I’m a tutor, what are you talking to me about marketing for?
Marketing is a large part of everyone’s lives; as you’re walking between clients, standing on the train or scrolling through social media, marketing is everywhere. Just because you’re a private tutor (no matter how many clients you have), it doesn’t mean marketing and social media is not applicable to you!
Now, I’m not talking about starting a gigantic blog and hoping to achieve website views in the thousands. Just because the service you offer isn’t something someone can physically hold, doesn’t mean you can’t improve how people perceive it.
Okay, so what can I do?
In this blog, we’re going to cover several different options you can implement to take the marketing of your private tuition to the next level.
Your ‘Brand’ Name
I’m not expecting you to make a whole Press Pack with the full range of branded materials you may ever need, but for this task, you will need to think quite simply about your brand.
What do you want to be called? You probably want to have a Ronseal name (does what it says on the tin), so as not to confuse people about who you are and what you do. I really would keep it quite simple, like:
- Samantha Nichols – Tutor
- Tutoring by Samantha Nichols
- Samantha Nichols Tuition
A logo
Once you’ve got a brand, you’ll need a logo. Go to Vectr.com to start creating your logo, for free. If you want to add any icons, you can find these for free also at flaticon.com.
Keep it simple, attractive and clean. For example, this is one I created for my own hypothetical private tuition.
You can also pay for a service like logojoy.com – which is super straightforward to use and costs around £50 for a high-quality logo. It’s also a really good starting point to look for ideas for logos, which you can then go and create using vectr.com for free!
Alternatively, but a bit more niche, if you have access to someone with Adobe Illustrator, ask to borrow their laptop for 30 minutes because this is by far the most custom option I have found in order to create branded resources!
A Website
Web design has come so far in the past 5 years alone, so you shouldn’t automatically think ‘£££’ and ‘web designer’. Wix.com allows you to easily build yourself a snazzy website. The video below is a fairly long, yet detailed tutorial on how to get set up on Wix – it’s free, and you can even upgrade for a very small fee each month to be able to add your own domain name, amongst other useful features, for example, I might choose a domain name such as: www.samanthanicholstuition.co.uk.
I would also recommend getting some #actionshots of you working with some students. In most cases I’ve heard of, tutors generally borrow their younger cousins for the day. See John with my cousins on his tuition website here.
Social Media
Having professional social media accounts for your tuition is a really good idea because it will keep your private life separate from your work life. You could create a Facebook page, a Twitter account or a Pinterest account for your private tuition work.
Remember to upload your logo for the sake of brand continuity, so that clients searching for you will instantly recognise you!
Google Suite
A lot of people overlook the full extent of the Google offering; Mail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Forms are the most important ones you need to know about.
Create yourself an email address especially for tuition, that is in keeping with your ‘brand’. For those of you looking for the free option, this would just be something like – [email protected].
If you have already sorted out your own domain name, then you can set GSuite up with your DNS provider so that you can have an email like: [email protected].
Once you’ve logged in to Mail, go to settings and add a footer for your emails at the bottom. An example could be:
(If you’re a Member of the Tutors’ Association (MTA) you can use this at the end of your name too!)
Calendar
If you don’t already use an online calendar, I would completely recommend moving over to one. If you do already use one, then ensure it’s up to date and refined.
Start by adding in your existing tutorials, make them recurring if they’re weekly, and invite parents to each calendar event. This is a simple way of keeping everyone in the loop with constant changes, and also having one simple place for you to keep updated on the go. This helps to reduce instances of people forgetting when they had a tutorial, or you turning up accidentally because it’s been cancelled.
Drive, Docs, Sheets and Forms
Google is really handy because all of these tools have apps that are available on mobiles and tablets, so you can create resources, share worksheets and track tutorials on the go. Download the apps so you have them to hand, and now you’ve created your Google account, upload any existing resources and documents you may need for tutoring into the Drive.
Business Cards
Business cards are great for when you’re networking at events like The Tutors’ Association Conference or any CPD events so that you can share your details, and they’re also handy for clients to be able to pass on to their friends.
Helloprint.co.uk have a very easy-to-use business card design service, their print products are great quality and their prices are reasonable.
Wow – that’s a lot of information…
Yes – it is – I have just tried to simplify around 10 years’ worth of marketing experience into one blog post, whilst also suggesting free alternatives to some of the professional programmes I use!
BUT! I am here if you need to ask me any questions. If you need help, guidance, alternatives or you just want to run a few design ideas past me, please do so! Remember to join our facebook group for tutors or email me.
I am completely self-taught and I have only ever used google and youtube to progress my knowledge-base, so if I can do it, you can do it too!
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