How to increase enrollment in childcare (2026): how one owner took her new campus from 28% to 56% full in 90 days

To increase enrollment in your childcare center, start with a plan built from what you already know about your families. Then make it easy for parents to find you and book a tour.

That's what Roslyn Dixon did at Dixon Academy's new Harrisburg campus. She made a launch plan, added a new website and added online tour booking. Within 90 days, she'd gone from 28% full to 56% full.

Where did Dixon Academy start?

Roslyn Dixon owns Dixon Academy. Her new campus in Harrisburg had room for 125 children, and it was 28% full.

She had never run marketing before. Not once.

That's a hard place to stand, because you know how to run a center and you know your families, but nobody ever showed you how to get new parents to walk through the door.

If you've ever walked past a room of empty cots at nap time and done the math in your head, you know that feeling.

What did Roslyn do first?

I didn't start Roslyn with ads or posts. I started with questions.

I asked, and Roslyn answered in voice notes. Most owners already know why parents pick them. They just keep it all in their head, and nobody has asked them to say it out loud.

Roslyn left with a full plan for how to launch the new campus, built from her own answers. She has followed it since.

She also added a new website and online tour booking, so parents could see the campus and pick a time to visit without a phone call.

Roslyn filmed videos at Content Crush Day, my in-person content day, and those videos were added to her new website. Then we promoted the new site together.

How many more children enrolled in 90 days?

Within 90 days, Roslyn went from 28% full to 56% full. That's double.

In Roslyn's words: "Over a three-month period, we saw our enrollment increase at that new site by 100%."

On a 125-child campus, those percentages work out to about 35 more children. At North Carolina's 2022 state rate for 3-to-5-year-olds in Cabarrus County, $1,038 a month, that's more than $300,000 a year in added tuition.

I'll be straight with you about one thing. Roslyn made the plan, the new website and the tour booking all in the same stretch, so I can't tell you which one did the most. What I can tell you is that an owner who had never run marketing followed a plan, week after week, and doubled enrollment at her new campus.

What do parents look for in a daycare?

Parents look for the practical facts first: your hours, how close you are, the ages you serve and whether you have open spots.

In a 2024 national survey of 2,035 parents of children under 6, run for the federal Administration for Children and Families, parents named the information they found most helpful when looking for care:

Source: ACF/OPRE, CEPC Parent Survey (2024 data, 2,035 parents), published July 2025.

Hours come first. Then parents want to see you in person. In federal focus groups with 94 parents in 2023, parents said visiting the center and asking questions in person was the most useful way to get good information. One parent in Georgia put it simply: "Go tour."

How do you attract parents to your daycare?

Go where parents already look: the people they know, and you.

In the same 2024 survey, 65.7% of parents got child care information from people they know, like friends, family, employers or neighbors. And 60.2% got it from providers themselves, through websites, flyers, ads, social media, or visits and calls.

So your current families are your biggest voice. You come right behind them.

How do you increase enrollment in daycare? 6 steps

These are my steps, based on what parents told federal researchers and on what I saw at Dixon. They work for a daycare, a preschool or a childcare center.

1. Say what you know out loud first. Answer a few questions in voice notes: why parents pick you, what they ask on tours, what they worry about. Your plan comes from those answers.
2. Put the four facts parents want at the top of your website. Your hours and days, where you are, the ages you serve, and which rooms have open spots right now.
3. Let parents book a tour online. In the 2024 survey, 42.7% of parents had one to three weeks to make their choice, and 27.5% had less than one week. A parent with less than a week to decide may not wait for a callback.
4. Ask your current families to tell a friend. Parents get information from people they know more than from any other source (65.7%). Make the ask on purpose. Write it out, then check it free with FixMyEmail.ai before you send it.
5. Keep your state listing up to date. Parents in the federal focus groups said government child care resources were most useful when they showed current cost and openings.
6. Follow the plan after the first week. Roslyn has followed hers since she got it. You only get the benefit on the days you use it.

My take: do you have to become a marketer?

No. You need a plan made from your own words, and an easy way for parents to say yes to a visit.

Roslyn didn't learn a new job. She answered questions she already knew the answers to, and then she followed what came out of them.

That's the whole trick.

If you've ever sat down to write a post for your center and thought, "I genuinely don't know what to say," the words are already in you. You just need someone to ask you the right questions.

What this can and can't show

• Dixon is one campus over one 90-day stretch. Your numbers will be different.
• Roslyn changed three things at once: a plan, a new website and online tour booking. We can't split out which one did the most.
• The $300,000+ is my estimate, not Roslyn's count. About 35 more children x $1,038 a month (North Carolina's 2022 rate for 3-to-5-year-olds, Cabarrus County) x 12 months = about $435,960. We say "more than $300,000" to stay on the safe side, because the age mix isn't known and some seats may be state-funded.
• The survey numbers are national and describe parents of children under 6 in 2024. Parents in your town may answer differently.
• The focus groups were 94 parents in six places in 2023. We only know what those parents said, not a national count.

FAQ

How long does it take to fill a new daycare?

It depends on your town, your size and how many families already know you. Roslyn Dixon took her new Harrisburg campus from 28% to 56% full in 90 days. I won't promise you a number I can't back up.

What do parents look for in a daycare?

The practical facts first. In a 2024 federal survey, parents found hours and days of care most helpful (56.2%), then how close the provider is (48.6%). Then many want to visit in person and ask questions.

Do I need a website for my daycare?

You need one place where parents can check your hours, location, ages and open spots, and book a tour. In the 2024 survey, 60.2% of parents got information from providers themselves.

Can I increase enrollment if I've never done marketing?

Yes. Roslyn Dixon had never run marketing before. She answered questions in voice notes, left with a full launch plan, and followed it. She took her new campus from 28% to 56% full in 90 days.

About Sheri Otto

Sheri Otto has spent 15 years in growth marketing, including her time at HubSpot. She co-hosted HubSpot's first INBOUND webinar and is a HubSpot UNBOUND26 Insider. More about Sheri →

Sources

1. Dixon Academy result and quote: Roslyn Dixon, owner, Dixon Academy, recorded September 2026; facts confirmed by Sheri Otto, September 30, 2026. The 35-children and $300,000+ figures are Sheri's estimates from Roslyn's percentages.
2. Gordon, M., Tran, T., Wastvedt, S., and Weber, R. "How Parents Use Information to Search for, Consider, and Select Child Care and Early Education: Highlights from National Survey Data." OPRE Report #2025-099, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 2025. Data: CEPC Parent Survey, 2024, 2,035 parents. https://acf.gov/opre/report/how-parents-use-information-search-consider-and-select-child-care-and-early-education (opened September 30, 2026)
3. Betancur, L., Jimenez Parra, L., and Sandstrom, H. "Parents' Experiences with Searching for and Selecting Child Care and Early Education: A Multi-Site Qualitative Study." OPRE Report #2025-025, NORC at the University of Chicago for ACF/HHS, February 2025. Focus groups with 94 parents, June to August 2023. https://www.norc.org/content/dam/norc-org/pdf2025/parents-experiences-with-searching-feb25.pdf (opened September 30, 2026)
4. North Carolina DHHS, "Subsidized Child Care Market Rates for Child Care Centers," effective October 11, 2022. Cabarrus County, 5-star centers, 3-to-5-year-olds: $1,038 a month. https://ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov/Portals/0/documents/pdf/C/Child_Care_Centers_Rates_Oct__2022_1.pdf (opened September 29, 2026)