20 Ways to Market and Sell Your Online Course
The day you’ve been waiting for has FINALLY arrived.
You’ve finished creating your online course, and you’re feeling all kinds of emotions 🎉
You’ve spent hours and hours planning, crafting your content, setting up your tech, filming, producing, editing and now you’re ready to reap the rewards of your hard work and start making some money.
There’s just one problem. Nobody knows about it. 😬😬😬😬😬
Without a clear marketing strategy, there's a high chance you could end up creating a great online course but then struggle to find an audience for it.
Online course marketing can be an overwhelming experience, but it doesn’t have to be. Whether you’ve already kicked off your game plan or are staring at a blank page wondering where to begin, I’m going to cover 20 ways to market and sell your online course (without a marketing background or big budget!).
The Vital Groundwork
If you read my previous blog on 10 ways to create and launch a successful online course, you’ll know that some vital groundwork needs to be carried out before the creation stage. Understanding your target audience, identifying your USP, and in-depth research are fundamental exercises that can determine the success of your online course. It’s now time to revisit the results of this groundwork to inform the foundations of an effective marketing plan. Here’s a reminder of what to consider:
Understand your audience
Before marketing your online course, you need to know your audience. Why? Because how can you market your online course if you don’t know who you are marketing it to? Ask yourself; Who are they? What pain points or frustrations do they have? Where do they hang out online? What matters to them most? The answers to these questions will inform the foundation for your marketing strategy and help you craft targeted marketing messages that speak directly to your online course customers.
Identify your Unique Selling Point (USP)
Put simply; your USP is what sets you apart. It’s what persuades your target customer to take action and choose your online course over another. One of the easiest ways to define your USP is to put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes. Whenever anyone is shopping online, they are in the “what’s-in-it-for-me” mindset. In your case, your customer will be wondering what your online course can do for them and why it’s different to others on the market. Answer this question, and you effectively have the foundation for your USP, and you can now use it as your key selling point throughout your marketing efforts.
Conduct market research
Along with understanding your audience and your USP, you also need to understand the market you’ll be competing in; your competitors, your industry, the platforms etc. You also need to uncover how your target audience is currently interacting with your course topic. Search for groups within your niche that contain your target audience, and monitor the conversation. This is an excellent strategy for getting outside your existing community, identifying common questions and shared challenges, and positioning yourself as an expert in the areas you want to be known for.
Create a keyword bank
Keywords are words and phrases that your potential customers will type into search engines like Google to find what they need. Ask yourself what words or phrases your audience would use to find your online course. Unsure where to begin? Moz.com, Ubersuggest and Google’s Keyword Planner are all helpful tools to guide your research in the right direction. Once you’ve defined your list of keywords, you can use these strategically throughout your online course marketing materials, such as blogs, sales pages or social media posts.
Creating Targeted Content
Producing high-quality, targeted content is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your online course. Depending on the type of course, you can use various content styles and formats to educate your audience about the benefits of signing up.
Blog about it
Your blog is not only a place to share your thoughts and expertise but also an excellent tool for attracting free traffic from search engines. If you write articles about the same topic you teach in your course, every person who reads your blog becomes a potential customer. Don’t forget to use the keywords from your research strategically throughout your blogs to increase your chances of being found by your target audience. While blogs can take some time and research to produce, they are far from a one-hit-wonder. Repurposing your blog posts into perhaps a series of social media posts or a script for a podcast allows you to breathe life into older content and reach new audiences – without having to come up with brand new material. Or indeed, do it the other way around and use the script from your podcast or an Instagram live to form the content of your blog post and social media posts.
Guest write for others
To broaden your prospective customer pool, consider writing articles related to your online course topic and submitting them to other blogs and publications online. Spend some time researching these blogs to help ensure you submit an article that fits their audience and gives you the best return on investment. If possible, include a link to your website or course in your author bio and a strong call-to-action that leads to your online course at the end of your article. This strategy helps create an endless digital trail that leads back to your online course. Not only is this good for SEO, but it also builds your credibility.
Vlog about it
Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google? This means that there is enormous potential to market your online course in a format that is accessible and engaging to a broad audience. To capitalise on this opportunity, create videos on YouTube around your online course topic and include a link to your course’s sales page or booking page in the video description. Your videos can then be repurposed into various content formats from blogs, IGTVs, podcasts and social media posts.
Launch a podcast
Podcasting is a unique (and exciting) traffic source because it allows you to advertise to your audience on the go. Today, entrepreneurs and business owners use podcasts to establish themselves as experts in their field, connect with their audience, and promote their brands. You can do the same for your online course. Your podcast can take many forms; you could answer Q&As, interview guests within your chosen niche or talk freestyle about your course topic. Don’t forget to cross-promote your podcast on other channels and consider repurposing your podcast transcript into other content formats.
The Power of Networking
Tap into your existing network to unlock a whole host of marketing opportunities for your online course. Social media, email marketing, and community-building are tactics businesses and fellow course creators use every day to promote their online courses. And there’s a reason for this- they work!
