Advertising tips for my "business"

[PlayerOne]

I own a tutoring centre, and since it's almost june and summer, there will be kids(especially high schl kids) that will want to cram a little math into their head to prepare for their exams/university/college/next year/what not.

we are a team of 5 instructors that speicalise in specific subjects of our expertise, we need a way to advertise, get our name out, i'm not going to put the name of our "coporation" here (not yet anyways), cuz i don't want to advertise on rfd, incase there are any rules against it

we are seeking students of any grade, race, background

not to be racist, but we have found that asians have the most interest in these things, but we also welcome people of other backgrounds of course, we have already though to of the following methods:

chinese newspaper
toronto star
korean newspaper
toronto sun(it's free )
online posts(could you suggest a few maybe?)
ask current students to find more students and offer commission/discount

any ideas?
any suggestion is appreciated

Thanks!

[B40]

we need a way to advertise, get our name out, i'm not going to put the name of our "coporation" here (not yet anyways), cuz i don't want to advertise on rfd, incase there are any rules against it

Throw a link in your sig... might not get any results, but hey it's free

If you're not sure if it's allowed or not, just PM Ryan or Derek... I think they will allow it if it's a personal business.

[kilarney]

Remember SUN classifieds are FREE!

[divx]

advertising service is against the rules, but if you give ryan a cut, you can bend the rules.

[PlayerOne]

Remember SUN classifieds are FREE!

ya, we already thought of that, ijust forgot to put it on

but yup, thanks for inputting a suggestion, it was great

[Computer500]

you are wasting money on advertising. You need to target at specific groups instead of newspapers.

If you still have time, go to a few high schools and put some advertisements there somehow.

[sxz]

Use word-of-mouth: tell the people that already come, to invite their friends.

[kilarney]

Distribute flyers in the neighbourhood. I have seen private tutoring schools print flyers and post them on lightpoles and other city property. I am not recommending that though as by-law officer can come and you are charged.

[PlayerOne]

you are wasting money on advertising. You need to target at specific groups instead of newspapers.

If you still have time, go to a few high schools and put some advertisements there somehow.

i don't think that's allowed tho, but ya, to what the others said, word of mouth is definitly the best, only problem is, i'm lacking mouths

[Computer500]

If they dont allow you to post advertisements inside the building. You can do this:

High school students usually get off school around 3:15pm , stand off school property, when you see students leave..........Hand out a flyer..

But handing out a flyer can waste lots of money

[simms]

If they dont allow you to post advertisements inside the building. You can do this:

High school students usually get off school around 3:15pm , stand off school property, when you see students leave..........Hand out a flyer..

But handing out a flyer can waste lots of money

Think about it. Students in their right MIND would not want tutoring services. Especially the dumb ones! They would hate school already, and they would want to get schooled some more?

Put yourself in their shoes... you finish an Algebra or Math test at the end of the day, you're tired and burnt out. You walk out of the school only to be handed a sheet of paper. Would you really care?

The only exception is if you hand out a flyer to a kid that magically wants to do better and needs an alternative, but then needs to bring the flyer home, show his parents, and then the parents have to convinced and then figure out scheduling...

On top of that, there are already established locations like Brainchild and Topclass and Kumon who you'd have to compete with.

You either have to have word of mouth or speak DIRECTLY with the parents, who are the decision makers in this regard..

[T-Man]

Sometimes, schools hold meetings for fundraising, bake sales or schooltrips etc and parents are invited to attend. You could get the permission of the school to be present at those meetings, and just before the meeting is over, you could be introduced "....everyone, this is Mr. X, he would like to talk about this tutoring services that he has to offer"......

So forget talking to the kids, go straight at the source, the parents who will be the ones writing the cheques.


There you go, PM me for my mailing address to send me a cheque and Paypal is accepted too.

[T-Man]

Oh and here is another one for you. You could contact successful business such as Piano Lesson, baseball Leagues, skating lesson, gymnastic, asked them to allow you to leave flyers, at their place of business, or maybe in their company newsletter, to have your flyer stapled to it as well.

Of course for a fair fee, or % of referred business sent your way.

[bmwguy]

Google AdClick... you can specify how much you want to pay and get charged per click when they search for certain results that match your information. Craigslist may have something for these kind of services. Other than that i think flyers to houses close to where you are located is a good idea. If you could somehow convince teachers to be your affiliates and give them a commision for every child they recommend that would be an ideal method. There are also lots of local papers, such as the town crier and north toronto post which could be good places also.

But like someone mentioned before the key is to target the parents. Maybe you could write up a little book/pamphlet about how tutoring a child can help them even though they dont really need it. Some parents might read it then want to sign up with you.

Another idea for offline marketing would be to give something out for free... maybe a nice fridge magnet with your company info on it, pad of paper, pens, etc... something where they will keep it around and will get your name branded into their head when they need your service.

One last idea is look for extra curricular school activities and hang out there to promote. Ie. School Fun Fairs, Sports Activities, Plays, Music Concerts.... you may have to work something out with the school for this kind of thing.

I think a good combination of both offline and online marketing would bring you a successful business. The key is to get your name out there so even if people don't need your service now, when the time comes they will remember you.

[UrbanPoet]

youll make more money writing essays for people.