Course Creation PLAYBOOK
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Your Target Audience
Finding Your AudienceThe Perfect TopicYour Customer AvatarHow To Engage StudentsPreselling
Finding Your Audience
Another important factor in creating a successful online course is being able to engage with your target audience and presell your course. Without doing these things, you may waste a lot of time on a course that eventually does not sell. Engaging your audience and preselling ensures that enough people are interested so that you meet your course goals.
The Perfect Topic is For the Perfect Audience
One of the first things to decide when creating a course is the target audience. If you do not have a clear idea of who the course is for, it could feel disorganized, and you might have trouble marketing it to potential customers. So, it is imperative to know your intended audience from the beginning of online course creation.
Remember this quote:
If you’re creating a course for everyone, then you’re creating it for no one.
For example, if your course is about improving soccer skills, you will probably be catering to a younger audience. In contrast, you’ll probably be catering to an older audience if you are writing about saving for retirement. It is very important to know who you are selling to before you sell your product.
Creating a Customer Avatar
A helpful assignment to do is to create a customer avatar. In other words, you want to create a profile of your ideal customer. Get clear on the demographics, geographics, and psychographics of your target audience.
For example:
What is their occupation?
Where are they located?
What is their age?
What is their gender?
What’s their average salary?
What is their education level?
What is their marital status?
What books do they read?
What blogs do they go to?
Who do they look up to?
What are their goals and aspirations?
What are their current problems and challenges?
What courses have they bought or tried before?
What were the pros and cons?
The best way to do this exercise is to picture that one person who is your ideal customer.
If you want to take it a step further, approach a potential customer and see if he/she would like to spare half an hour to help you create your customer avatar.
Before Proceeding, make sure you complete the answers to these questions to Create Your Customer Avatar.
How To Engage Potential Customers and Build Buzz Around Your Online Course
Once you know your intended audience, you should start engaging them through social media and other channels such as email marketing.
This step not only helps to build your presence and credibility online, it also builds buzz around your soon-to-be online course.
You can engage your audience by posting about it on multiple social media accounts and sending out emails based on followers. You want to spend time on social media platforms where your audience is spending most of their time.
Consider the following platforms:
InstagramFacebook and Facebook GroupsLinkedIn groupsQuoraRedditTwitter
When using these different platforms, it is important to immerse your course in a number of different settings. Try linking up with potential customers in chat groups related to the course topic or share your course in an actual classroom setting. No matter what, just try to expose your course to as many relevant audience members as possible.
When you engage your audience, you want to inform them about the learning outcomes and topic of your course. The goal is to get as many people interested as possible. So, let them know about the learning outcomes immediately. Be clear about what they will get from this course and why they should want your course specifically.
In fact, it is a great idea to list learning outcomes in all social media posts. This will allow customers to immediately recognize your product and increase the chances of them remembering the course.
You can also engage potential customers via email marketing. In fact, email marketing is one of the most effective ways of communicating with potential customers and convincing them to purchase your product. We will get more into email marketing later.
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 are IMPACTed and on 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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