Optimise your social media
With over 4.48 billion social media users worldwide, using social media to market your online course is a no-brainer! Social media provides an opportunity to connect with your audience and communicate the value of your course with a blend of educational, entertaining and promotional content. Resist the urge to market on every platform. Rather than trying to cast the net wide from the get-go, choose the platform that is best suited to your target audience, online course topic and your overall goals. Optimise your platform bio with a link and strong call-to-action to drive your social community to your online course.
Utilise your email signature
The humble email signature is often ignored, but when used effectively, it can be a powerful marketing tool that turns otherwise regular interactions into quality leads. By adding a link and a compelling call-to-action to your online course within your email signature, you are unlocking a passive marketing opportunity, targeting those already on your mailing lists. And the best bit? It costs you nothing to set up! While there are endless additions you can make to your email signature to increase your marketing efforts, we recommend keeping it simple. Include a clear call to action and make sure that your links are responsive.
Build an email list
Today, email is the preferred communication channel for many consumers worldwide. Coupled with its unrivalled ROI (approx 4,200% according to Hubspot), this makes it the go-to digital marketing channel if you want to promote your online course. But, it takes time. When someone subscribes to your email lists, you need to earn their trust by sending them helpful tips and advice about your course topic over time. When it comes to promoting your online course, it will be more likely to result in a sale because you took the time to provide value upfront before rushing to promote from the get-go.
Guest-star on a podcast
By guest-starring on somebody else’s podcast, you can effectively leverage the power of social proof. Why? Think of it this way, if a podcast host is taking the time to interview you and share their airtime, you must have something worthwhile to say, and your customers will see that too. Research other podcasts that might cover your course topic or target your audience and create a compelling pitch to send to the host about how you can offer value. To be respectful, ensure you are upfront about any plans you may have to promote your course on their podcast.
Create a Facebook group
Keep your audience engaged before, during and after your course by setting up a Facebook group centred around your online course topic. You can use this as a selling feature, perhaps giving early-bird customers access to the group or use it to build a community with past and future course participants. To motivate your audience to join the group, offer fresh content that provides additional value rather than rehashed content from your other platforms. Facebook groups also allow you to get creative with your content (perhaps with Facebook Lives) and encourage members to interact and engage with one another.
Engage with other groups
If hosting your own Facebook group isn’t for you, consider engaging with other groups in your industry. You can tap into a wealth of market insights by engaging in relevant conversations in groups like Quora, Facebook, Linkedin and other online forums. Before diving in, remember to be respectful. Many groups do not allow self-promotion. Always check the groups’ guidelines before posting or promoting your online course and make sure what you’re posting offers value to the group rather than just pushing a sale.
Sales Mode: Activated
Selling your online course doesn’t have to be “salesy” or sleazy. With the right sales tactics and plan in place to execute them, you’ll create a sustainable plan to market and sell your course to your ideal audience in a way that feels right for you and your brand.
Offer a taster
Spark your audience’s interest by offering a taster or sneak peek in the form of a free (or moderately priced) mini online course. Rather than overlapping information, take a specific section or one key concept from your main course and focus on this. At the end of the mini-course, promote your main online course as a compelling option for any customers looking to dive deeper, gain more value and learn more about your topic. To sweeten the deal, you could offer a special discount for any customer who completes the mini-course or refers a friend.
Create a compelling sales page
Even if you could find the time to speak with each of your prospective customers personally, you probably wouldn’t want to anyway. Why? Because like most course creators, your USP is in the teaching and not the selling. The solution?- a compelling sales page that sells for you! A sales page is an online page that describes your course, but more importantly, persuades someone to sign-up for it. A truly effective sales page needs to have two key elements; 1) social proof in the form of testimonials or case studies 2) targeted messaging that speaks directly to your target audience’s pain points and needs.
Provide a money-back guarantee
Most of the decisions we make online are centred around trust. Asking a customer to pay for a course they cannot yet see can be a tough sell and a sticking point for many people. To combat this, consider offering a money-back guarantee. This simple act can show you’re confident about your course offering, establish credibility, and demonstrate that you truly care about your customer’s experience with your online course.
Design a sales funnel
By now, you might be wondering how you can take each of these tactics and structure them into a plan. A well-designed sales funnel can help with this. A sales funnel is the entire process you guide your potential customers through, which ends with them deciding to sign-up (or not) in your course. Your sales funnel should echo your customer’s journey, from the awareness stage right through to action, and include a selection of tactics (outlined in this blog) that will best serve each stage. The best part is, once you set up this sales funnel, it can virtually run on autopilot – meaning it will continue to enrol new customers into your course even while you’re sleeping. Woohoo!
Key Takeaway
Before throwing your hands up in despair, remember that you do not need to execute all 20 tactics to market your online course successfully. When it comes to marketing an online course, there is no universal or magic formula. What works for some might not work for others, and your marketing plan can depend on several factors, including your target audience, resources, bandwidth and the type of course you’re offering. Rather than scrambling to use every tactic at once, commit to just a few, execute them well and measure the results for effectiveness. Need help along the way? Allow me to be your digital guide!
