As a global platform, around one quarter of Tes resource authors are based outside of the UK and a similar proportion of website users are searching for products suitable for international markets and curriculums.
Earlier this year we invited some of our most popular authors to answer questions about making resources that appeal to a global audience. We collected some great tips on how to make your resources popular all over the world, but one topic we also get asked is how to approach specific markets around the world and make your resources popular with particular audiences. We have put together four top tips to help you with this.
1. Know your audience
The first thing to consider is the curriculum you’re developing resources for and where this curriculum is taught. Are your resources designed for use in international schools? Might the teachers often be expatriates? Will the students speak english as a first or additional language?
Understanding the nature of the individuals using resources like yours will help you to understand the mindset of your audience. You can then begin to work out what terms these teachers are searching for on Tes or even more likely on Google. Making sure that your titles and descriptions are set up to cater to these key terms is a crucial way to get your resources seen by your prospective audiences. While short titles and descriptions packed with important key terms will get you seen by more people on search engines, maybe your particular audience uses unique terms or phrases that you can utilise to get your resources seen specifically by your target audience? Sometimes a long-titled resource can capture the key phrases particular cohorts of teachers tend to use.
2. Know your competition
Key to understanding your market and their needs is knowledge of your competition. Browse other resources on Tes that approach your target market, learn from their styles of resources and topics that may already be well covered. You may want to approach a part of the curriculum that appears to be lacking in resources or maybe aim for a slice of the pie in a high-demand topic area or event such as ‘World Book Day’.
Other websites and resources will be marketing similar products to your target audience. Find out what those websites are providing and again decide if you want to approach a curriculum area that is low on support or cash in on the high popularity of certain resource types and topics.
3. Focus on appropriate marketing
When advertising your resources on other sites and apps, be aware of what the popular internet platforms are among your target audience. For instance, certain search engines or social media may be more popular among teachers in particular parts of the world while others may not even be accessible.
Once you have identified the internet usage trends of your target audience, follow our marketing guidance on how to get seen in those popular channels. Many of our tips for specific social media sites may be useful across other platforms too.
4. Persevere
Sometimes marketing to a target audience can be trial and error. If at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up! Instead, analyse your successes and failures, analyse the success of your competitors, learn from your mistakes and create new marketing strategies.
The author dashboard is set up in such a way that it is easy to change your resources, and has a number of tools to help you analyse which resources have succeeded and which have not. It may take weeks or months for resources to demonstrate their true popularity but you will eventually be able to work out what appeals to your audience and what does not.
Do remember that the popularity of many resources can tend to be seasonal so don’t be disheartened when, for instance, revision resources and end-of-term quizzes aren’t proving popular at the start of the school year. However, also remember that different parts of the world have different school-term calendars so patterns of resource popularity may vary in different countries.
In 2021 we interviewed two of our authors who's resources had been particularly popular with an international audience.
Tristan (aka TristanJones) and Andrew (aka AnyHolland) share their maths (Tristan) and French (Andrew) resources on Tes for free. In 2021 both authors took the lead for having their resources downloaded in the most countries.
Andrew AKA Anyholland
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you started sharing resources on Tes?
I’ve been teaching MFL for the past 30 years and I’m HoD in a grammar school in Lincolnshire. I’ve also taught EFL in both France and Turkey. I began sharing resources about 10 years ago. I was looking for some inspiration and found a couple of good worksheets on Tes so I decided to share some of my work. I discovered that other teachers found my resources helpful so I carried on uploading resources I thought others could use successfully.
What has been your highlight of being a Tes author so far?
It’s always pleasing to receive positive feedback from teachers who have found my resources helpful. I enjoy reading other teachers’ experiences and comments and how they have used or adapted my resources, but the highlight was when I was shortlisted for a Tes award a few years ago.
Why do you think your resources have been so internationally popular?
I think you need to produce resources teachers can readily use or adapt easily. I like to pack the pages with differentiated tasks which encourage progression. Although I sometimes produce resources in the style of a specific examining board or qualification, most of my work is generic enough to be helpful to anyone teaching MFL following any curriculum or syllabus.
If you could give any advice to Tes authors looking to expand into international markets, what would it be?
You need to make your resources as accessible and generic as possible, or hone in on a specific international qualification (IB or IGCSE for example) and use terminology and instructions which anyone can access. Resources need to be user friendly and relevant (for teachers and pupils) and can fit into any lesson or SoW.
Tristan AKA TristanJones
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you started sharing resources on Tes?
I’ve worked in a mixture of state and independent schools across London for the past 17 years. I spent several years as a head of maths before becoming the director of studies at a North London independent school. For me Tes was a great way of storing all my resources so I could access and share them within my department easily. I’m also a data geek and enjoyed seeing my download statistics and reading reviews –even the negative ones that would criticise me for not supplying answers.
What has been your highlight of being a Tes author so far?
I suppose employing new members of staff who recognise my name and ask if I'm THE Tristan Jones from Tes. Or going to visit schools and seeing some of my popular transformation worksheets as displays on classrooms walls.
Why do you think your resources have been so internationally popular?
I like to think that mathematics is the same wherever you study it. Also, every worksheet or resource I’ve ever made, I’ve always had the student's I teach in mind. I try to avoid resources being too repetitive (although some of my earlier resources may be guilty of this) and try to have each resource progress in difficulty gradually.
If you could give any advice to Tes authors looking to expand into international markets, what would it be?
I didn't set out to 'expand' into international markets. I don't sell my resources and only wanted to save other teachers' time when planning their lessons. My most popular resources are the ones which differ from the traditional textbook exercises so I'd suggest being creative.
If you’d like to hear more about international author success, watch our webinar from March 2020 with two of our authors discussing their internationally popular resources.