The barriers to entry for online tutoring are lower than ever – you can easily create a tutor profile on several online tutoring platforms in less than a day. With the convenience of working from home and software and hardware requirements that are easily met, many people are turning to online tutoring as a full time or part time career. Standing out from the crowd is not that simple, however. Marketing may not be an activity that most educators look forward to, but it is essential in helping you establish meaningful long term relationships with potential students from all corners of the internet.
It may take significant time and effort to put your best foot forward when it comes to marketing your online tutoring services, but you can be assured that the investment will pay off in the long run. Here are several key marketing concepts that you need to understand to effectively promote and advertise your tutoring services:
- Targeting
You may think of yourself as a generalist who can assist students of all ages, preferences, and levels, but most students (and their parents) are looking for tutors to help them in specific areas. They also tend to be more convinced by tutors who have already amassed some experience in a particular domain. This can be along subject lines, specific examinations, student ages, and/or learning difficulties. When writing your tutor profile and promoting your services, you should always keep your specific target group(s) in mind.
- Search Engine Optimization
A majority of internet users turn to their trusted search engine when looking for information, products, and services. This is where websites, blog posts, and articles enter the picture. In an ideal scenario, you would want your information to appear on the first page of the search results when someone searches for “online Math tutoring Singapore” (if you are a math tutor in Singapore, that is). This is not an easy feat when you consider the level of competition for those highly-covered placements. You can nevertheless increase your chances by publishing quality content and making use of relevant keywords (which will often be used as search terms).
- Social media marketing
The popular social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) are also useful platforms that allow you to connect with potential students and establish your personal brand as an online tutor. Instead of spreading yourself out too thinly, focus on the platforms that are most relevant to your target students and/or their parents.
- Advertising
Most platforms and online job boards will not charge you for your profile, but you can consider spending some money to promote your services via online or offline advertising. Online advertisers like GoogleAds and Facebook Ads allow you to market your services to a specific group of internet users. After creating your advertisements (which can be text or image-based), experiment with a small budget to gauge their effectiveness. If they do work in driving more traffic to your website/blog and bringing in more students, you can consider investing in a larger budget.
There is always the option of offline advertising (flyers, posters, word of mouth, etc.). You can focus on schools, community centres, libraries, and popular student hangouts to spread the word about your online tutoring services.
- Content creation
Having a website which lists down your contact information and profile is great, but it is not enough. You should also invest some time and effort in creating useful blog posts, videos, podcasts, and/or infographics that will help you improve your SEO rankings and visibility on the internet. You do not have to take on so many mediums at once; start with the ones that you are most comfortable and competent in.