Course Creation PLAYBOOK
Lesson Outline
Email MarketingAdvertisingSocial MediaInfluencer MarketingPrevious LessonComplete & NextBack to course home
Marketing
Marketing TacticsEmail MarketingSocial MediaTips for SuccessAdvertisingSoft LaunchFinal Clean Up
Marketing Tactics
The first thing to do is to amp up your marketing techniques. You should continue doing what you did to engage customers during the preselling phase. At the same time, you should amp up those marketing tactics in order to reach more people than before.
Email Marketing
The most successful marketing tactic is email marketing. Of course, there are other avenues and we will get to that later. You should create an extensive email list that you’ve gathered from the preselling phase, continued marketing, and other avenues.
Firstly, you will need an email marketing platform such as GetResponse in order to build and send out emails to your subscribers. So make sure you sign up to one of those or an alternative.
To create an email marketing strategy, begin by creating an email account for your course. Do not use your personal email such as johndoe@gmail.com. Additionally, create a lead magnet for your email that you send out to your email list. A lead magnet is something that the customers get for signing up for your emails. A free cheat sheet or workbook is a great lead magnet.
Once you have crafted the perfect email that includes a lead magnet, you’re free to send out your email to your email list.
Social Media Marketing
Since your course will be online, another great way to market your course is through multiple promotional platforms.
Use as many social media sites and blogs as possible in order to reach a wide variety of audiences.
Keep your branding consistent and use a professional yet educated and engaging voice. Write with active verbs.You can use tools like Canva to create banners and different flyers to post on social media sites. Using visual aids in your social media posts is a great idea because it will catch more peoples’ eyes, which in turn will result in more customers.
Attributes of a Successful Online Course
What’s also worthwhile is to connect with others in your industry. This is also called influencer marketing where you reach out to social media influencers to partner with you. You could offer incentives such as a commission via an affiliate program, free access to your product, and offering discount coupons for their followers. This will help you get more customers since social media influencers tend to have more followers than the average person or course creator.
Get started by following relevant influencers on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. You can use its search feature to search for specific hashtags relevant to your niche. For example, if your niche is around leadership, then do a search for “leadership” on the platform. From there, you can follow the accounts of those in the niche.
You want to prepare an influencer outreach proposal stating the perks and benefits of promoting your online course.
Paid Advertising
If you have an ad budget, consider promoting your online course through Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads. Also consider YouTube Ads and Google Ads. The best part about most of these advertising channels is that you only pay per click and that you can set a daily ad budget. You are also given the option to narrow your target audience based on geographical location, demographics, and psychographics. This is a huge factor since you only want your ad to be shown to people who have a higher chance of buying your course.
Soft Launch
Before the launch of your online course, it is recommended to have a soft launch. A soft launch is when you allow a select group of people to start the course early in order to make sure that everything runs smoothly and there are no technical issues. A soft launch is a great way to get more customers and ensure that your product is high caliber.
In order to gain customers through a soft launch, you should offer a discount for participating in the soft launch. Explain to the customers that this is a trial run to make sure that your course runs correctly. In exchange for their cooperation, they get a discount on the course. This is a great way to get more customers while also improving your product.
You may also want to see if other course creators are interested in your soft launch. Having other course creators participate will allow you to get feedback from someone else who is experienced in creating courses. They may have key tips or insights that a student would not think to tell.
During the soft launch, make notes of any complaints or issues that customers see with the product. Once the soft launch is over, you will be able to fix everything before your final launch. Do not get your feelings hurt if students come back with complaints that you do not agree with. Simply thank them for their help and make changes accordingly.
Final Clean Up
After gathering information about your product during the soft launch, it is time to clean up all remaining issues before your final launch. This includes grammatical errors, content errors, or technical issues. Make sure to be diligent when cleaning up your course, or else customers might think that the finished product is unpolished and unprofessional.
Once you think that all of your content is correct, go back and check one more time. Chances are, there are one or two more errors. Listen to the documents, read the documents, listen to your videos, and test out any features or quizzes.
