How To Sell Tutoring Services
December 7, 2021
Personal tutoring has become more affordable and accessible over the years. This has mainly been catalysed by the rise in online learning which does not appear to be slowing down. As a result, the global tuition market is expected to reach a whopping $60 billion by 2023. If you’re a budding entrepreneur, this is an exciting market to tap into.
If you’re just starting out with tutoring and need some insight on how to sell tutoring services, look no further. We’ll share with you our top tips to effectively advertise tutoring services and grow your client base!
A guide to selling tutoring services:
In this guide, we’ll talk you through our 12 steps to sell tutoring services. Follow this model to build a successful tutoring business!
- Research your target market and competition
- Choose your niche
- Create your website
- Optimise your website for search engines
- Connect to a booking system
- Choose a payment solution
- Join a tutoring agency
- Register with tutoring directories
- Advertise tutoring services
- Use social media
- Offer content
- Attend local events
1. Research your target market and competition
Before you start to sell tutoring services, you need to create a program of classes. To do this, we advise you to scope out the competition in your local area first. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Who are the most popular tutors?
- What services do they offer?
- Do they offer classes online or in person, or both?
- Who is their target audience – primary school children, high school students or someone else?
- How do they advertise tutoring services?
After you’ve gathered all of this information, think about how they could improve their offering. Are there any gaps in the market that you could fill? For parents and students to pick you over the competition, your tutoring services need to offer something different whilst meeting their needs.
For example, there may already be an English tutor in the area, but perhaps they provide their services in-person and only teach primary age. There is an opportunity here to offer English tuition to secondary school students both online and in person. Not only would this address a gap in the market, but the flexibility of location is also a USP.
2. Choose your niche
It’s always good to dream big but when it comes to tutoring, you’re better off picking a specific niche. You can always cast your net a little wider and expand your services once you’ve nailed your niche. To pick your speciality, identify which subject you enjoy teaching the most. Which area of this subject do you have the most experience, qualifications or natural gifting in? And finally, where do you want to teach – online or in-person?
There are endless possibilities; here we’ll give you a few ideas of niches you could target:
- Subject-specific classes for all ages such as performing art and computer programming
- English as a second language
- Exam preparation
- Homework help
- Career advice
- Skill development in areas such as resume building
- Special educational needs tutor
3. Create your website
Creating a website is an absolute must if you want to build a credible business. You can only make one first impression, so make it count with a sleek, professional website. Think of your homepage as your shop window, you want to place your top classes in the spotlight. To sell tutoring services effectively, it’s important to be transparent about the price too. Use a clear navigation pane to direct users to your different niche services and information on how they can book time with you.
Don’t forget to add a personal touch with videos as this could seal the deal. Research from optinmonster found that 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. You don’t need any fancy recording equipment – your smartphone can still produce high-quality video. Perhaps film a short 2-minute video introducing each course to your audience.
Here are some key bits of information to include on your website:
- Tutor bio – this is your chance to showcase your personality!
- Your educational background
- Qualifications/certificates for your subjects and niche – prove your expertise here!
- Detailed descriptions and photos of your services
- Testimonials from students – boosts your credibility
4. Optimise your website for search engines
So you’ve created your shiny new website, now it’s time to make it visible in search results! Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) determines where you rank for relevant keywords. And the higher the ranking, the better, as this increases traffic to your website. To help improve your SEO, try to target keywords related to your niche. Naturally include these keywords into the copy on your website and watch your position soar.
5. Connect to a booking system
Have you thought about how you’re going to take bookings when you sell tutoring services? Whilst students and parents are already on your website, it makes sense to make classes bookable in a few clicks.
An online booking system is a perfect solution to create convenience for your clients. Simply connect the software to your website and embed a ‘book now’ widget on every class page. Users can then schedule their tuition in five simple steps. Better still, you can send a booking URL with any correspondence you have with prospects – whether that’s on social media or via email.
A booking system takes care of the admin so you can focus on more important things like planning your sessions. Another benefit is that it gives you the ultimate flexibility as users can book at any time of the day so you’re no longer restricted to office hours. No-shows should also be a thing of the past as the system will send automated email/SMS reminders to students.
6. Choose a payment solution
In this digital age, people have ditched cash in hand and favour online payments. To keep up with the times, you’ll need to choose a payment solution for your tutoring services.
If you opt for BookingLive’s free scheduling software you can take payments from Stripe on a PAYG basis, so you only pay when you sell a tutoring service. If you’re looking for more flexibility, our enterprise booking app allows you to take client payments from a range of gateways. Some of the most popular payment solutions on offer include Sage50, PayPal, WorldPay and Opayo.
7. Join a tutoring agency
Tutoring agencies can provide comfort if you’re still finding your feet since they take care of most of your marketing. Agencies can range in size with some having over 10,000 tutors registered. Independent firms often have stringent entry requirements. Although it may be off-putting to start the long application process, small agencies have thorough checks in place for a reason. It’s often easier to boost your credibility as a tutor this way as you can provide extra details such as a DBS certificate.
