How to create and pitch your tutoring advertisement

7 tips to consider for your tutoring advertisement

It is important to know what adult learners and parents are looking for in a Tutor and what can quickly turn them off from hiring someone. Competition is steep. Those reviewing your tutoring advertisement will give it little attention if you don’t captivate their interest fast. Also, once you catch their eye it is important to be clear about your abilities and if they match their expectations. 

Here are some valuable suggestions that can give your tutoring advert an edge.  Follow these tips and get one step closer in landing an excellent tutoring job in a crowded market.  

How & where to advertise tutoring services:

1. What do I need to write on my tutor ad? 
2. Brand yourself  
3. How do I write a tutoring advertisement?
4. Make images work for you, not against
5. Lesson locations and delivery 
6. Create an online presence
7. Prepare for inquires ​

What do I need to write on my Tutor ad?

Tutoring ads should be short, attention grabbing and create the belief that you are the one that is going to help the desired client reach their goal. In order to do this you must think about how to articulate your specialisation, title, lesson locations, pricing and services in a concise but effective way. Advertisements shouldn’t be long, so every decision about your tutoring ad needs to be scrutinised. 

Checklist on what to include on a Tutoring Advert:

• Title - In a very concise way identify your strongest qualifications and subjects. 
• Qualifications - Do you have a degree in English? or a Master's in biology? Any teaching qualifications? If relevant, add to your advert.
• Experience - Have you been a Tutor at university? Have you taught math for years? If so, how many? Your clients will want to know this.
• Subjects offered - Clarify what you are going to teach.
• Location - Where are you located? Are you willing to travel? If yes, how far? If you only offer online tutoring time zones make a difference.  
• Price per lesson - You may want to include how much you're charging, but this isn’t always the case. Also, depending if traveling to a tutoring location is required might influence your pricing.  Soon we will have more info about pricing and considerations to take into account. 
• Contact details - At minimum, make sure to include your phone number or email address, possibly both. 
• References - You don't need these on your ad, but potential clients will likely ask in the future.  If they don’t, offer them. It builds confidence and demonstrates confidence. 

If you have incorporated most of these aspects into your tutoring ad and and your claims fit the needs of the student, you will likely be contacted. But stay two steps ahead of the process. Prepare for those contacting you by thinking though likely questions and scenarios they may ask during an interview. No worries, such examples will be the discussion of other blogs to follow. One step at a time. For now, let’s get started on your tutoring advertisement.   

Brand yourself as a professional in your title

Titles are important as they indicate above all how you want to be professionally identified. While some of us wear many hats, it is important to decide on a short title that conveys your main area of expertise for your tutoring services. 

This title should be at the forefront of your tutoring advertisement. It should also be on your resume and your Linkedin profile, as it is an important part of a branding strategy. Even consider adding your title to your professional FB tutoring page, if you have one (more on this later). If you don’t have a facebook page dedicated to your tutoring services, you should strongly consider it. Also, put your title in your email signature and on your invoices. 

Think of your title as a great headline that embodies your best tutoring offerings. This is a time when redundancy plays in your favour. 
​
Keep your title short and focused. It should be the first thing one notices. The advertisement design should draw the eye to your title, not distract from it.

Here are some examples of great titles:
IB & AP English & Maths Tutor 
Maths and Physics Tutor
Early Childhood Educator
Primary School Special Needs Educator 
Early Years Play-based Learning Specialist 
Spanish Tutor of all Levels and Ages
Vocal Coach & Piano Teacher 
Au Pair - Childcare Provider & French Tutor

In a short way you’ve conveyed your specialization and what you are most qualified to teach. This encourages parents and clients to further engage with your tutoring advertisement, or to move on to a more suitable Tutor for their specific needs. When Tutors are vague about what they offer, a parent could reach out to them only to realize that they aren’t a good fit. It is disappointing to both parties and this wastes time. It’s best to only entice relevant clients and prompt them to contact you.

By following this advice on the title/headliner you’ve also indicated the age range you tutor, such as early years, or by saying physics, thereby suggesting high school students. This is very important.

How do I write a tutoring advertisement?

Carefully draft a short elevator pitch, sometimes called a personal statement or short bio. It should take no more than a min to read. Make sure to identify subjects and types of services, such as if you provide academic support, homework help, AP, IB, GCSE or A level revision. 

Below is a great example of an elevator pitch that will grab the attention of a potential client with a child attending an International Baccalaureate school in the Primary Years Program. It also appeals to any parent who wants someone to help with English learning, thereby broadening this Tutor’s potential clientele base. Make sure to notice the placement of her name, title and contact.

