Grinds enquiries, timed to the school year.
Tutoring has three buying moments in a year and almost nothing in between. September, when the year starts and resolutions are fresh. January, when the Christmas exam results land. And February into March, when the mocks come back and panic sets in.
A grinds business that spends evenly across twelve months is spending most of it in months where nobody is buying. We build the calendar around those spikes instead.
Everything, from the ad to the booked call.
Results-driven campaign timing
Budget concentrated into the weeks after Christmas exams and mocks, when the decision is actually being made.
Parent-facing creative
The student is the user; the parent is the buyer and almost always the one who pays. The advertising speaks to the parent.
Subject-level campaigns
Higher Level Maths is not the same sale as Leaving Cert Irish. Separate campaigns for the subjects that actually carry your margin.
Online and in-person split
Two different products with different catchments. Online can be national; in-person is a twenty-minute drive.
Social media, fully run
Posted and monitored, so a parent checking at eleven at night finds a business that looks established and safe.
The form asks first, so your phone rings second.
Every campaign sends the click to a lead form that asks the qualifying questions before the enquiry reaches you. For grinds and tutoring, that means:
- 01Which year is the student in?
- 02Which subjects, and at what level?
- 03Online or in person?
- 04Is this for exam preparation or ongoing support?
- 05County or area
Then one number every Friday: spend, leads, cost per lead and what we are changing next week.
leads at €2.75 each on €57.78 of spend for a home-improvement client
qualified leads per month for a Dublin trades business
Every figure comes from a client we can put you in touch with. We do not name clients in ads or on this page. See more on the results page.
You are advertising to the parent
Almost every grinds enquiry is made or approved by a parent, and parents buy differently from students. They want reassurance about safety, about the tutor's qualifications and about whether this will actually change a grade.
Creative aimed at students — energetic, informal, results-focused — consistently underperforms creative aimed at a worried parent who wants to know their child is in safe hands. It is the most common mistake in this category.
Garda vetting is a selling point, not a footnote
Every parent wonders about it and very few ask directly. A business that states its vetting and qualification position plainly, up front, removes the unspoken objection before it forms.
This is one of the rare cases where putting compliance information in the advertising improves performance rather than dulling it.
The three spikes
The buying calendar is sharper here than in almost any other category, and budget should follow it rather than sit flat.
September
New school year, new intentions. Good for ongoing weekly enrolment rather than crash courses.
January
Christmas exam results. The single strongest window of the year for exam-year students.
February to March
Mocks. Short, intense and price-insensitive — parents are buying reassurance under time pressure.
€1,500 a month. Everything included.
Meta advertising fully managed, lead forms that qualify, social media fully run, all creative every month and the Friday report. Google Ads managed on top: €2,000 a month. No setup fee, no contract, month to month. Advertising spend is paid directly to the platforms and stays in your control.
Every county in Ireland.
Campaigns are built around the towns you actually cover, not a county name. Counties where we see the most demand for grinds and tutoring:
Straight answers.
Should we advertise in summer?
Lightly, for next year's exam cohort and for crash courses only. Most of the year's budget belongs in January and after the mocks.
Do we target students or parents?
Parents, almost always. They decide and they pay. Student-facing creative wins attention and loses enquiries.
Is online tutoring worth advertising nationally?
Yes, and it is a genuinely different campaign from in-person. Wider catchment, lower price tolerance, more competition.
Which subjects should we push?
Whichever carry your margin and your best tutors. Higher Level Maths and the sciences are the most searched, and the most competed for.
How do we handle the safety question?
State vetting and qualifications plainly in the advertising. It improves conversion rather than hurting it.
What does it cost?
€1,500 a month with everything included, month to month.
Find out what you're missing.
A free growth audit of your Google map results, reviews, website and the ads running in your county. Sent as a PDF within 24 hours. No call needed.