# Case: two channels for Dana > Dana runs a one-person tutoring practice with hours instead of a budget. Read her eight-week channel log, choose two channels and write her channels row. - Course: [Marketing Strategy: Who to Win and How](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy.md) - Module: How do people find us and buy? - Lesson 20/32, ~34 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/two-channels-for-dana-case ## Dana's practice **Alex Tutor:** Today a detour from Klasna. Dana, one of its English tutors, started her own practice for adults in September: three students from friends, free evening slots, a social-media account, a messenger channel and almost no money for marketing. **Alex Tutor:** Her budget is her hours. Her contract with Klasna has one rule she keeps: she never approaches Klasna's families or learners. Your job is to help her pick two channels for the next eight weeks. **Dana:** I tried everything at once and I'm tired. Here's my log from 1 September to 25 October. Five people wrote to me, two started and both are still with me. With my first three that's five students, about 30 of my 48 lessons a month: room for three more. > **Dana's channel log, 1 September – 25 October 2026** > > | Channel | Kind | Hours | Enquiries | Students (started, still studying) | > |---|---|---|---|---| > | Posts on her social-media account | rented | 14 | 2 | 0 | > | Short videos | rented | 10 | 0 | 0 | > | Messenger channel (people who subscribed) | owned | 4 | 0 | 0 | > | Asking friends and her students for introductions | referrals | 2 | 2 | 1 | > | A talk in a job-hunting community chat, agreed with its admin | partner | 5 | 1 | 1 | > | **Total** | | **35** | **5** | **2** | > > Her first three students came from friends before she started any marketing, so they aren't in the log. The two enquiries from posts didn't start: one couldn't fit her evenings, one wanted a group. From November she can give marketing **3 hours a week**. The next eight weeks run to the end of December: 24 hours. **Sofia:** Thirty-five hours for two students. That's a lot of evenings. **Alex Tutor:** Before the numbers: what is Dana's marketing budget, really? > **Exercise:** Dana has almost no money for marketing. How should she judge her channels? > **Exercise:** Across all five channels, how many hours did Dana spend per student who is **still studying**? To one decimal. ## Hours per student who stays **Dana:** My posts felt the most productive. Two enquiries, as many as referrals! **Alex Tutor:** That's Klasna's lesson again at a smaller size. Two enquiries in fourteen hours against two in two hours, and neither person from the posts started. Count students still studying per hour: referrals 2 hours each, the community talk 5, posts none at all. > **Exercise:** Which reading of Dana's log ranks her channels correctly by **hours per student still studying**, fewest hours first? **Dana:** So referrals win. But I only have five students and a few friends to ask, and I can't ask them every week. **Alex Tutor:** Right, that's the catch: referrals are cheap but the pool is small. Ask each student once, with a short note they can forward. The community talk is the channel that can grow: there are other relocation and job-hunting communities, and a talk can be reused. **Dana:** And my posts? People look at my profile before they write to me. **Alex Tutor:** Then keep the profile as a shop window, not a channel: a clear profile line, a pinned post, about an hour a month. It serves "compare and check" for people others sent you. The same goes for your messenger channel: a place to follow up with people who chose to subscribe. **Alex Tutor:** Put each of her channels in its place for the next eight weeks. > **Exercise:** Match each of Dana's channels with its role for November and December. > **Exercise:** Which of these ideas can Dana use? Select all that apply. **Dana:** And the videos? Everyone says short videos are how you grow. **Alex Tutor:** Maybe for someone else. In your log they took ten hours and kept nobody. That isn't a law about videos; it's a fact about your eight weeks. Stop them for now and look again in spring. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** her posts brought Dana as many enquiries as referrals did, so they are an equally good channel. **Alex Tutor:** And the advice everyone gives her about videos? > **Exercise:** **True or false:** Dana's log proves that short videos don't work for private tutors. ## Writing the row **Dana:** What do I stop, then? I hate wasting what I already made. **Alex Tutor:** The hours you spent are gone whatever you choose. Decide on the next 24 hours only. Write down what stops and why, so you don't drift back in a busy week. **Alex Tutor:** Last check before she writes it down: what should drive the decision to stop? > **Exercise:** Dana says: "I've already put 10 hours into videos; stopping now wastes them." What is the best reply? > **Exercise:** Write Dana 2–3 sentences: which of her channels she **stops** for the next eight weeks and why, using her log. **Alex Tutor:** Now the full case. Dana's plan has the same rows as Klasna's, so write her channels row. Then add one line for Klasna's channels row from last lesson's numbers. **Dana:** And give me one number to watch, so I know in four weeks if it's working. > **Exercise:** Write Dana's channels plan for November and December, and her channels row. > **Key ideas** > > - For a one-person business the budget is hours: judge channels by hours per customer who stays, not by enquiries. > - In Dana's log: referrals 2 hours per student still studying, a community talk 5; posts took 14 hours for two enquiries and no student; videos and her channel brought no one. > - A cheap channel can have a small pool (referrals); prefer one that can grow (talks in more communities). > - Keep a profile as a shop window for "compare and check", not as a main channel. > - Hours already spent are gone; decide on the next ones, write down what stops, and set one number with a rule to change course. **Alex Tutor:** Back at Klasna next module: what to say in those channels, and with what budget. - Previous lesson: [Channel economics after fees and refunds](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/channel-economics-after-fees-and-refunds.md) - Next lesson: [Goals by step, tools by goal](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/goals-by-step-tools-by-goal.md) --- Productovi Learning. 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