Facebook and Instagram ads for a child care center
Facebook and Instagram do not catch the parent whose sitter quit yesterday. They reach the parent who is due in eleven weeks and has not started looking, and the one quietly unhappy where her child is now. Longer cycle, cheaper lead.
Cost per tour request runs $12 to $45, roughly half what search costs, and a smaller share of those parents show. Budget $400 to $900 a month in a single service area with a five to eight mile radius, targeted at the commute, not evenly around your building.
What works is a phone video of a teacher, not a designed graphic. Twenty seconds of the toddler room at 9am with a teacher describing the morning beats anything a designer makes. Plain offers win: two infant spots open in September, tuition $1,190, tour this week.
Consent is not optional. No child's face goes into an ad without a signed photo release from that family, specific to marketing use. Plenty of centers run on hands, artwork, playground shots from behind and empty rooms. Those perform fine.
The common mistake is boosting the fall festival post. A festival is not an offer and it does not tell a parent whether you have a spot.