Summary

I explore five effective strategies for tutors to build their visibility and attract students outside of traditional digital marketing. These methods focus on relationship-building, community engagement, and intentional outreach to create sustainable growth.

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👋🏽 Hello! I'm Sumantha McMahon, and I've supported over 100 tutors and education business owners.

As a teacher 'dropout' turned professional tutor, combined with my 20+ years as a business owner, I'm in it with you! Yes, I'm qualified too :-)

My training leans on tried-and-tested methods that are completely tailored to our niche.

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© 2024 Sumantha McMahon

Markeeting is harder than it used to be. I think most of us feel that. Attention spans are shorter, we're being sold to everywhere we look, and people have become quite good at filtering things out. In fact, if something looks a little bit too polished, a little too branded, a lot of people will scroll straight past it because they assume it's an advert. And yet tutors are working really hard, doing the posts, building the presence, putting in the effort.

And sometimes the return just does not feel like it is matching. Now, I want to be clear from the start. I am not saying that marketing does not work or that you should not be doing it. That is not what this episode is about at all.

But I do think there is a conversation to be had about everything that sits alongside marketing. The things that can attract students to you in a different way, a warmer, more relationship led way. And that is exactly what I am going to talk about today. If you are new here, welcome. I am Sumantha McMahon and I work with tutors who want to earn more in a sustainable way.

Sustainable does not just mean working fewer hours. It means being intentional about how you work and how you run your business. Because if we are going to put time and effort into something, we want that something to actually work hard for us.

Before I share the five things, I want to quickly talk about where marketing fits, because this is not about ditching your marketing strategy. Digital marketing, social media, email and content are long term games. What I mean is that they compound over time. The more consistent you are, the more the effects build on each other.

There is almost always a phase where tutors feel like they are working really hard, doing all the right things, but getting very little return. It feels rubbish and it is the point where most people stop. But what is actually happening during that phase is really important.

People are seeing your name and becoming familiar with you. They are starting to form an association between you and what you offer, your values and your personality. That is the foundation. I have seen this with my own experience and with so many clients.

The tutors who push through eventually feel the rewards of all of that consistency at once. They have certainty and can plan sales campaigns with confidence. But if you rely entirely on word of mouth, there may come a point where you need to build an audience for something larger like a membership or group programme.

Marketing matters, but it is not the whole picture. Today I want to share five things that sit outside of traditional digital marketing.

The first one is physical visibility. A lot of tutors have tried dropping leaflets through doors and I am yet to meet anyone who says they got a really great response from it. Think about how many leaflets land on your own doormat and how many you actually read. Even if you glance at one, there is no qualification happening. It is random and relies heavily on luck.

Instead of dropping leaflets through random doors, think about a one to many approach with intention built in. Place your leaflets somewhere your ideal clients already are. A children’s activity provider, a music school, a sports club or a coffee shop near a school.

One poster can be seen by many parents who are already much more likely to need your services. One of my clients sponsors the kit for a local football club. That gives visibility with parents every single week and feels warm and genuine because his own child plays there too.

The second thing is networking. Even if you are an online tutor, networking is powerful because when you meet someone face to face, you are forming a real relationship. You are memorable. Any adult you speak to could potentially know someone who needs your help.

Local Facebook groups, informal coffee mornings and networking groups can all be useful. I also want to mention networking with other tutors. One tutor I know has sent me a significant number of tutees over the years simply because our subjects complemented each other naturally.

Running a business on your own can feel lonely. Having people around you who genuinely understand the challenges makes the whole experience feel much more human.

If traditional networking feels uncomfortable, there are always alternatives. Smaller groups, online communities and accountability partnerships can all work really well. The goal is genuine connection, not performance. Conferences and awards evenings can sometimes be harder for genuine networking because people often stay with those they already know.

Where I have seen the strongest connections happen is at smaller focused events with a shared purpose. Conversations tend to go deeper there.