8. Register with tutoring directories
It’s a good idea to advertise tutoring services in every corner of the internet. So registering with tutoring directories is a step not to be missed. Parents and students can contact you through the directory before signing up for your tutoring services.
We recommend creating a profile with The Tutor Website if you’re based in the UK. This directory has a commission-free structure so it won’t cost you a penny. It’s a win-win!
9. Advertise tutoring services
The number of advertising strategies you take will depend on your budget and the amount of interest you wish to generate. Although you can expect bigger results with a bigger budget, advertising doesn’t have to break the bank. You don’t need to rush into trying all advertising avenues at once, perhaps try one method at a time to determine which is best for you. Here are a few of the top ways to advertise tutoring services.
PPC – When hunting for tutoring services, your audience is likely to make a beeline for Google first. They’ll search for something along the lines of ‘tutoring services near me’ and will click on the first result they see. Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising positions your website in the top spot of search results. Consequently, more users will visit your website and sign up for your tutoring services. PPC does what it says on the tin – you only pay when someone clicks on your ad! No matter what your budget, PPC can work for you. It’s easy to set a cap on the ad so you never overspend.
We suggest that you target long-tail keywords with your Google Ads as this will bring more relevant users to your website – increasing the chances of them joining one of your tutoring programs. An example of a broad term that you should avoid is ‘tutoring’. Whereas you can see the long-tail keyword of ‘Chemistry tutor for high school students’ is much more specific and will attract the right audience.
Linkedin advertising – Enhance your presence on Linkedin with paid ads. You can target the professional audience by location, profession, job title and type of industry. In addition, Linkedin offers a variety of ads such as text ads, photo ads, video ads, carousel ads and sponsored messaging. And you only have to pay for the ads that work through the pricing model of PPC or cost per impression (CPM). There’s also a handy tool in Linkedin that helps you to track ad performance to see how many leads they’re bringing to your tutoring business.
Linkedin advertising is a great route to take if you teach industry-specific topics as you can make the ad visible to specific people. Providing more relevant ads to the right audience equal optimised conversions and more success for your tutoring business!
Email marketing – If you already have a list of contacts in the community, make them aware of your tutoring services via email. If you can find their details, you should include local schools and student centres in your list as they will have direct links with students and parents. Send out personalised emails in bulk with software such as MailChimp. Make sure you give as much detail as possible by including all of your services and prices. It’s also a nice touch to include a video introducing your tutoring services to showcase your passion and expertise.
Marketing is all about driving awareness. Even if your email recipients aren’t in the market for tutoring, they may know someone looking for tutoring services. And so email marketing can start conversations and prompt word-of-mouth, so this method shouldn’t be underestimated.
Flyers – With everything moving online, it’s easy to disregard traditional methods of advertising. But old-school flyers can still do the trick, especially if the local community is your main target audience. Save students and parents the effort of searching for your tutoring services and give them the information they need right under their noses. You never know, your next client could have discovered your tutoring services on that flyer you displayed on the post office notice board!
10. Use social media
Literally, everyone is on some form of social media these days. So it’s essential that you set up an account across multiple platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter and if you’re feeling creative, even TikTok! It’s completely free to create an account and gives your tutoring services instant exposure. Make the most of hashtags on Twitter and Instagram so that you can engage with both parents and students. Some popular hashtags to start you off are #tutoring #tutoringservices #onlinetutoring #tutoringclub #tutoringsessions #tutoringprograms.
Social media is one of the best ways to network and grow your contacts. Keep an eye out for tutor-specific or education-focused groups on Linkedin and Facebook to join. But once you join, don’t just sit back – it’s important to actively engage with members to become established as the go-to tutor in your area. Answer students’ and parents’ questions and post educational insights to highlight your expertise.
11. Offer content
Content is taking over in the world of marketing and it’s a key component to effectively selling your tutoring services. If you provide valuable content to your audience, the rest of your strategy will fall into place. The best way to approach this is to create a blog section on your website. You can then populate the blog with relevant posts about tutoring and education for students, parents and fellow educators.
Every time you publish a new article, be sure to promote it across all of your social media channels! Not only will this drive traffic to your website as your audience shares your content, but your following will grow. An increased following brings greater awareness to your tutoring work which in turn will increase sign-ups to your services.
If you’re just starting out, it sometimes takes a while for that follower count to tick up. It can be hard to motivate yourself to produce content for a small audience. But don’t be discouraged, as there are additional routes you can take. Guest-posting is another great way to offer content and increase the visibility of your tutoring services. Get in touch with influencers and bloggers with a large following and provide them with information that they can incorporate into their own blog. They can then link back to your website in their article, giving you extra exposure.
12. Attend local events
We’ve covered a lot of methods to establish your tutoring services online, but in-person events are also a powerful way of getting your message out there. And they can be the most fun! Get involved in networking events in your local community to meet parents and students. Or perhaps you could talk about your tutoring services at a town hall meeting? Try and keep in the loop with any local events going on and make sure that you take business cards with you.
We hope that our guide on how to sell tutoring services helps you to successfully grow your business! If you’re interested to know more about how a booking system can help you to advertise tutoring services, contact us today or book a demo now.
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