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Tutoring is a booming business and you can earn $40,000+ as a tutor if you know what you’re doing. But many tutors don’t. So here’s how to create a winning tutoring marketing strategy that will help you get more clients, make more money and turn your business into a full-fledged success story.
To succeed in your tutoring business, you need to continuously learn and innovate. That is why today I want to share with you a few marketing strategies that can help you kickstart your tutoring service.
Why Tutoring is a Unique Business
You’re helping others
This is especially true if you tutor elementary school students, who may not have had many opportunities to develop their academic skills. You’re helping your clients improve their lives in a meaningful way.
Flexibility
You can run your tutoring business from almost anywhere. It’s a perfect part-time gig for parents who want to work around their kids’ schedules (and vice versa). It’s also perfect for people who need to earn income on nights and weekends because they’re in school during the day (or vice versa). It’s also good for entrepreneurs who have a full-time job but want to start something on the side to get some experience.
High-profit margin
Tutors who can pull in $100 an hour for their time have an excellent chance of making a lot more than that in profit. This is especially true if you’re able to attract higher-paying customers like young professionals and Ivy League students.
High demand for services
With so many schools cutting back on their education budgets, demand for private tutors is growing every year. In fact, with the cost of college tuition, many parents are willing to pay almost anything to help improve their children’s grades or SAT scores. And the best part is that there’s no cap on how much they’ll be willing to spend.
Financial freedom
The more you earn, the more you’ll be able to invest in your future, whether it’s contributing more toward retirement, paying off debt, or investing in real estate.
Choose your clients
You’ll be able to choose your client base and decide who you want to tutor.
Low start-up costs
You can start by providing free samples of your work until people are convinced that you can help them, then charge whatever price you feel comfortable with — a laptop and an Internet connection are all you need to get started.
Main Tutoring Business Challenges
Scheduling
Tutors need to schedule their sessions well in advance, so it’s difficult to juggle the schedules of multiple students on the fly. Also, if you’re available when parents want you to tutor their kids, they might have to work around your schedule to make it happen.
Setting rates and fees
There’s no one-size-fits-all rate for tutoring, so it’s important to talk to other tutors in your area about what they charge and why. This will give you a good starting point from which to negotiate with your customers.
Say goodbye to your weekend
Tutoring is a full-time job. Don’t kid yourself by thinking it’s an easy way to make some extra money on the weekends or evenings. You need to be available when potential students are available and that means every night, every weekend, and some holidays as well.
Getting motivated enough to teach every day
If there’s no passion for what you’re doing, it’s going to be difficult to do it regularly, and you’re going to burn out if you try to force yourself through sheer willpower.
Pros and Cons of Tutoring Business
Pros
- Work from home; no commute time or cost to get there.
- A wide range of flexible payment options, including cash, cheque, credit card, and online payment services like PayPal and Square.
- No need to find clients; they find you.
- You can set your hours.
- You can earn extra money while working full-time at another job.
Cons
- Dealing with difficult parents, whether they’re pushy or unappreciative or both!
- Keeping up with paperwork, especially if your state requires you to be licensed or registered as a tutor (most states do).
- Convincing students to do the work even when they don’t like it or understand it.
- Dealing with the stress and anxiety of watching students perform poorly on tests or exams.
- You may have trouble getting your clients/students to follow through with their homework assignments at home.
- You always have to be on call when the kids are in need of help with their homework assignments or schoolwork in general.
Best Tutoring Marketing Strategies
Leverage online tutoring gig sites
The first step when it comes to marketing yourself online is finding the right websites where your potential students will be looking for tutors. Here are a few of the most popular sites:
K12 Tutor; K12 Tutor is one of the largest and most recognized companies in the industry. They offer a wide variety of subjects including math, science, and English, as well as test-prep services. Their platform is user-friendly and provides students and parents with a full-service solution that allows them to connect with experienced tutors in their area.
Pupil; Pupil provides their clients with access to math tutors and writing coaches from all over the world. The company boasts that their tutors are highly qualified, coming from such prestigious universities as Harvard.
Tutor.com; This is a great site for both tutors and students as well as parents looking for help with homework. They offer free online courses on how to become a tutor as well as what to charge, how to market yourself and more.
TutorVista; This site offers free online courses as well as information on how to become a tutor as well as what services they provide and how much they pay their tutors.
Tutor Match; is a good place to start. It has a worldwide network of tutoring sites, so it shouldn’t be hard to find kids looking for help in your area.
