Wonderful Wednesday Rockstar Tutors,
How many of you have heard of the marketing phrase “Spray and pray”? When I started my tutoring business eight years ago, my marketing plan (if you can call it a plan) was just that, to randomly try different marketing techniques and hope for the best, see what would stick and who would connect for tutoring. As I continued to try new marketing approaches, I felt I was in a tailspin, trying everything, and spiralling without a solid marketing strategy that would work to build my client base. I had tried paper ads, online ads on a variety of sites, the odd testimonial, among other things. Nothing was sticking. Frustration and loss were taking over.
At that point, a good friend recommended creating my marketing effectiveness list. I had no idea what they meant. They explained it would involve organizing my marketing approaches in order from most effective to least effective. I was ranking effectiveness by how a given approach helped to gain prospective families and new clients. Once I saw my list, I realized none of the high-cost, random marketing items were among my top 5 or even top 10. The commonality of my top 5 marketing strategies was relationships and social connections. Moving forward, I was determined to further value clients and this list. I found I had greater success for it. The feelings of frustration and loss were dissipating and focused ease took over. I had found my anchors and the spiral had been alleviated. I felt relief at having a list and a plan for action. New clients began to come in at a greater rate than ever before.
It is a pleasure to share with you my five winning, low-cost marketing strategies as follows (in order of effectiveness):
1. Referrals: Word of mouth from happy customers costs next to nothing except you delivering your wonderful service. It is authentic and develops a focused client base for your tutoring company too. Parents connect with each other so never be afraid to ask for a referral.
2. Testimonials: Similar to referrals, an authentic and emotional testimonial from an ecstatic parent can make such a difference when another parent is looking into tutoring for their child. Posting these testimonials on your social media and website is great. Photos and videos can bring an additional layer to a worded testimonial. Again, ask and enjoy.
3. Business Networking: Joining a business group can bring new clients your way. As you build relationships within your business group, you will have advocates for your business. I found a smaller business group worked better than a larger networking group.
4. Parent Networking: Attending parent meetings and seminars is a wonderful way to network and share what you do and how it will help a parent's child to grow in their specific areas. Keeping these conversations authentic can make a major difference in gaining a new and eager client.
5. Donations: Offering to donate a complimentary call or consultation certificate to school auctions. Your cost is the cost of printing off the certificate and the free advertising from the school and potential client gained is worth it!
Thank you kindly Rockstar Tutors, if you have any questions please let me know.
What would your 4-5 winning low-cost marketing strategies look like? What would be the goals for implementing your most effective marketing strategies in your company? Look forward to hearing your feedback.
Subscribe below to receive your BONUS tutoring business content too.
Make it a great day Tutoring Rockstars!
Sincerely,
Michael Gibben
Founder, Coach for Tutors
Image Credit: Gordon Johnson from Pixabay