Do you have enough students for your school or private English teaching business?
If not you need to watch this video.
The number one mistake that English schools and private teachers make is that they don’t target a specific enough demographic with their marketing.
There is a huge market for English classes and there is also a huge supply of people trying to serve that market. The number one mistake most English teachers make is that they try to teach English to everybody.
This is a mistake because everybody is doing that. If you want to get more classes you need to hone in on a more specific group of people to teach your classes to.
Your website needs to be targeted towards the group of people you want to attract. If you don’t have a website, set one up using this tutorial.
Specialized English Classes for Professionals
One way you can niche down is by targeting your classes towards a specific group of professionals.
For example: English for Pilots, English for Doctors, English for professionals who have to travel in the next month.
Demographic Based English Classes
Another way to target a smaller group with your marketing is to target a specific demographic. Could be based on location, political affiliation, religious affiliation, soccer team affiliation, hobbies, etc.
Example: English classes for Galo fans. English classes for residents of Av Nossa Senhora da Copacabana.
Technique Based English Classes
Another way to differentiate yourself is to market your classes based on the technique that you use to teach your classes. If you are the master of prepositions, call yourself the master of prepositions. If you teach classes using Beatles songs, call yourself the Beatles English teacher.
Benefits of Niching Down
Whatever you do, stop trying to teach English to everybody. Find a way to differentiate yourself and stop trying to teach English to everyone. Take a stand and say that you are the guy/gal who teaches to a group of people or in a particular way.
Within the group of people that you target you will become popular because you are addressing their specific needs. People who belong to that group will be more inclined to take classes with you than with someone who is a generalist. It makes it easier for people to refer you because you are “the teacher who uses Beatles songs in his/her classes.”
If you’re just a regular English teacher, you’re not going to stand out and people will forget about you.
Think about what niche you are qualified to teach to. Think about your professional experience, your hobbies, your background. Think about what group of people you can add unique value to beyond just English teaching.
Don’t be afraid to niche down. Just because you are calling yourself the English teacher for X group of people, it doesn’t mean that you’re only going to get students from that group. You’ll find great success within that niche, and people who don’t belong to that group will see that you’re a specialist and will be more inclined to take classes with you.
