What have you used to market yourself?

Hello all,
What methods have you been using to market yourself and what has been the most successful? Also have you come up with any new ideas for marketing?

Great question Spring! I’m really interested to hear answers from other tutors on this one.

I know craigslist is a way that many tutors here advertise. And of course word of mouth is big as well. However, it would be great to hear from some other tutors as to what you do to find students and any ideas for additional ways to market yourselves now that you can find students outside of your city and teach them here on eduFire.

Hi Spring,

When I started to use Craigslist, first I read many of the ads by other tutors, and decided to make my own ad sound as different as possible. I placed the emphasis on letting potential students know that “conversational” Spanish will not help them with their tests and finals, as much as learning it from an academic point of view. Many tutors will say they will have you speaking Spanish within 30 days! I also offer to tutor businessmen but tell them that being able to say “Buenos dias” to their clients will not give them the competetive edge. I create scenarios customized to their line of work, such as an attorney I tutored, who handled auto accidents and insurance claims. I also mention that I provide the “conversational” part of learning, by encouraging the students to do narratives verbally and in writing, regarding their daily routines. Let me know if this will help. Have a great day!
Gustavo

Hi Gustavo,

Thanks for your response. It seems like you’ve carved out a niche for yourself. Have these ads on Craigslist worked well for you? Also, I’m curious as to what category you advertise in.

Hi Spring,

I advertise under Lessons/Tutoring, and so far they have worked well. You need to repeat your ad every five days, so that when the tutor list comes up, you will be listed within the first page. Use a title that is different from the rest, such as: “Spanish Tutor, academic, high school & college level” or Spanish, by experienced college educated professional", etc.
Always try to place your ad on Fridays, so that prospective students will find you over the weekend.
Good luck.

Gustavo

Hi Gustavo,

Thank you for the good advice. I will definitely put it to work.

There’s a little secret to this that I’ll share here. The first few tutors who get how to do this are gonna do real well. :)

So with eduFire you can get students from anywhere right? Here’s the fun part. There is more than one city on craigslist.

Gustavo’s strategy is right on the money. However, there’s no need to limit yourself to just one city anymore!

So one week you can post to Los Angeles. Once that ad expires you can post to New York. Then you can post to Chicago, etc. (BTW, based on the way I read the craigslist ToS this appears legit but someone please correct me if I’m wrong.)

My guess is the more you mix it up the more likely you’ll be to quickly develop a great list of students/customers!

Try it and let me know how it works. :)

I’ve done my fair share of CL posting in my lifetime. If you have any questions, I’m more than happy to help.

It seems that some of the other services like Backpage and Kijiji are becoming great places to post. Way more people go to craigslist but that also means way more people post there. So by posting to the “up-and-comers” your ad is more likely to stand out.

If I was tutoring right now I’d create a to-do list item that repeats every few days and post into different cities starting with New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and working down to smaller cities. I’d post the same ad to craigslist, Kijiji and Backpage and I’d make sure that my eduFire profile had a lot of information, a video, etc.

Do that consistently and I think you’ll soon find that you have more students than you can handle. :)

I had never heard of Craigslist before reading this post! Thanks so much. I bet it will come in handy! :)

Diana,

Yah craigslist.org is awesome…I think you could get some really qualified leads if you advertise on this free online service! I use it and I think it is great!

Craigslist is the bomb!