Becoming a successful tutor isn't all that difficult provided you're willing to put in the work to see results for yourself and your students. Becoming a successful tutor requires two facets: the practical skill of teaching, and the marketing aspect of your occupation.
Oftentimes, many tutors forget about the latter aspect above. Marketing seems all too daunting, so they're left with no students even though they may be fantastic tutors themselves. In these circumstances, tutors may turn to agencies to provide them with a steady flow of students, which works well, however, if you wish to truly be a successful tutor, you must understand the marketing side of your profession. In this article today, I am going to focus on the marketing side, to ensure the most success possible. To help with the actual practical skill of becoming a tutor, you can sign up to Learnmate and we have some of the most comprehensive tutor training guides and videos on the market, training tutors on how to become successful in-person and/or online tutors. Learn more here.
However, before I delve into that, let me briefly talk about my background to setup some context and credibility for this article. You can read my full background here. After finishing at Scotch College in 2012, I decided to become a VCE English Language tutor as my brother’s friend needed help in the subject. I attained a study score of 45 in 2012, so I thought that naturally I would be suited to helping my brother’s friend with VCE English Language. After my first lesson, I was hooked. Shortly thereafter, I couldn’t keep up with demand and managed to amass a regular client base of 25 students per week. I got to the point where I was turning away students, and of course that didn’t sit right with me. That’s when Learnmate was born. Now, getting to 25 weekly students took quite a bit of work and creative power, and today I aim to relinquish some of that info below (all tips I mention are ones that I actively used and had success with).
CHOOSING TO TUTOR IN-PERSON, ONLINE OR BOTH?
Choosing to tutor online or in-person (or both) can sometimes be difficult. However, generally speaking it is advisable to tutor in both modes to appeal to different types of students who may come your way. To best prepare for this, we'd recommend you brush up (or learn) new skills on how to tutor in-person and particularly online. Thankfully, Learnmate Tutoring provides immense resources on how to tutor both in-person and online.
MARKETING AS A TUTOR
Ah yes, marketing. A word that seldom many people like. But it's so very crucial. Any preconceived notions of marketing that are negative need to be banished right away! Indeed, change your perceptions of this word to mean a true representation of yourself to your customers, and not some sleezy salesman in a suit. That is all marketing is - a representation of your true self to your customers, and when harnessed properly it can unleash remarkable change.
My words of recommendation when marketing for students is the following:
- Post a detailed ad on Gumtree, and boost it as a top ad for 7 days. Watch clients steadily flow in.
- Setup a Facebook Page and begin to post study tips in the form of posts, videos and live videos. At the end of the content, tell your audience that you offer tutoring and that spaces are limited. Be direct and clear here - many soon to be tutors shy from this as they see it as 'too promotional' - customers however like directness and need a sense of where your video is going after it finishes, otherwise they won't know!
- Setup a Facebook Ad account and BOOST your study tip posts to students in their newsfeeds for only $2.50 per day - yes $2.50 per day can allow you to test what works and what doesn't work with students. Always remember to set in the age target market in the demographics section (e.g. 16 - 18 year olds in Melbourne, Victoria).
- For more advanced users, you can even set up a mailing list and begin to collect emails of students and send useful study tips to them on a weekly basis in the form of articles or video. You can see my original landing page that I created here for VCE English Language.
Note: I compiled a 25 page guide on how to market yourself as a tutor. I don't publish this publicly because the information in there is a secret to me, but upon request to me I can relinquish this to you! Feel free to contact me if you'd like this, by emailing us here.
Thankfully Learnmate can help you with the formation of a creative ad that will surely garnish attention from customers. We provide tutors with online training as well as ways to market yourself effectively to a wider audience. Part of being a successful tutor is not just about your knowledgeability, enthusiasm and engagement skills, but also about how well you market yourself to society. If you know how to use marketing tips effectively, it can help you to portray your true self to your potential students. This is a skill that isn't just applicable in tutoring, but also transcends a lifetime – in future job prospects and so forth. You can learn more about that here.
Thank you very much for reading today and I hope this has helped a tutor out there who really wants to take his/her tutoring services to the next level!
About Learnmate
Learnmate is a trusted Australian community platform that connects students who want 1:1 or small group study support, with tutors who are looking to share their knowledge and earn an income. From primary school to high school subjects — from science and maths to niche subjects like visual communication — Learnmate can help you improve academic performance or boost confidence, at your pace with the tutor that you choose.
We pride ourselves in offering a reliable and positive experience for both our students and tutors. Every tutor that joins the platform is vetted to meet a level of academic excellence, teaching qualification or relevant experience. All tutors are provided the opportunity to complete professional training.
Students and parents can easily find and screen for tutors based on their location, their subject results or skill level, and whether they provide in-person or online sessions. Learnmate is proud to provide tutors in Melbourne, Sydney, Geelong, Brisbane, Hobart, Canberra, Perth & Adelaide, and other locations.
