

Canadian communities are diverse, and many families look for a centre that respects their language, culture, diet and traditions. If your educators speak several languages, you offer culturally diverse menus or you celebrate a range of holidays, describe it accurately. Translate key information where you serve families who prefer another language. Make sure enrolment materials and tours are welcoming to every family, including those with children who have additional needs.

Common daycare marketing mistakes

• Outdated hours, phone numbers or availability online.
• Posting identifiable photos of children without written consent.
• Vague answers about fees or subsidies.
• Slow responses to inquiries and waitlist families.
• Generic stock photos instead of your real space.
• Promising future fees or programs you cannot be sure of.
• Ignoring reviews, especially critical ones.

Keep current families happy

Your current families are your best marketing. Regular updates on their child’s day, friendly communication, family events and quick responses to concerns build loyalty. Families who feel valued enrol siblings, recommend you to friends and leave the reviews new parents read. Ask for feedback twice a year and act on what you hear.

Market part time and before and after school programs

Many centres have more availability in part time, school age or summer programs than in full time infant and toddler rooms. Market these separately with their own pages, schedules and campaigns. Before and after school programs benefit from partnerships with nearby schools and clear information on transportation or walking escorts. Summer and holiday camps can be promoted to current families first, then to the wider community through local parent groups and ads aimed at parents.

Make your outdoor space and meals part of the story

Parents care deeply about how their child spends the day. Outdoor play areas, gardens, nature walks and winter play show an active, healthy program, and menus prepared on site show care for nutrition. Share sample menus, describe how you handle allergies and dietary needs, and show your outdoor space in every season. These everyday details often matter more to parents than any slogan, and they give you endless real content for your website and social media.

Make your phone and inbox part of marketing

Many parents still call before they visit. A phone that rings out, a full voicemail box or an inbox that goes unanswered for days loses families quietly. Assign responsibility for answering inquiries, set a same day response standard and use a friendly voicemail message that explains when parents will hear back. Track missed calls and follow up on every one.

A 90 day plan

Days 1 to 30: define what makes your program special, update your Google Business Profile, fix your inquiry and tour process and organize your waitlist.

Days 31 to 60: update your website with program pages, a day in the life page and fees information, start posting real daily life with consent and plan an open house.

Days 61 to 90: run a focused ad campaign for age groups with openings, contact five community partners and review inquiries, tours and enrolments by source. For centres serving older children too, see our education marketing service.