Marketing Your Tutoring Business, Offline

A lot of us come into business without any marketing experience.  In fact, a lot of us come into business with a fear of marketing!  And the truth is, if we are not confident and successful in the marketing of our business and the selling of our services, then there is no way that our business is going to grow and prosper.

If you are like so many other women who I work with, you are avoiding marketing because you are scared and unsure, but I have a little secret….

Marketing does not have to be scary or sleazy and you don't have to do it all online!  You don't have to dance and point (if you don't want to). You don't have to be posting everyday on social media. You don't have to bombard your followers with daily email promotions and offers!

I'm going to share with you some of the easiest and most effective ways that you can market your tutoring business offline.

1. Collaborate with businesses in your local area who have like-minded audiences. 

That means you join forces with other businesses, who are not in competition to you, but who share the same audience as you. The benefits of collaborating with a business like this means that not only are you able to grow your email list (as are they), but it also means that you are building your network and establishing strong community relationships with the local businesses in your area.  Competitions, exchanging flyers, running cross-promotional offers are a few ways that you can do this.

2.  Simply talk to people. 

When you meet somebody new and they ask you what you do, do not be afraid to share your business and the services that you provide. Make sure you're clear about what you do and be confident and positive about the impact that you create.  Own the transformation and difference that you are making in other people's lives and share that. You will be so surprised at the number of times you meet somebody new and they are in need of someone just like you, who provides services just like you provide!

3. Referral programs. 

Encouraging the customers that you already have, to spread the word about you, and rewarding them for doing so.  They already know, like and trust you, so if they can share those feelings and spread the word about the amazing services that you offer and the transformations they see in their own children, this can be a very effective way of growing your student numbers without having to go online. You may like to set up some type of referral program that rewards referrals this with some sort of discount incentive or 'extra class' bonus. 

4. Re-Market to previous students. 

So often families will leave us for one reason or another, however how many times were the circumstances that they left, the types of circumstances that could change with a matter of time?  For example if a student was working with you and left because they could no longer fit tutoring in around their other sporting and extracurricular activities, this may no longer be the case.  But unless you get in contact with this family you will not know that. So, I highly recommend touching base with previous families regularly and offering a solution to the reason they left, providing them with an option to re-engage in your services.

5. Share flyers where your potential customers hang out.

Notice I did not say 'A flyer drop all throughout the suburb!' So often I see new tutoring business owners make the mistake of spending loads of time and money to get flyers designed, printed and then hand delivered to houses in suburbs where they think a lot of their potential families live.  However 90% of the time it's a flop. Flyers have their place, but you need to be strategic.

Firstly, you need to create a flyer that captures attention and that does not overwhelm the reader. Secondly, you need to consider what other places your target audience are frequenting, so you know where to share your flyers. For example, you might like to consider places such as swim schools, kids' sport classes, cafes, local gyms, etc.  

And to make it beneficial for the business where you would like to leave your flyers, I would suggest offering to take some of their flyers to your business premises also. That way everyone wins.

When you are trying to grow your business by increasing your student numbers and revenue, one of the main things that you need to be looking at is your marketing. Having a presence online is definitely important and I 100% recommend everybody have a website and social media accounts however, this is not the only place that you need to be marketing.  If you have a local business, you can benefit so much from these (and other) forms of offline advertising by sharing your business and your services through local collaborations and networking.

And remember, if you aren’t selling, you can’t possibly serve!

- Kirsty Gibbs