How To Find a Teaching Niche and Market Your Teaching Services

Are you looking to find a teaching niche? If so you are in the right place. This blog post outlines a webinar presented by James Liu and Chris Rush on teacher niching, marketing and pricing. Be sure to read the post, scroll and watch the webinar to gain as much information you can about all three topics.

What is a niche?

A niche is a specific category or group of specialization. Niches can be found in almost any industry, including the ESL industry. Many ESL teachers want to find a teaching niche so that they can share their passions and increase income. However, many ESL teachers have difficulty determining what their niche should be and how to market themselves as niche ESL teachers. 

Many reasons explain why it is hard for teachers to find a teaching niche. For one thing, teachers usually want to advertise as much of their expertise as possible; it can be difficult for them to hone in on a specific skill to teach. Other times, it can be looked at as a very intimidating switch because teachers think they will look less qualified if they teach fewer topics. Ironically, this is not true. 

Why is it important to find a teaching niche?

When ESL teachers choose a niche, they are marketing themselves as an expert in a specific subject area. This helps teachers stand out from the thousands of other teachers that teach an array of unrelated topics. When you teach a niche, it looks like you know more about it. Though when you teach more subjects, a client is more likely to think that you know less about these subjects. So it is safe to say that when you choose a teaching niche you are bound to appear more qualified to potential clients. 

How to find a teaching niche

Many ESL teachers stay away from choosing a teaching niche because they think it is near impossible to find one. Turns out, it is not only easier but more doable than one might think. When choosing a niche there are three major questions to ask yourself:

1. What does the market demand right now?
2. What are you most skilled at teaching?
3. What are you passionate about? 

You need to answer these questions so that you can narrow down your options. To do so you can think about careers or jobs you have had in the past and the skills you gained. As well you can audit your current students (reasons to learn English, what you teach them, industry, etc.) to find out what skills you are capable of teaching. As you complete this overview you will notice trends and patterns about your students and what you have taught/ are teaching them. This will give you great insight into your teaching abilities and the market available to you.  Essentially, you must learn from the market, align your abilities with it and choose a niche based on this. Watch the Webinar to find out what James and Chris have to say about finding a teaching niche. 

Niching, marketing and pricing 

As an ESL teacher, the key thing to remember is that what matters most is how your students (or potential clients) perceive you. When you market yourself as a targeted teacher with a specific set of skills, you will be perceived as such. This is especially important when you start advertising your rates. What you need to remember is that as a niche teacher, you are teaching a specialized topic and that is harder for students to come by. Therefore, your prices should reflect this. Meaning, you should and can charge more than you would as a general ESL teacher simply because your services are of better quality. 

One of the best things to know when it comes to pricing yourself as a niche ESL teacher is that there are students out there that are willing to pay your desired rates. You might be tempted to undersell yourself but don’t. James Liu recommends that you start at no less than $50 per session and continue to increase your rates with experience. Remember, people will always want to negotiate with you to try and decrease your rates. You must stay out of this trap and stand by your pricing. 

When marketing yourself as a niche teacher you must learn from your students; they will provide you with the information you need. You can continue to specialize and refine your niche as you gain experience in it. In any case, find a target market and approach it with confidence— you are a better teacher than you realize. 

The webinar

Be sure to watch the webinar to find out more about what James and Chris have to say about niche teaching and how it benefits teachers when they market services. Already have a teaching niche? We would love to know what it is and how you chose it. Let us know what it is in the comments below. Off2Class loves to hear from your teachers just like you!