As an Outschool educator, you have the power to create a teaching business that works for you. Many educators find that after they’ve gotten their feet wet with a few successful classes, they’re ready to expand their offerings and start attracting a higher number of enrollments. If this sounds like you, take a look at these strategies for marketing your classes to new audiences and growing your teaching business.

Encourage re-enrollments with class suggestions

It’s the last day of class, and you’ve got a whole bunch of happy learners thanking you for a great course and waving goodbye. But wait! Wouldn’t those learners love to take another class with an educator they know and trust? Do you have more classes that could help them advance their skills or explore a new topic? Make sure they know!

Many parents are eager to know what class their learner should take next, and some will even reach out to educators to ask which courses that educator has available. Stay ahead of the game and consistently offer families class recommendations as one course comes to a close. One way to do this is to add a “next class” within your class listing. This provides a subtle nudge to all learners toward re-enrollment. If you’d like to take a more direct or personalized approach, explore more options below!

Focus on Search Engine Optimization

Families can’t take your classes if they can’t find them when they search! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the creative work of designing your class listings or personal teaching business website to appear in the right search engine results. This applies to both searches on Outschool and on other platforms like Google, so getting a good foundation in the basics of SEO is definitely a good idea for any entrepreneur selling a service or product online. In addition to this Guide to SEO 101, we’ve put together tips specifically for educators on Outschool on how to add keywords to your class listings for increased enrollments.

Create classes based on demand

While you should always design your courses based on your expertise and capabilities, there are plenty of places you can look to for inspiration for your next hit class!

• Ask your current families. The best way to know whether you have learners who’d immediately sign up for another class with you is to ask. Do they want more Tuesday afternoon math classes? Could you meet a need by providing another section on Drawing Dinosaurs? Survey your learners using these strategies to see what they want to learn next!
• Read the Marketplace Insights newsletter. Every other week, Outschool sends our Marketplace Insights newsletter right to your inbox. We’ll round up our team’s top recommendations for creating successful classes based on current trends, provide a look into popular parent searches, and offer additional tips for growing your business. Along with the newsletter, we add new data to our Classes That Need Educators, Enrollment Trends, and Parent Topic Requests lists every other week to provide more inspiration.
• Think globally. Outschool’s global learner community is continually expanding, and you can extend your reach as an educator by designing classes for an international audience. As we continue to create a learner base from different countries, time zones, and educational backgrounds, there are plenty of opportunities to find your niche.

Go the extra mile with a personal message

Intentional messages to interested learners and parents can help promote your course offerings. Have you created a class based on a request from a learner? Send their family a message with instructions on how and when to enroll. Did a parent send you a private message asking how their learner could continue to grow? Reach out and let them know that you offer x, y, and z classes that their learner would love. The danger here can be accidentally drifting into “spamming” territory, so make sure you follow this guide on how to send the right kind of message.

This type of “networking” is a key strategy used by successful Outschool educators. Families will often choose which class to take based on the educator – instead of the topic – so making a point to advertise your listings to families you know can really make a difference for your business. Keep in mind that it is the personal touch that makes these messages effective and welcomed by parents; sending too many, non-personalized messages to large groups of parents may be more likely to annoy, rather than engage, families.

Make sure you always use Outschool’s communication tools to protect both learners’ and your privacy, and learn more here about how to build a personal connection with your learners that drives re-enrollments.

Don’t forget about social media

While Outschool markets classes to specific target audiences and within the Outschool platform, you have the freedom to advertise your courses as much or as little as you’d like through your preferred channels. If you’re looking to grow your learner base, social media can be a powerful tool to reach your local circle of potential Outschool families. Find out how one educator is growing her business using Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube here.

While you are not permitted to post social media links in your class listings, educator profile, and classroom page, you can post links to your existing class listings on your personal social media accounts. Free tools like Canva make it easy to create professional posts and ads, and you’re welcome to include the Outschool logo when promoting existing class listings (but check out these guidelines first to make sure you don’t violate any trademark policies).

We hope these tips will help you see your teaching business on Outschool as something you can grow, change, and build over time by using intentional marketing strategies.

To dive deeper into every aspect of developing your business on Outschool:

• Read long-time Outschool educator Jade’s story on building her business from the ground up
• Explore tips on paying your taxes, creating a budget, and more.
• Learn about marketing strategies to grow your business.

Find what works for you and start promoting those classes!