Tutor Finder; Tutor Finder is one of the most popular sites for tutors looking for students. It’s free to register as a tutor, so it’s a great way to start. You can browse tutors in your area and check out their profiles to see which ones you like. You can also post an ad on the site and search for tutors in your area.
Kijiji; Kijiji is similar to Craigslist but is used more frequently by Canadians than by Americans. The website is owned by eBay and has been around since 2004. It’s not as popular as Craigslist in the US, but it still gets a lot of traffic – especially in Canada, Australia, and Asia. Kijiji will be a good option if you’re looking for students in Canada or large cities like Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver.
Craigslist; Craigslist is another good website where you can find students looking for private tutoring services. As with Tutor Finder, you’ll have to set up your profile on Craigslist, but it doesn’t cost anything to do so. One benefit of using Craigslist is that there are millions of users on the site, so you’re bound to find students who need help with subjects you know how to teach.
Showcase your specialty area(s)
Tutors are generally associated with math, science, and foreign language help. However, there are tutors for just about any subject that people need assistance in understanding.
If you’re specializing in a particular niche area like the stock market, then you may find that it’s easier to attract students by marketing yourself as someone who specializes in that area.
Tutoring is a competitive field. You’ll have to work hard to make sure that your business stands out from the crowd. This is especially true if you’re a tutor with many years of experience under your belt.
While it’s difficult to compete directly with online educational sites like Coursera or Khan Academy, you can still differentiate yourself by adding a personal touch to your business.
For example, if you specialize in teaching students how to invest, then show them what they can do with the knowledge they’ve gained by helping them create their first investment portfolio. Let them see exactly how much money they’ve made as a result of your guidance.
Create a compelling offer
Creating a compelling offer is essential to any tutoring marketing strategy. If you can get the most out of your offer and make it stand out among the competition, you will have a much better chance of attracting more customers.
Tutoring offers can be divided into four categories:
1. Tutoring Services Offers: Offer your services as a tutor to those who need extra help with their schoolwork or college homework assignments
2. Tutoring Classes Offers: Offer classes for students that want to learn in a classroom-type setting or for homeschooled students who want to learn at home
3. Tutoring Franchise Offers: You can franchise your tutoring business and offer potential franchisees the opportunity to open a branch in their area
4. Tutoring Test Prep Offers: You can also specialize in test preparation for college admissions exams, entrance exams, and job applications.
Here are some tips on how to craft a compelling offer:
- Customize your offer for your customers.
- Use a strong call to action.
- Create an irresistible deal.
- Make your offer as personal as possible.
- Give them more than they expect.
- Spark curiosity and desire in your customers.
- Be upfront about how you can help them.
- Put their needs first in everything you do.
- Be a good listener and learn about what they want.
- Ask questions and get to know your customer well.
- Don’t be afraid to be creative and go above and beyond their expectations.
Test out your prices
Are you a little nervous about how changing your prices will affect sales?
Whether you’re moving to a new pricing model, increasing the price of your products, or offering freebies and discounts to attract more customers, it’s a smart idea to test out your prices before going all in.
Here are some tips on how to test out your pricing as a tutoring marketing strategy:
- Test out your pricing with different customers. Depending on the service you provide, the price may vary based on who you are working with. For example, if you are offering tutoring to high school students versus college students, the price might vary since high schoolers usually have less money than college students.
- Test out your prices for different types of services. If there are several different things that you do for customers (for example, teaching them how to solve math problems or helping them study for an upcoming exam), then you should probably consider charging different rates for each of those things.
- Test out your prices based on how long someone will need the tutoring services. For example, if you are providing long-term individualized online tutoring for someone who is struggling in certain subjects.
- Have realistic expectations. Before you even start testing prices, think realistically about what you hope to achieve. Have reasonable expectations. Don’t assume that just because one customer paid $200 for one product, another customer will as well.
- Test different prices at once. When you’re testing out different prices, be sure to try them all out at the same time. This way you can be sure that the price change is the only thing that’s different between each offer.
- Test different offers at once. If there are multiple versions of the same product or service that you’re trying to sell, consider running them all at the same time.
Put up flyers at libraries and bookstores
Whether you’re an experienced tutor or just starting, it can be tough to find students. So you may need to get creative when you’re looking for new clients.
One way to do that is to put up fliers in public libraries and bookstores.
Here are some tips for doing that:
- Pick the right location: The best places to put your fliers depend on where your students already are. If they’re millennials, you might want to set up shop at a college campus. If they’re older, start with community colleges and local universities, which often have their libraries and career centers. If your target demographic is children, elementary schools are the best place to start.