Tabitha Sanders 
PYP Teacher - Homework Tutor
tabitha.sanders@email.com
+30 000 000 0000

​I am a licensed elementary teacher originally from Florida. I work as a Primary Years Programme teacher at an international school in Milan. My mission is to ensure that every child succeeds and feels proud of their accomplishments. I have been a teacher for 10 years and I have tutored children both in-person at their homes and online for the past two years. I can help your child with homework assignments and projects in addition to teaching basic skills. My students say I am kind and funny, too!

Don’t try to squeeze too much into your short bio. You absolutely should also have a cover letter to go into further detail about your teaching philosophy, which will be discussed in a blog in the near future! Your short bio / elevator pitch, however, should be focused and well written. Make sure to have others check it as we are sometimes our own worst editors and you don’t want careless errors.

Why profile pictures are important for tutoring advertisements

People want to see who they are connecting with. Therefore, consider using a professional looking photo for your tutoring advert, including your tutoring flyer. Especially consider using a profile pic on your tutor resume. While it isn’t typical for people to have their photos on their resumes and CVs, such as in the US, it is standard form many other countries like Italy. So depending on where you are promoting your tutoring advertisement, consider having a tutoring ad that responds to your audience. Also, use a professional picture for your online tutoring advertisements, including if you are on a tutoring website.

Use a profile photo that speaks to your intended audience

Find the right balance between a professional looking photo and one that reflects the job you are trying to secure. Make sure the photo is not too crowded. If you have anything in it other than you, it should enhance the viewers experience, not distract. When in doubt, play on the side of caution and just have a professional headshot of you. 

If you are working as an Au Pair Tutor, select an image that looks playful but gives the impression of being responsible too. If you choose a photo with you and a child, make sure that you have it in writing from the parents that you are allowed to use the child’s photo. Some countries forbid the use of children’s photos. 

Whereas someone teaching business English may want to use a more serious headshot, perhaps with a cityscape in the background. Or, if you provide wine tours or walking tours, pick an image that conveys this, as it will appeal to your client base. The photo should compliment the design of the tutoring advertisement. 

Here is a great example a Tabitha’s private tutoring advertisement on our app:

Delivery of lessons

Specify if you offer local tutoring and / or online tutoring. No point in engaging with someone far away if they want a tutor nearby. Also, you might want to consider different pricing schemes for in-person tutoring as opposed to online tutoring. More about that here! 

Specify your location

Regardless if tutoring online or not, mention your location. This is important for time zone reasons. Also, if parents are looking for Tutors in London, because they intend for their child to end up going to school there, your location becomes very relevant even if advertising online lessons. 

Important keywords to use when identifying tutoring locations

What is most important, however, is for those looking for a Tutor near them. If you display your advertisement onsight at different locations, such as at the local coffee shop, library or posted on the school bulletin, it is assumed you are in the same location. However, if you plan on posting your Tutor ad online, then it is super critical that you identify your city. 

Many of those looking for a Tutor will type in a “tutor near me” and open in a new page) on search engines. If you put your location, you will have a better chance of coming up in their search results. Of course, this is when it is also critical that you have a clear title that shows your specialisation. Most clients type in Google something like, math and physics tutor near me and if you created a smart tutoring ad, you have a better chance of being found online.  ​

Online delivery of lessons

If you advertise yourself as an online Tutor, make sure you are familiar with the main tools for online teaching, such as Google Drive/Chat/Meet/Classroom, Skype, Zoom, among other online platforms. If a student uses Google Classroom at school, you will really want to consider using this tool as a way to teach. Google Drive and Classroom offers excellent resources available and since they are a cloud program, you can work from anywhere on any device. Want to learn more about online tutoring tools? Then stay tuned as we are covering this important subject in full detail soon!

Where to advertise tutoring services?

Now that you have created your tutoring ad you must get it in the right places to attract clients. Some suggestions include:

• Website or landing page
• Facebook
• Linkedin 
• Printed adverts to display locally

Landing page

There are many places to place tutoring ads. For those with a website or landing page, your ad can be found online by anyone if you used the right keywords and emphasised your location of services, including online. ​

Create a landing page with a website template & write content users want

Having a website with many webpages is pointless if those pages aren’t fully developed with smart and focused content of around 900-1200 plus words per page. Of course there are many other considerations in making a website. If you don’t know what I mean, consider reading about SEO and invest in a SEO tutor to help you get found in Google. Having a single webpage, a landing page, is better than having many pages. You can better develop it and increase your chances of being found. That is the point!

Your website or landing page serves another purpose. When people find your tutoring advertisement at the library or through social media, they can go to your website. You can pitch your tutoring services to them in a more meaningful way with this online platform. You can even have a payment system integrated into your website, more about this discussed soon in another blog soon. If you are wanting to develop your tutoring business, a website is very important. Don’t let not being a web developer scare you off from having a landing page, or think you need a lot of money. For simple sites, consider using a website builder like Weebly or if you are a bit more tech savvy consider Wordpress.

