Jenny's Update

Kia ora koutou, and welcome to our Kōanga (Spring) issue of Connect.

Over the last term I’ve been out in the kindergartens, talking to teams about marketing and promotion, and about increasing the visibility of kindergarten in your communities. 

Marketing - in a kindergarten context, is not just about advertising through the media. Rather, it is every conversation that our Kaiako, admin crew and head office teams have with every external stakeholder – that's marketing in its purest form. Understanding this and making the most of these opportunities is incredibly important to the long-term strength of our organisation.​​​​​​​

You, our kaiako, are our most influential and trusted marketing tool – getting you on board is crucial to the success of our marketing program. Your positive attitude, your willingness to invest extra time and energy into promotional efforts, and your own confidence in the value of kindergarten and Kidsfirst’s points of difference are key.

Tips and tricks to increase your community presence. 

It’s about working smarter, not harder. Extending what you’re already doing in terms of relationships in the community and making deliberate plans to bring new families in through this. Things like taking the children out and about – with pamphlets in your backpack so you can engage anyone you meet, getting your posters to where families go (without doing the legwork), and thinking of new ways to connect.

Make a plan to distribute your promotional material and connect with your community. Take a two-layer approach.  The top layer are the best referrers – the ones you, our kaiako, want to have relationships with, and who are most likely to send families our way. (Schools, Playgroups, Playcentre, Plunket, Social agencies etc).  Try to contact them directly, either visit them or ask them to visit you, making sure to reinforce the key messages about what we have to offer, and take our FAQs. In any communications you use, always include a “call to action” – Visit us next week, come to Stay and Play, enrol now (include a link to apply page on website), ring, email, ask us about etc. Use our handy email templates to get you started.

Ask your families to take the pamphlets and posters out to churches, sports clubs, local businesses etc. Make a note of where they’ve gone and put a follow-up date on your planner. 

Book your place at the next local event.  We can get the promotions kit booked and send you some giveaways once you have a date. Ask other local teams to pitch in. Google upcoming events for families/children in your area, and ring the local school to get the dates well in advance for the school fair. Email your dates to the admin crew at head office – the kit is very popular! 

Click here to upload your photos for Facebook stories. Plan for regular contributions – it doesn’t have to be a special occasion. Get your online ad into the school newsletters and ask your families to put it up on their community Facebook pages. Think geographical area as well as ethnic community pages which have huge following.

I’d encourage you to get a year planner up on the wall just for promotional activity, whether it’s visiting schools/Playgroups/Playcentre, booking a local event, putting the online ad up, following up on walk-ins and phone calls, following up on replacing pamphlets out in the community, or sending through a Facebook story and photos. Make community connection an agenda item at your team meetings too – just a five-minute discussion on this week’s activity and who’s doing what. Use your individual strengths to divide the workload – and use your families! 

The simplest tip is saved for last. Be sure to get those flags and signs out every day. Many of our referrals come from signage and flags, don’t underestimate their worth!

For more about marketing and promotions, see our Marketing and Promotions page on the Melting Pot. There’s quick links for everything you need.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all kanohi ki te kanohi soon when Sherryll and I host the annual Chief Executive update meetings.  Dates and times are posted on the Melting Pot.

Ka kite anō,

Jen