Private tutoring is all about word of mouth. That word of mouth doesn’t work if you have no one to spread around how great you are, though. If you’re just starting out in the private tutoring lessons and don’t have anyone to help get your name out there, or maybe you moved to a new area and don’t know anyone there yet, then you’ll want to figure out the best marketing strategies to get your private tutoring lesson business off the ground.
Here’s how to market your private tutoring lessons business to get you the most clients and plenty of word-of-mouth referrals.
What’s in a Name
Think about the other businesses that you frequent. What makes you remember their name? Something short and to the point usually works. You might think just using your name like Bob Wright’s Tutoring is enough, but is it catchy and memorable enough? What if you have a name that’s hard to spell or pronounce?
Something catchy, clever, and memorable is going to catch people’s eyes. Usually when parents begin looking for a tutor for their child, it’s because they need to bring their child’s grade up and fast. They are doing quick searches and making quick decisions. You want to stand out. A catchy name and logo will help you accomplish this.
Have a Website
People look for companies on the internet. You need to create a website, but you can’t just make it and think that’s it. You need to promote your website and help it move to the top of search engine pages. Search engine optimization (SEO) is very important. You can hire someone to do this or you can do it yourself.
List your business with search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Add yourself to list services in your area, such as Angie’s List, Yelp, and craigslist. Have a blog as part of your website and write frequent high quality posts.
You can also have other people guest blog for you, and you yourself should guest blog on other blogs too. Make sure they’ll allow you to link back to your blog. Have an SEO plugin on your website and use keywords on your blog posts. It’s important to use high quality keywords to get the search to go to your page.
Advertise
Your website is an important digital advertising tool. You might also want to have a Facebook page for digital advertising. However, nothing really beats good old-fashioned paper marketing for this type of business. Create flyers and put them on people’s cars when they park in parking lots. Go places where parents will be, like the grocery store, Karate, schools, parks, etc.
Make up business cards and put them on bulletin boards; hand them out whenever you possibly can. Place them in strategic shelves in the library near the subject you are going to be tutoring in. Add a magnetic decal to your car.
Contact the local schools and introduce yourself to teachers. Parents will often ask teachers for suggestions of tutors when their children are struggling. Get your business card in the teacher’s hand and they will pass it on to the parents when asked.
Getting your name out there in every possible way is going to be important in reaching out to those who are in need of private tutoring lessons. Don’t ever stop advertising. You can ask current clients for referrals, but you’ll need to continue to work other outlets.
Having more work than you can handle is better than not enough. Get to know other area tutors so you know who to send the overflow to when your schedule gets too full.