Three options. Only one actually works for your business.
Tutoring runs on three calendars and the chains exploit all of them.
A tutoring business runs on three calendars at once: the term calendar (10 weeks of regular sessions), the exam calendar (NAPLAN in May, selective schools test in July, HSC and VCE trials in August), and the school-holiday calendar (the four 2-week windows where intensives live or die). Cluey Learning, Kip McGrath, NumberWorks'nWords, Begin Bright and the other national chains have a media buyer who knows the dates and starts spending six weeks out from each window. Independent tutors are still teaching when those windows open, then trying to fill them three weeks late. Combine that with a HSC/VCE-vs-primary-literacy split that needs completely different copy and completely different channels (Year 12 students Google their own tutors, parents of Year 4 NAPLAN students do not), and most tutors find themselves running at 60 percent capacity in a market where every parent thinks tutoring is essential.
Good tutoring marketing is three things, in this order: a website with one page per subject-year-suburb combination ('Year 12 maths advanced tutor [suburb]', 'Year 5 NAPLAN preparation [suburb]', 'HSC English Extension 1 tutor [suburb]') so you outrank Cluey and Kip on the long tail where intent is highest, a paid calendar that lifts spend 6 weeks before every enrolment window (Term 2, Term 3, Term 4, NAPLAN intensive, HSC trials intensive, selective schools intensive), and a student-results content engine that posts every band 6, every NAPLAN improvement, every selective-schools offer (with parental consent) because every parent at the school gate talks about results and the tutor whose results show up on Instagram becomes the default recommendation.
Six agents, working in your accounts.
Account Lead, Web, SEO, Advertising, Social Media, and Content. One platform, one bill, you approve the work.
Builds your annual plan around the term and intensive calendar, not generic enrolment goals: a Term 2 push starting in week 9 of Term 1, a NAPLAN intensive launch in week 8 of Term 1, a HSC trials intensive push in week 7 of Term 2, a selective-schools intensive in the May holidays. Briefs the other agents so the subject pages, the suburb ads, the student-win posts and the parent emails all hit their windows.
Imports your existing site so you stop paying Wix plus TutorBird plus separate landing-page tools, and ships a page for every subject-year-suburb combination you actually teach. Adds a proper online-vs-in-person filter on the subject list, a real timetable widget that shows current availability, and a 'book free assessment' flow that lands in your existing system.
Goes after the long-tail suburb-and-subject searches that Cluey and Kip cannot defend: 'HSC chemistry tutor [suburb]', 'Year 5 NAPLAN [suburb]', 'OC class prep [suburb]'. Ships CourseInstance and EducationalOrganization schema, optimises the Google Business Profile, and earns review prompts from every parent after a term cycle. Auto-applies the low-risk fixes.
Runs Google Ads timed to the enrolment windows: lifts spend 6 weeks before every term, every NAPLAN, every HSC trials intensive, every school-holiday programme. Targets parents on Meta for primary subjects, targets students directly on YouTube and Reddit for senior subjects (because Year 12 students search for themselves). Drops broad chain-style 'tutor' keywords entirely.
Turns every consented student win into a post in your real accounts: a band 6 result, a 12-point NAPLAN improvement, a selective-schools offer, a tutor explaining a tricky integration in 30 seconds. Builds the gate-conversation trust that turns the curious parent into a free-assessment booking. You flag the win, the agent drafts the caption in your voice, you approve in two taps.
Drafts the guides parents and students Google before they book: 'how to study for HSC Maths Extension 1', 'NAPLAN Year 5 numeracy: what's actually on the test', 'selective schools test prep timeline: when to start'. Two drafts a month, in your voice, that catch the student or parent four months before they enrol.
Your first 30 days.
- Subject-year-suburb pages (HSC English, VCE Maths Methods, NAPLAN Year 5, selective schools test) indexed and ranking on long-tail term-and-subject queries
- Annual plan against term, NAPLAN, HSC and school-holiday-intensive windows delivered by Sam
- Google Business Profile rebuilt as 'Tutoring service' with 32 subjects listed and Working With Children Check status visible
- Cluey Learning and Kip McGrath competitive comparison page published as the cornerstone trust asset
- In-person versus online format selector live in the booking flow with parent-friendly explainer
- Term-timed enrolment ad set running with day-by-day budget step-ups against the next intake window
- School-holiday intensive landing page shipped with 'spaces remaining' counter wired to enrolments
- 'How to study for HSC Maths Advanced' parent-and-student guide drafted, with Year 5 NAPLAN companion piece in the queue
Tutoring businesses don't fail at quality; they fail at calendar. Cluey and Kip start spending six weeks before every intake; you start the day enrolments open and run the term half-full. NAPLAN parents are already booked by the time you draft the email. The work is the calendar discipline, the subject-year-suburb page library, the consented results posts that earn the school-gate referral, and the long-tail SEO the chains cannot defend.
Agencies are too dear to actually run this for $3.5k a month. Tools are cheap but the Term 2 push you mean to launch in week 8 is still in your notes app in week 12. In-House is the third option: for $299 a month the agents ship the subject pages, run the intake-window ads, post the student wins and draft the parent guides. You stay in the driver's seat, two taps to approve, minutes a day between sessions. Fill every intake on time, not three weeks late.