After you have gone through and checked all your content one last time, you can go ahead and launch your course. Even after the course launches though, it is important to continue marketing. If you stop marketing, you will stop getting students. Even though the launch already happened, you still want to attract more customers so that they may be interested in more courses you do down the line.
Tools for Success
Here are Important Links:
Facebook List for Coaches I Like and LOVE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheLOVEusa/posts/2911377842464929/ Small Group for Coaching Related Posts and Discussion: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheLOVEusa/
Journal Prompts: (If you’d like some!!!)
What is your motto for this year? What is your motto for this course? What do you want to produce this year? What do you hope to obtain in business? What is your income goal for coaching this year?
Quick Tips to Get Started in Business Elements
Here are some tips that will help you get started in the business. More will come during the course so use this to start a list!
If you want to tackle the business side of things…
If you don’t have any self-promotional photos, you may want to arrange a professional photoshoot. For course building, it’s not necessarily a requirement. For business building, it absolutely is. *wink* Keep that in mind. Work on your professional coaching bio. If you are an educator, you’ll have to sell people on who you are and promote yourself regularly. You need to sell YOUR persona. “People buy into you before they buy into your business.” – Mail us your coaching business card by the end of 8 weeks!!! 😉 [POX Box 13202, Jacksonville, FL 32206] Don’t forget your pens, journal, portfolio, calendar, highlighters, sticky notes, and … STICKERS!!!!
Set Up a Stripe account for your business if you have not done so already. Connect your bank account.
Set Up a PayPal account for your business if you have not done so already. Connect your bank account.
̶ ̶S̶e̶t̶ ̶U̶p̶ ̶a̶ ̶S̶q̶u̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶o̶u̶n̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶b̶u̶s̶i̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶.̶ ̶C̶o̶n̶n̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶o̶u̶n̶t̶.̶
Set Up a Cash App account for your business if you have not done so already. Connect your bank account. Sign up for Zoom. A free account will do. Sign up for Google for their Forms for online forms which include appointment bookings, surveys, payment portals, etc. They will help you administer quizzes and such for your students if needed. More importantly, you can administer evaluations this way. Sign up for dropbox to help you stay organized on the go!!! Get yourself an email marketing program. Make plans to engage clients via email. After researching many email service providers, I use GetResponse. I’ve been using them for years! This is my referral link: https://www.getresponse.com/pricing?code=Spring24&a=NmNdMYNngV
How to Make Money with Your Online Course
5 Key Takeaways
Charging Upfront:
Takeaway:
Charging students upfront for your online course is the most straightforward and effective way to ensure that payments are received and to reduce complications later on. This method also aligns with common educational payment practices and encourages future course purchases.
Charging for Certification:
Takeaway:
Offering the course content for free but charging for certification can attract more students initially while generating revenue from those who see value in the certification. This model builds trust and can result in a larger email list and better marketing opportunities.
Pre-Selling Your Course:
Takeaway:
Pre-selling your course before fully developing it allows you to gauge customer interest and validate your course idea. This minimizes the risk of investing time and resources into a course that may not succeed, and can help build an initial subscriber base through pilot lessons.
Building Trust and Alleviating Payment Fears:
Takeaway:
Both charging for certification and pre-selling help to build trust with potential students by reducing their financial risk upfront. This can lead to a greater willingness to pay later for the certification or full course once they see the value being offered.
Creating a Professional and Marketable Course:
Takeaway:
By focusing on the value proposition of your course—such as offering certifications that add professional value—students are more likely to see your course as a worthwhile investment, leading to better marketability and a higher likelihood of future purchases.
These themes collectively aim to equip you with strategies to effectively monetize your online course while building a trustworthy and compelling offering that attracts and retains students.
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Discussion and Review
To ensure you have been IMPACTed and are the way to earning high ticket INCOME, answer the following questions:
What are 3 key lessons for you?What 3 actions will you take based on what you learned?How will this increase your INCOME?How will this increase your IMPACT?
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