How to advertise your babysitting business

Whether you’re just starting your babysitting business or trying to expand your current client base, you need good marketing and advertising strategies to find more clients. You could go for traditional methods or digital marketing strategies to get the word out about your business. 

This guide will explore how to advertise your babysitting business using the following methods:

• Create a professional website
• Use newspaper ads
• Connect through social media
• Join a babysitting website
• Contact a local daycare
• Use word of mouth marketing

It’s relatively easy to create a business website these days, so you don’t need to be a professional developer to get your babysitting site set up.

If you only want something basic, website builders like Wix or WordPress have a range of templates you can customise to reflect your taste. You simply need to drag and drop different features and add engaging copy to create a professional-looking website quickly.

Make sure you include all the necessary information potential clients need to know about your babysitting business. Information to include might be the area you operate in, specific details about your services, relevant qualifications, how much you charge, and so on. 

You might think traditional ads in newspapers and magazines are a dying art, but there are still plenty of parents who like flipping through these publications. In addition, most people are aware that newspaper or magazine ads take more planning and effort to create. As a result, you could come across as more professional to these people. 

Prices vary depending on the publication and size of your ad, so have a look around to find the best deal. Bear in mind that the bigger you want your ad to be, the more you have to be willing to pay.

The effectiveness of this method will depend on who your target audience is. Think about who you want to work for and think about whether they seem the type to read these publications.

Timing is also important, so instead of running ads every month and spending lots of money, try placing a few well-timed ads around back-to-school time or just before the summer holidays. Parents are more likely to be on the hunt for babysitters at this time. 

In terms of digital advertising, social media is perfect for finding clients for your babysitting business. As of January this year, the UK alone had 53 million active social media users, which is 77.9% of the entire population. 

With so many people hooked on social media, posting an ad there makes a lot of sense. Facebook Marketplace or Ads might be the most obvious option for advertising your babysitting service. Still, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and most other social media platforms allow you to create and place ads to reach more potential clients. 

When creating your ads, remember to use a professional but eye-catching design, engaging copy, and include your unique selling point. You should also include all the relevant information parents will want to know about your babysitting services, including prices, qualifications, special skills, and so on. 

You can also use social media to network and engage with potential clients. 

Another great way to advertise your services is to join a babysitting website. Platforms like Babysits or Childcare.co.uk are specifically devoted to helping match up babysitters with families looking for them. 

Some platforms are more basic, where you simply create a profile that includes your information and contact details so parents can contact you. Others act more like an employment agency where they do most of the legwork to find you clients and, in return, take a cut of your earnings as commission. 

You can also check with your local daycare centres to see if they’d be willing to refer some of their clients to you. This method is most effective if you know the daycare provider or have worked with them before. If the daycare isn’t familiar with you, they might be reluctant to send clients to you. 

A way to prove yourself to a daycare you haven’t worked with before is by offering to volunteer with them. You can show off your skills, build trust with them, and make them confident in your abilities. 

Since most daycare providers don’t offer care in the evenings or weekends, they won’t see your babysitting business as a competitor. Instead, your services could be a nice recommendation they could offer to parents needing someone to watch their kids outside office hours. 

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most powerful advertising techniques you have access to at any stage of your business. Tell your family, friends, and acquaintances about your babysitting services and have them spread the word to people they know. Those people will then pass the information on to people they know, and before you know it, you might hear from a few parents wanting to know more. 

Once you get your first clients, feel free to ask them if they might recommend your babysitting services to their friends. Parents of young children tend to have large networks of other parents they can connect with. If the parents have toddlers, they might be part of playgroups or know other parents they met at daycare or the playground. If you do a great job, you’ll find most people are happy to recommend you to people they know. 

Once you get your babysitting business going and money starts rolling in, you need a reliable and trustworthy system to keep track of your financial activities. That’s why thousands of self-employed people use Countingup to take the stress out of financial management.

Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. With features like automatic expense categorisation, invoicing on the go, receipt capture tools, tax estimates, and cash flow insights, you can confidently keep on top of your business finances wherever you are. 

You can also share your bookkeeping with your accountant instantly without worrying about duplication errors, data lags or inaccuracies. Seamless, simple, and straightforward! 

Find out more here.