Paid Advertising Guide: Reach more families with paid advertising

Why it matters

Paid advertising can help you reach families who haven't heard about your organization yet who are most likely to be interested in your programs. This can be a great way to fill remaining spots or promote a new program.

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When should you consider paid advertising?

Paid advertising works best when:

• Registration is already open.
• You still have spots available.

If registration isn't open yet, or your programs are already full, save your advertising budget for another time.

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Where should you advertise?

Google Ads

When families search on Google, they see a mix of sponsored ads and organic search results. Appearing in the organic results is great, but it can take time as Google learns about your website and determines where it should rank.

Google Ads let you appear at the top of search results right away, helping you reach families who are already looking for activities like yours.

For example, your ad could appear when someone searches for "summer camps near me" or "kids' soccer classes."

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Facebook & Instagram Ads

When you share a post on Facebook or Instagram, it's shown primarily to people who already follow your organization. It may also reach new people if your followers engage with it or if the platform recommends it, but you can't control exactly who sees it.

With paid ads, you can introduce your programs to families who haven't discovered your organization yet. You choose the audience based on factors such as their location, their children's ages, and their interests, so your promotion reaches the people most likely to be interested.

For example, you could promote a STEM summer camp only to parents within 15 miles of your location who have children ages 6–12 and have shown an interest in STEM, science, robotics, coding, or education.

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Start small, we are here to help

You don't need a large budget to get started. Run one campaign for one activity, monitor your registrations, and make changes based on the results. It's better to start small and learn what works before increasing your budget.

Best practices

✓ Promote one activity per campaign.

✓ Use high-quality photos that show real participants.

✓ Link directly to the Guildara registration page.

✓ Clearly explain who the program is for, where it takes place, and when it starts.

✓ Set a budget you're comfortable testing.

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Common mistakes

✗ Advertising before registration opens.

✗ Sending people to your homepage instead of the registration page.

✗ Promoting too many activities in one campaign.