However, if you are really just interested in earning a little extra cash to supplement your income, it isn’t needed. A lot of Teacher Tutors offer private tuition and home tutoring and they don’t need a website or landing page because in their elevator pitch / short bio they mentioned that they are a school teacher and this assures a parent of their qualifications. 

Considering not all of us are credentialed teachers, it means that we need to convince clients that we are the best Tutor for them in other ways. Having a professional looking tutoring advertisement is a good starting point.

Facebook

You can share your landing page online in various Facebook groups related to the type of education you provide. For instance, for those offering wine tours and photography lessons, identify groups where people talk about wine and photography. Use your company’s professional Facebook page to comment in those groups providing insights and advice. 

Do not spam groups or pages or you will be banned. Instead, demonstrate your expertise. Those intrigued by your valuable insights will likely tap on your profile and see your services. On occasion, when appropriate, you can promote your services in Facebook pages and groups. When you do, make sure that the image shown is optimised and looks good. If you have a landing page, ensuring that the image shared looks nice is important. 

Linkedin

The advice about Facebook also applies to Linkedin, but with Linkedin you should post in groups and discussions using your personal Linkedin account. You can also have a company page, and those interested in your insights and postings can go to your profile and see your company page. But a company page can’t post in discussion threads the way a personal account can. Your personal Linkedin profile is another example of when you should use your title and elevator pitch, as discussed earlier. Same applies to Facebook, but for your company page. ​​

Power of printed tutoring ads

If you largely provide in-person lessons, you should really consider printing and leaving your tutoring ad in the type of places your typical client would visit. As mentioned before, know your audience. 

For instance, the PYP teacher Tabitha lives in Italy. Typically parents walk their children to school and pick them up. Since Italians drink espressos and cappuccinos in the morning at their local bar (it’s what it is called in Italy, not a coffee shop), and often take their children to the bar to get a snack right after school, or a gelateria, Tabitha knows that this provides an ideal opportunity for her to display her tutoring advert. She also intentionally places her ad by the schools where she knows the curriculum, possibly even teaches at. And she should place her tutoring flyer close to other schools that offer English programs as well. Most of her local clients will come from these establishments. 

In Tabitha’s case, she should ask to display a tutoring flyer or showcase some postcard sized advertisements on the bar counter. Since Tabitha provides homework help and home tuition, including English lessons, she offers something to the entire family. During the time it takes to drink an espresso or cappuccino standing up (Italian style) the potential client has picked up the well designed tutoring ad, read her title, elevator pitch and viewed her image, location and contact quickly. Intrigued he takes the ad with him, ready to check out her social profiles to learn more about her. Again, typical in Italy. Since Tabitha knows this, she has already been proactive in having a social presence that reflects the values an Italian family, or a family from abroad living in Italy would expect of a Teacher they bring into their home. Tabitha is now one step closer to landing a potential client. 

This is just one example of countless places on where to display a tutoring advertisement. But this demonstrates how important it is to know the local culture in making a sale. In the near future, we will discuss cultural differences to consider and how to use them to your advantage. 

For others, a library, market, or a school could be the ideal location to advertise. One might even want to consider paying a little to place a tutoring ad in a publication that parents make up a large percentage of the readership.

Now that you have a potential client’s attention, what are the next steps you should take?

Actually, there are some steps you should even take before putting your tutoring ad out there for public viewing. This includes, developing a Tutor resume or CV, creating a detailed cost and conditions document, making a list of FAQs and answering such questions in order to save you time in the long run. Also, think about online delivery considerations. Make a short introductory video, detailing your teaching philosophy or create several cover letters tailored to each type of job you are likely to get a request for. Set up your email accounts to reflect a level of professionalism and more. All of these will be discussed, as we want you to get more tutoring opportunities.

How do I market myself as a Tutor with Tutor Around?

Tutor Around can help you find students to tutor for your tutoring business. If you are interested in tutoring online or in-person we would love to have you on our Tutor finder app and help you get more jobs. We want our Tutors to be successful. We are also looking for professional Tutors of America, Europe, Asia, among other locations. We are looking for the best, as we want to become one of the most trusted brands among a sea of tutoring businesses. 

Worried you don’t have the top degrees or credentials? For us, the best doesn't necessarily mean having the most experience or qualifications. We are most interested in finding a freelance Tutor that will represent our company well. This means that you create an honest tutoring advert of your capabilities, provide clear communication and quality service to your clients. We all started out somewhere. 

Even if you offer only conversational language lessons, we would still love to have you as part of our community. Creating an honest tutoring ad with clear offerings and expectations will help foster a positive working relationship for all. We offer more than a tutor agency do, since we don’t take commission. You and your clients save with every lesson. Join us today!