- Ask first: Before putting up any fliers, contact the organization’s main office or customer service desk and ask if it’s OK to post them somewhere on the premises. In addition to getting permission from the library or bookstore staff, you also want to make sure you’re not violating any copyright rules by posting content from someone else’s publication on display there without their permission. If your fliers include copyrighted material, you need written approval and a release form signed by the publisher before hanging them anywhere on library grounds.
- Keep it simple; A lot of tutoring services make the mistake of including too much information on their flyer, which can make it difficult to read quickly. Try to keep your flyer one page and easy to read with big fonts and images. Also include basic information like hours of operation, email address, and phone number.
Build better relationships with current clients
One of the best ways to market your tutoring business is to focus on creating a relationship with your students. You can’t market a business based on an impersonal company image. You’re going to have to get personal – face-to-face, in-person, and one-on-one.
The more you do this, the more people will view your tutoring business as a place they can go to learn, gain knowledge, and make friends. Tutoring marketing is about knowing what motivates your clients.
Are they looking for individualized attention? Do they want their kids to be in an environment that fosters learning and success? Do they need help with organization? Do they want their kids to succeed outside of the classroom?
Your marketing plan should focus on the unique needs of every student you work with. Instead of spending dollars on advertising, you put those dollars into creating relationships with customers.
That can mean doing something as simple as getting to know them on a personal level so you understand what makes them tick.
What could motivate your client? A lot of times it’s being able to know that their child will actually excel at math or they’ll finally see reading scores improve. You can find out what motivates them by asking them questions and carrying out surveys.
Build a positive tutor brand
Tutoring marketing strategy is all about creating awareness, trust, and credibility.
The foundation of a successful tutoring business is a positive tutor brand that targets students with the right message.
The following tips will help you build a positive tutor brand:
1. Be Proactive in Creating Your Tutoring Marketing Strategy
Create your tutoring marketing strategy proactively. Think about who your ideal students are, what they want to know, what they need to know, and how you can fit into their lives. Have a plan for reaching out to them.
2. Know Your Audience and What Motivates Them
You can’t sell something if people don’t think it’s valuable. It’s important to know what motivates your target audience. By understanding your target audience, you’ll be better able to understand what information will benefit them the most.
3. Use Social Media in Your Tutoring Marketing Strategy
Social media is an excellent resource for building relationships and spreading awareness of your business. Make sure you have a blog that provides helpful information that relates to your niche services or material and builds up an audience by engaging with others on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
4. Develop strong relationships in the academic community
Participate in professional organizations, attend conferences, and volunteer as an advisor at local high schools.
Free tutoring for the community
Providing free tutoring to your community is a great way to generate leads and encourage repeat business. Tutors can offer support to students before an exam, or review coursework after the class is finished. It’s important to remember that tutoring isn’t only for the student; it can benefit the tutor as well.
Tutoring provides a way for tutors to develop their skills in different fields, and gain experience in areas they might not otherwise have.
Tutors also get the opportunity to network with other students who may need assistance later on. For example, if a tutor helps another student pass an exam, he or she may be more likely to call upon that tutor for additional assistance in the future.
The benefits of offering free tutoring are two-fold: it encourages students to become regulars and ensures that you have good references from satisfied customers.
Being able to provide a testimonial from a past student can be a great way of promoting your services because most people will trust someone they know over a total stranger.
Offering free tutoring also allows you to focus on getting new customers instead of spending time trying to convince them of the value of your service.
Google AdWord campaigns
Running Google AdWords campaigns can be a great way to attract quality students, but it can also be a major drain on your budget. You can offset costs by using the tips below to score high-paying students in your local area.
Find the highest-paying keywords for your niche. Using tools like WordTracker Premium and Keyword Discovery, you can find local search volume and the average cost per click (CPC) for popular keywords related to your tutoring services. By choosing keywords with higher competition and higher cost per click, you can target a smaller segment of searchers that are more likely to convert into paying students.
Create relevant text ads for each keyword and landing page. Since people who find you through AdWords will have very specific search queries, make sure that your ad text matches their interests. When someone searches for “online math tutor,” they aren’t going to be interested in an ad offering help with English grammar!
Choose the right landing pages for conversions. The most obvious way to get users from AdWords is by creating a landing page that offers exactly what they’re looking for, whether it’s a free consultation or an actual tutoring session.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we shared our favorite ways to market your tutoring business.
Sometimes there is more than one way to promote your business, so use the tips we’ve provided here to help you come up with new ways to drive clients to you.
