Teacher Guide: Promoting Your Classroom Courses Without Breaking the Bank

Hook: Low Budget, Big Classrooms — The Problem Every Tutor Faces

You’re great at teaching, but finding and filling classes feels expensive and chaotic. You’ve tried flyers, social posts, and a few boosted ads — but the results were inconsistent, tracking was messy, and every dollar mattered. If that sounds familiar, this guide is built for you. It shows how individual tutors and classroom teachers can use low-cost CRM features and Google’s 2026 total campaign budgets for Search to attract students affordably and sustainably.

The 2026 Context: Why Now is a Better Time to Market on a Shoestring

Two developments in late 2025 and early 2026 changed the game for small educators and solo tutors:

• Google rolled out total campaign budgets for Search and Shopping (Jan 2026), letting you set a single budget across a promotion period and letting Google optimize day-to-day spend automatically.
• CRM platforms have matured: affordable plans now include forms, email workflows, booking, simple automation and AI-assisted content, tools once reserved for larger businesses. Reviews updated in January 2026 highlight accessible feature sets for small operations.

Together these allow tutors to run short, targeted recruitment campaigns, track leads in one place, and turn inquiries into paying students without hiring an agency.

Quick Strategy Overview: How CRM + Google Total Budgets Work Together

1. Capture: Use a CRM form or booking widget to collect lead info and consent.
2. Convert: Send an automated nurture flow and a limited-time offer linked to a Google Search ad campaign with a set total budget.
3. Track: Record conversions in your CRM and use Analytics/GA4 to measure ROI and refine targeting.
4. Scale: Reuse the workflow for future cohorts, referrals, and bulk licensing or school partnerships.

Step 1 — CRM Basics for Teachers: Do More With Less

Most tutors need basic CRM features — and most affordable plans now include them. Focus on five essentials:

• Contact capture: Embeddable forms or booking widgets for your website and landing pages.
• Segmentation & tags: Mark leads by subject, age group, location, or interest.
• Email/SMS automation: Welcome sequences, reminders, and payment follow-ups.
• Pipeline or stages: Track where a lead is — inquiry, trial, paid, or alumni.
• Reporting & exports: Track cost per acquisition and lifetime value.

Practical setup (30–90 minutes):

1. Create two forms: one quick “book a trial” and one longer “class enquiry” that asks subject, level, and preferred time.
2. Set tags for new contacts: lead-trial, lead-enquiry, paid-student.
3. Build a 3-email welcome series: 1) confirmation + calendar link, 2) what-to-expect + social proof, 3) limited-time discount.
4. Integrate your calendar (Calendly/ built-in) and payment link to close faster.

Low-cost CRM feature hacks

• Use forms to auto-assign tags so you can send targeted follow-ups without manual sorting.
• Turn booking confirmations into micro-lessons (short PDF or video) to increase commitment and reduce no-shows.
• Export lead lists monthly to run low-cost SMS campaigns for past trial students (SMS usually has high conversion for small classes).

Step 2 — Cheap, Effective Google Search Ads with Total Campaign Budgets

Google’s early 2026 release of total campaign budgets for Search and Shopping is ideal for short enrollment pushes (e.g., 1-week trial drives, 2-week term enrolment windows). Use a single budget for the full run and let Google pace spend to maximize conversions.

How to structure a low-cost search campaign

1. Define the campaign objective: leads (form fills or booking completions).
2. Set a realistic total budget: e.g., $200 for 14 days (about $14/day average) — Google will optimize daily spend.
3. Choose geo-targeting: limit to a 10–20 km radius around your teaching location or ZIPs of nearby schools.
4. Pick intent keywords: combine

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