How do I go about marketing?

[stirling]

Hi,
I've been running a very successful after school club for children who attend my kids primary school... Upon the request of several parents. Trouble is, my youngest is about to leave primary and I'm not that familiar with parents from the other year groups.
Ideally I'd like to start off again with children from other schools within my area but don't really know how to market to reach the audience ie parents.
Ive tried leaflets and flyers in school bags (donating to the school's PTA) but not had a lot of response.

Creating a website?
Social media? (I haven't a clue where to start, I don't really use Facebook!)
Flyers delivered to homes within the Borough?

So far word of mouth has helped me for the past 4 years, but I need to increase my workload and reach out to local children from other schools.

Any suggestions much appreciated

Thank you

Anyone?

Have you identified whether there is a gap in the market at these other schools?

What do you offer that is unique?

Facebook. Create a page, share it with your current clients and ask them all to leave a review. Share the page to local parenting groups. Update several times a week. Once you've got a bit of traction going, you can also pay (per impression or per interaction) to advertise your page, which can work well.

People want to know where you are, what your rates are, your availability and times, your services and that you're safe. Put all that in your website (a simple one that just has this info, can be a free one like Weebly or buy one fairly cheaply and do the online tutorials to get what you want eg. 123-reg), your own work email set up, print a few business cards or flyers to give out, put up a poster at the local playground and noticeboards and use social media. Ask people to spread the word. Be friendly, approachable and interested and you'll be fighting them off with shitty stick!

Thank you! Great suggestions. I'll look up Weebly now...
I do need to set up a work email address. Facebook still makes me feel nervous, how do I get people to join my page other than the current mums? I don't use a personal Facebook page so really anxious about setting up a work one.
Is there some service I could pay for that would teach me how to do the basics like setting up a simple website etc?
I'm feeling so ancient these days in terms of technology. The irony is that 30 years ago, I graduated in I.T!

Primal - I run creative writing classes with a difference.
Thank you once again everyone

Do a bit of online research at what your competitions are doing. It seems the kind of thing that might work well on Facebook as it's B2C. There are loads of YouTube videos, online tutorials and free courses on building your social media following. Far more than can be put on here. Do a bit of digging on competitors and potential customers. Where did they hear about it when they decided to book for example? Were they planning it or was it opportunity? A bit of audience and competitor research and social media tutorials and you'll be fine. It's all online.

If you are going on FB, Your local area will have local pages called Spotted: XXXXXX - Put a note about what you’re doing in a post and ask people to share, get in touch, comment if interested etc. There will probably also be local parent groups, family interest groups that you can post messages on about your services.

Thank you! I'm ashamed that I know so little about social media and anything technical these days. Going to make a start on this after half term.

I've just been on a workshop for using facebook for a business. It was run by my local chamber of commerce. Might be a good starting point

Wix is your friend for setting up an easy to manage but super slick and effective website. Facebook and Twitter are social media-musts for small businesses and Instagram would be a useful tool too, but not as essential as the other two platforms.

I used Wix to set up a community website a and although I do work in comms, hadn't ever built a website before, so it's pretty first-time-user-proof!

Good luck!