Effective Communication Strategies for Kids’ Activity Club Owners

Running a successful kids' activity club isn't just about offering fun and engaging activities; it’s also about building strong relationships with parents, children, and your team. So, how can you do that? You’ll need some strong communication strategies!

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At ClassForKids, we know that effective communication is the cornerstone of building positive relationships. Good communication helps keep everyone informed, ensures smooth operations, and can significantly increase your bookings. But, how do you ensure that your communications strategies are working? In this blog, we’ll explore how you can build great communication strategies in just 6 steps.

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Step 1. Understanding Your Audience

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Effective communication starts with understanding who you’re talking to. Start by considering who it is you speak to the most in your business. Your key stakeholders are likely to include parents, kids, and your team. Each group requires a different approach to ensure your message is clear and engaging! Here are some things to keep in mind for each group:

• Parents: Parents might be the first group that came to mind when you thought about the groups you communicate with the most. They are the decision-makers and need to be kept in the loop about schedules, events, and their child’s progress.
• Kids: You’ll be seeing kids in your classes every single week so it’s important that all communication with kids is fun, engaging, and age-appropriate.
• Your team: Finally, consider your staff members. Clear communication with your team ensures everyone is on the same page and can perform their roles effectively.

Now that you know who you’re speaking with, you’ll want to tailor the communication to fit the group. What do we mean? Well, you’ll speak differently to your team compared to the children attending your classes. So, let’s break it down with some examples on how to tailor messages to fit the audience!

• For Parents: Use detailed, informative, and empathetic language. Parents appreciate transparency and regular updates. For example: "Dear parents, we’re excited to announce our summer camp schedule! We have a variety of activities planned to ensure your children have a fantastic and safe summer."
• For Kids: Use simple, fun, and exciting language. Visuals and interactive content are great tricks for making communication more engaging. For example: "Hey kids! Get ready for an adventure-packed summer camp with loads of fun games and activities!"
• For Staff/Instructors: Be clear, concise, and professional. Provide specific instructions and feedback. For example: "Please ensure all equipment is set up by 9 AM tomorrow. Review the activity plan and safety procedures beforehand."

Step 2. Channels of Communication

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We can’t talk about communications without talking about the channels you have at your disposal! Whether you prefer to use Whatsapp, Facebook groups, phone calls, emails or SMS, it’s important to note that different channels are effective for different types of messages. Don’t worry, we’ve broken it down for you: Here’s how to make the most of both digital and traditional communication channels!

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Digital channels of Communication

• Email: Many ClassForKids club owners love using emails to communicate with parents or with their team. Remember to ensure that your emails are engaging and informative – they should all have a purpose. Use attention-grabbing subject lines and keep the content clear and concise. Include images and links for more information as necessary.
• Social Media: Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are great for reaching out to parents and sharing updates. Use these platforms to share photos, videos, and stories from your club. Your social media should be a bit like a shop window to your club, so remember to upload content that will entice potential customers.
• SMS: Urgent messages are best to send out using SMS to ensure that parents receive the communication on time. Chances are that they’re more likely to see a text message on their phone over an email in their inbox. Any last minute changes to your location, times of classes or cancellations would be good to send via text.

Top Tip: You can set up automatic responses to messages on social media platforms like Instagram, and Facebook. This way, anytime you get a message through, the person will get an immediate response. You can set this message up to contain your booking link, or to answer common questions you get!

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Traditional Channels of Communication

• Phone Calls: Sometimes, a personal touch is needed. Phone calls are great for addressing specific concerns or providing personalised updates.
• Printed Flyers: These can be distributed during classes or at events. Use eye-catching designs and ensure the information is relevant and valuable. You don’t want the flyer to look too busy or overwhelm your audience with too much information, so make sure your flyer is clean and straight to the point! If you want to give more context or information, consider including a scannable QR code on your flyer.

Step 3. Consistency is Key

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Whichever method of communication you decide to use, it’s important to remain consistent. Consistent communication helps build trust and ensures that everyone stays informed.

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Creating a Communication Schedule

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Certain types of communications will be required on a regular basis. For example, you’ll want to create a schedule for any newsletters, event updates and child-progress updates. Keep it simple: as long as you’re being consistent and everyone knows what to expect, that’s what really matters! If parents are expecting 1 monthly newsletter but suddenly receive 3 one month and none the next, it can cause confusion. Decide on how often you’ll need to communicate with your audience and stick to it. Just make sure the level of communication isn’t overwhelming to parents, your team or to yourself!

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Brand Voice

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Once you’ve decided on what types of communication you want to send out and when, it’s time to make it sound like you. As we touched on earlier, your style of communication, tone of voice and channel will change depending on which group you’re communicating with. But, at the base of all your communication, you’ll want to sound uniquely like you. Keep it friendly and fun to reflect the nature of your club. After all, you do run a club for children!

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[.orange__text]Looking for some guidance on your branding? We’ve got you covered: read our blog on how to “Brand Out From The Crowd”![.orange__text]

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Step 4. Engaging Content

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Engaging content keeps your audience interested and excited about your club. It needs to grab your audience’s attention as well as keep it, or direct them to more information. How can you ensure that your content is engaging? Let’s look at some top tips:

Visuals

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Visuals are a great way to spice up any content and get more engagement from your audience! People love fun graphics, so make sure to have visually appealing clips, photos and designs in your communications wherever you can. Share the visuals you capture in class in your newsletters, on social media, and group chats.

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Top tip: Ensure photos and videos are clear and vibrant. Highlight the kids’ enjoyment and the variety of activities offered.

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Content Ideas

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Social media can be a great communications tool – especially for parents that don’t know you very well just yet. But, we get it, you’re busy running a kids club, how will you have time to come up with ideas, create and post content?! Fear not club owners, we’ve got your back. Here are just a few social media content ideas to get you started:

• Testimonials from happy parents
• Behind the scenes footage of how you come up with your lesson plans
• Introductions to your team: these can be made interview-style OR you can ask your team to film a daily vlog
• Clips from class and post it with a trending song
• The story of your club: why and how did you start it?

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