A childcare marketing agency is any business that helps a centre fill its places, but the ones you'll find on Google sell quite different things. This is how we sort what's on offer. Many sell getting found: Google and Facebook ads, search rankings and a website. Fewer sell what happens after a family finds you. Before comparing prices, work out which kind of agency you're talking to, because the cheapest quote is often for a different job.
The four kinds of childcare marketing agency
Ads and search agencies. They run Google and Meta ads, look after your Google Business Profile and work on search rankings. Good ones report cost per enquiry and are clear that ad spend is billed separately from their fee. Some don't make anything themselves: the photos in the ads come from your phone, or from stock images.
Outsourced enquiry teams. These answer your phone and emails, book tours and chase enrolment forms, sometimes alongside billing and admin. They fix slow replies. They don't change what a family sees before deciding to call.
Content and production studios. These film and photograph your centre and post to social media. The content can be excellent, but check whether anything happens when a parent responds: some stop at the post.
General agencies with a childcare page. Some agencies have a childcare page on their website alongside pages for builders, lawyers and dentists. They may do strong work, but they may be learning the sector's consent and safety rules on your account.
None of these is wrong. A centre with great photos and slow replies needs a different agency from a centre that answers in minutes but looks like a stock-photo template.
Eight questions to ask before you sign
- What will families actually see? Ask for examples from other centres: real educators and real rooms, or stock images and graphics? Parents choosing care want to see who will look after their child.
- Who makes the photos and video, and how is consent handled? Anyone filming in your centre should hold a Working with Children Check, use written consent from families, and follow your child safe policy. Ask to see their consent form. (What good filming practice looks like.)
- Is ad spend inside the fee or on top? Get the management fee and the advertising budget as two numbers.
- What happens when a parent enquires? Who replies, how fast, and how is the tour booked and followed up? Ask to see the messages a family receives.
- What do you report each month? Enquiries and clicks are a start. Tours booked and enrolments made are what matter.
- How long is the commitment? A defined first project and a short notice period let you judge the work before you commit to more.
- Who else do you work with near us? Ask whether they also work for centres near you, and how they keep that fair.
- Do you only work in childcare? Sector experience shows up in small things: knowing when families start researching for kinder, using "educator" rather than "teacher", and never posting a child's face without consent.
What it costs
Prices vary widely, and many agencies quote only after a call. Ask for the fee and the ad spend as two numbers, then compare quotes against what an enrolment is worth to you, not against each other: our return on investment calculator does that arithmetic for your fees and vacancies, and the marketing cost guide explains what drives each price.
Where EEVA fits, declared
EEVA is a childcare-only marketing agency based in Belgrave, working across Melbourne. We do both halves: we film and photograph your educators and rooms with WWCC-cleared crews, and we run the booking and follow-up system that makes sure every enquiry gets an answer. It's a bias worth naming as you read this guide.
Our prices are public. An open day launch is $4,950 plus GST: three weeks of local ads, a registration page, the day filmed and every family followed up. Ad spend is separate, from $1,000, paid straight to Meta. The ongoing partnership is $590 a week plus GST, with no annual lock-in and 30 days' notice to stop. Every price is on one page.
If you'd rather judge your current marketing first, the free marketing review shows what a family sees when they search for your centre, with three fixes you can make yourself. No call needed.
