ELT Content Marketing Case Study: Talking with Claire Venables
A case study on Content Marketing in ELT
Let’s take a look at how Hubbub Labs doubled Claire’s mailing list and sold out her online course just over a month. Subsequently, Claire used the framework we gave her to sell out 2 more online courses.
You can sign up to Claire’s Active English mailing list here.
Meet ELT pro Claire Venables, owner at Active English
Claire Venables has been working in the English Language Teaching (ELT) Industry for almost 20 years and is very dedicated to teaching and helping other teachers develop their skills.
Claire officially set up her company Active English in 2016. Her mission is to transform ELT in Brazil by providing quality training and building a strong community of teachers.
We’ve been lucky enough to work with Claire since December 2018; her energy is infectious and her motivation inspiring – so we’d like to share her story with you and explain how the Hubbub Labs team constructed a personalised marketing strategy, which not only doubled her mailing list in just over a month but also sold out three online courses.
Claire’s ELT background
I moved to Brazil in 2011 with big plans, but before I could achieve my goals I had to adapt to the local culture. To start with, my pay was awful and I had a lot of work. So my first challenge was to find a way to change my financial situation.
I started masterminding with a friend and we came up with Active English – a teaching community. Our motto is Create, Contribute and Connect.
That’s been my guideline ever since.
Why did you come to Hubbub Labs for help?
On my own, I was able to grow organically by speaking at conferences events and actively contributing to online groups. But I wasn’t having a wide enough impact. I needed to grow – and for that I needed a number of business skills, which I hadn’t needed before.
I reconnected with George and Dan at the InnovateELT conference in 2017. They are working with my old employer Oxford House, InnovateELT, ELTjam, and some big publishers – so I trusted them 100%.
Honestly, though, after speaking to them, I wasn’t sure that content marketing was for me. I didn’t think it was financially viable to have someone doing strategy and creating content for me – I’m such a small business after all.
But once I got home, I came to the decision that I needed to invest in being faster and more efficient. I reached out to them and explained what I wanted: to sell a new online course and write a weekly email that would get young learner teachers excited about teaching in new ways.
What what the solution we came up with and what did we do for you?
Hubbub Labs didn’t try to sell me anything that I didn’t need. Instead, they listened to my goals and challenges and came up with the solution that really was made-to-measure.
Hubbub taught me how to maximise my content. They gave me a framework and funnel which I still follow. They then created five newsletters and a landing page – showing me how to turn my content into email that would be of value to young learner teachers.
What were the results?
Within five emails (just over a month) my subscriber list roughly doubled. We went from 723 to 1383 subscribers – who immediately started replying and engaging with me.
This was not just down to the content, but thanks to the framework and funnel structure Hubbub Labs created. It was designed to build excitement on my social media channels (a Facebook group and Instagram page), and get genuine engagement from teachers trying out my ideas in their classes.
It really worked and now my reach goes way beyond Brazil. I’m getting tagged on Instagram by teachers in Thailand, the UK, Spain – all over! It’s great to know that what I’m sharing is getting into classrooms and helping teachers everywhere. It’s really fulfilling – and I’m able to stay true to my mission of creating, contributing and connecting.
Even better, we achieved my objective of selling my new online course. In fact, all three courses sold out following Hubbub Labs’ tailor-made framework for my business.
What was it like working with Hubbub Labs?
I think that would fall into the “fun” category!
As someone who’s an educational entrepreneur, it’s extremely scary to invest money – I’ve gone all-in with this. I NEED this to work – so I went in feeling nervous. The laughs we had took away the fear and tension.
Working with Hubbub Labs made the whole thing light and that in turn made me more creative and confident. I also feel like I had a lot of support and encouragement that gave me a massive confidence boost: this is what I need to make, this gets me to where I want to be.
Would you recommend Hubbub Labs services?
I always recommend Hubbub Labs to my colleagues who are facing similar challenges to those I had. If you’re transitioning from a teacher to an entrepreneur, there’s a whole new skill set you have to learn – so this was a really good investment.
This was the first time I’d collaborated with someone. It showed me how important it is to work with other people. Since working with Hubbub Labs, I’ve been working with lots of people – and that’s meant continued growth.
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