The Challenge

Sally’s Place is a child care centre located on the Sydney Harbour in Mosman. Uniquely positioned on Sydney Harbour Federation land, the former 1913 army barracks was transformed into Sally’s Place.

Sally Lock (owner and director of Sally’s Place) moved to Sydney, selling her very successful child care centre, Claremont Nursery in Perth, after being selected from a national tender to set up and run this new long day care centre.

Sally approached Marketing Angels after reading an article on Marketing Angel’s successful marketing campaign for another child care centre in the Child Care Association Magazine. Sally’s vision for the centre was that it was going to be a ’boutique’ centre which would provide the ultimate child care experience for the children and parents.

The marketing had to also reflect this and due to the location of the centre, the marketing had to attract an affluent market.

The Process

Sally’s Place was a new centre and was in the process of being built. However Sally had run a very successful child care centre in Perth and her philosophy and reputation were some of the reasons for her winning of the tender. Therefore Marketing Angels used the Claremont Nursery customer base as a foundation for understanding the reputation and the success of Sally.

After conducting research with Sally’s previous customer base, Marketing Angels and Sally’s Place conducted a brand workshop. A new corporate identity was developed, which parents could relate to and feel comfortable. This would be used throughout the centre and on all marketing and centre collateral.

The positioning statement for Sally’s Place is ‘Where children come first’.

Sally’s Place is a unique centre. Sally has a strong philosophy on child care and her aim is for children to love being at Sally’s Place. Therefore it was essential that the equipment, material and toys she sourced were of the very best quality and would impress her target market. She had to ensure the centre had that ‘wow’ factor that parents would love and evoke a response of feeling comfortable about sending their children to this centre.

This same quality had to be reflected in the marketing and collateral. Therefore Marketing Angels developed all the collateral for the centre ensuring that the brand and positioning was reflected consistently across the centre. From staff uniforms, parents’ handbooks, menu planners, childrens’ day cards, medical forms through to personalized jelly beans, centre signage and key rings for parents.

Marketing Angels developed a launch strategy for the centre which included local advertising in the local press and supporting editorial, a launch day whereby the centre was opened to local businesses and parents and was officially opened by Hon Minister Tony Abbott.
A website was designed by Marketing Angels, focusing on providing a visual impact to potential parents. The website also acts as a lead generation and CRM tool, allowing potential parents to make an enquiry, to view the centre, read about the staff and the director, the centre philosophy, fees and provide news on events at the centre. The website also has a secure parents section which allows enrolled parents to download the regular newsletter and access a link to update parents’ details and payments.

The Result

In the first 8 weeks Sally’s Place had 60% enrolment at the centre. The majority of parents had read local press editorial, had spoken to other parents who had visited the centre and the location of the centre on a major walking track provided a huge influx of interest and enquiry. The website received a huge amount of traffic from local press advertising, word of mouth and being listed on directories such as www.careforkids.com.au.
6 months after the centre opened Sally’s Place is now at full capacity with parents on waiting lists. It is the most talked about child care centre on the North Shore of Sydney.
Marketing Angels is still involved with Sally’s Place providing marketing support such as help with press advertising and updating of centre collateral.

Client comment:

“I had owned and directed a child care centre for almost a decade prior to opening my new child care service in Sydney. In that time I had never employed nor contemplated the services of a marketing consultant; I managed all of the marketing and design work of the Centre myself.

The advantages of investing in a marketing consultant for the project soon became clear. I was able to focus on developing the centre, implement my innovations and completely focus on it’s operation. From logo development to stationery, local market research to management of my formal launch, Victoria Sharp, my dedicated marketing angel, took control of it all. I don’t think I even realised a marketing consultant’s role could be that diverse; Victoria’s role in getting Sally’s Place ready for launch certainly exceeded my expectations.

I look forward to continuing work with Victoria and her work as a Marketing Angel comes with absolute high recommendation.”
Sally Lock – Owner/Director Sally’s Place