The third thing I want to talk about is tuition agencies. There can sometimes be a strange perception around agencies in the tutoring world, but I genuinely do not think that is fair. Agencies handle marketing, client relationships, admin and liability. That is a significant amount of work they are doing so that you do not have to.

When you are an independent tutor doing everything yourself, that also costs time and money. A good agency can provide breathing room and a steadier stream of students while you focus on building something else in your business.

If I wanted more students right now, rather than trying to revive a social media page from scratch, I would probably sign up with agencies because it is the easier route. There is no rule that says you can only have one source of students. Multiple streams are a strength.

The fourth thing is hosting or being involved in events. This does not need to mean something huge or overwhelming. One of my clients runs open evenings for parents preparing for the 11 plus. It is essentially a webinar in person.

Parents get useful information and begin to associate that tutor with solving their problem. I also ran a free online summit for tutors and quite a few attendees later joined my membership or booked discovery calls because they had entered my world in a warm and generous way.

Another client runs charity facing events and helps organise local school fun runs. These activities keep her visible within the community and have opened doors with local schools.

Collaborations can also work brilliantly. I once collaborated with a maths tutor and we interviewed each other for our audiences. It was simple, generous and effective. Another client runs writing competitions and interviews authors, which builds a real sense of community around her work.

The thread running through all of these ideas is visibility and relationship building first, with students following naturally from that.

If you are attending or hosting events, make sure there is a clear next step for people who want to stay connected with you. That could be LinkedIn, social media or something else simple that keeps them in your world.

The fifth thing I want to talk about is outreach. Good outreach depends on good record keeping because outreach without context is basically just cold messaging.

Every time I have a discovery call or a client meeting, I make detailed notes. What were their challenges? What mattered to them? What did they share? If someone feels like a really good fit but does not go on to work with me immediately, I keep them in a pipeline called potential client.

When I open my doors to new clients again, I can go back to those people with personalised messages because I have detailed notes from our earlier conversations. That feels very different from a generic email.

I also use transcription tools to keep records of conversations. This helps with future outreach and understanding the exact language people use to describe their challenges.

You do not need fancy systems to do this. A spreadsheet or Trello board works perfectly well. The important thing is having the information and actually using it.

For tutors, outreach might mean reconnecting with parents you have spoken to before, past clients with younger siblings coming up, or existing clients who could benefit from something additional you now offer.

I have tracked this across my own experience and with clients, and roughly one in five people respond positively to this kind of warm outreach. That is a really meaningful return for a relatively small amount of effort.

Before I wrap up, I want to add one more thing that cuts across all five of these ideas. A lot of what I have described today involves real conversations.

When you are having those conversations, you do not need to sound artificial or overly strategic, but you can be intentional. If someone mentions their child is struggling with something you could help with, share a story about someone you have worked with in a similar situation.

Stories are trust signals. They help people feel understood and help them believe that you can support them. You are not being fake or manufacturing connection. You are simply making sure that if the opportunity is there, you are not leaving it on the table.

Sometimes that invitation is direct. Come to my event. Let’s have a chat. Sometimes it is softer. A story shared and a door left open. There is no formula, but intention does matter.

So to bring all five together, think about physical visibility but make it intentional and one to many. Choose the places where your ideal clients are already gathering. Build genuine relationships through networking and community.

Consider agencies with fresh eyes and without the baggage. They might be exactly the right tool for where you are right now.

Get involved in events through hosting, speaking, collaborating or simply showing up. Make sure there is always a way for people to come closer to your world if they want to. And do your outreach warmly, personally and with strong notes behind you.

These five things do not necessarily replace marketing, but they work beautifully alongside it. If you are at the beginning of your business journey, these are things you can start doing straight away while your marketing gains momentum.

For some of you, they may be exactly what your business needs right now.

Thanks as always for giving me your time. And if this episode has been useful, I would really appreciate it if you left a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a genuine difference to small podcasters like me who want to reach more people.

And if you are watching on YouTube, make sure you are subscribed so you do not miss what is coming up. You’ll hear from me on Wednesday.