So, you’ve created your online course after working on it for a long time. Now it’s time to sell it! But how can you make sure your course reaches the right audience? Relying on luck and random buyers won’t cut it. To sell your course effectively, you need a solid plan.
In this article, we’ll explore strategies to help you market online courses and attract more students. These proven methods are designed specifically for selling online courses and can make a big difference in your success.
Plan Before Creating Your Course
After spending weeks or months designing your course, the moment comes to introduce it to potential learners. But standing out in today’s crowded online education market isn’t easy. New courses are published every day, so you need to be strategic. By applying the right marketing tactics, you can make your course profitable, attract more people, and increase sales.
The best way to market your course online is to create a plan before creating the actual course. Here’s how you can do it:
- Start with studying your target audience. Even if you’ve already created your course, it’s never too late to understand your audience better. Ask yourself these questions and do some research:
- Who are your future learners?
- What challenges do they face in their daily lives?
- How can your course help solve those challenges?
Imagine you want to create a course on learning the Korean language. Think about what obstacles users face and they cannot learn by themselves, Is it a lack of time? The complexity of the language? Low motivation? Absence of good language courses? After getting answers to these questions, you will know how your audience will benefit from your eLearning course. It means that you will have more knowledge about your potential students, and their pain points, and use it to create the right marketing strategy.
- Find your unique value proposition. Let’s say you’ve designed an online course ‘How to Master the UI/UX Design’. You’ve put effort, useful information, and your experience into this course. But how is it different from the thousands of popular courses on a similar or the exact topic? And why should users choose your course over the other top ones?
Your course needs a unique value—something only you can offer. For example, while many popular UI/UX courses are based on tools like Figma or Adobe, you could teach design using beginner-friendly Canva or advanced platforms like Axure RP. Once you recognize the special thing about your courses, use this point in every marketing channel. Highlight them on your course landing pages, in campaigns, and on social media.
- Survey your audience. To truly understand what your audience wants, conduct a survey. Ask questions to uncover their preferences and needs. If you already have an audience in your email list or social media followers, create a poll or link to a survey form they can fill out. Include specific topics you’re considering for your course to spark their interest.
This helps you see what your audience wants to really learn. One benefit is that you can create anticipation for your course, and your users know what to expect. You also will know that the money you’ll spend on the whole process will be validated. Check Quora, Reddit, and other forums to find out what your users think about the course.
If you’re planning a course on productivity, ask your audience whether they want to focus on boosting productivity or if their goal is consistency and managing their day-to-day tasks without pressure. If they choose the first one, then you can create a course focused on increasing productivity. Their answers will help you create a course that matches their expectations and ensures your efforts are worth it.
You can use WordPress tools like the Cost Calculator plugin to quickly create and add survey forms to your website.
Effective Strategies to Market Course Online
Once you’ve finished with the course creation and launched it, the real work begins: marketing it effectively. Here are strategies to help you reach your audience and increase enrollments.
- Create high-quality content. Share valuable content related to your course topic. Write blog articles, post on social media, or create tutorials that address common challenges in your niche. For instance, if your course is about time management, write blog posts with tips and strategies for staying organized. Always include a clear call-to-action (CTA) directing readers to your course at the end of each piece.
This way you can build trust between your clients. By using the MasterStudy LMS plugin, you can create your blog and add widgets specifically for posting articles. Plus, you can move certain blog posts to the top of your blog, or to the website’s landing page.
- Improve your SEO. Search engine optimization (SEO) can help your course get discovered online and get recognized. Use relevant keywords in your course title, landing pages, and sales page. You can actively use services like Ahrefs to learn which keywords are best for your niche. Optimize your CTAs and meta descriptions to make your content more visible to potential students.
- Use the power of social proof. Ask your students to leave reviews and share their success stories after completing your course. Utilize these testimonials on your landing pages, social media posts, and campaigns. Positive reviews build trust and encourage others to enroll. You can even offer incentives like discounts for students who leave detailed feedback or share their certificates online.
- Grow your email subscriber list. You can create an email list of users to send them promo campaigns, updates related to your course, and helpful information. To grow the list, you can ask users to sign up for your newsletter and give them free incentives like e-books or a guide. People love getting free resources, and this gives you a way to connect with them directly.
- Start a YouTube channel. Youtube is a powerful channel for marketing. Share helpful tips and insights related to your course topic or a similar topic. Mention your course in the video and include a link to your course page in the video description or within the video itself. Over time, your channel can become a trusted resource that drives traffic to your course.
- Collaborate with influencers in your niche. You can partner with influencers in your niche to promote your course. Search for well-known influencers related to your course field on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook and offer them collaboration. For example, if your program is about creating cinematic video content, reach out to bloggers or filmmakers. Offer them a percentage of sales made through their referral or a unique affiliate discount code. This increases your reach and credibility.
- Promote on social media. Promote your course on platforms like YouTube and Facebook, where you can create a private community related to your online course or training program. In the group, you can share tips, or mini articles about your topic and connect with your audience. Use engaging content and trending formats to attract attention. You can also create promo videos to post on social media and use the successful ones in ads.
- Offer a free trial. Before buying your course, let users experience the free trial. It is a great option as your potential students can try out the program and see the value of your course before deciding to purchase it. This will help boost enrollment rates because users are more likely to invest when they know the future benefits.
- Take advantage of paid ads. Boost your course’s visibility with paid ads. Experiment with platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or Instagram Ads to see which works best for your audience. Start small, track your results, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
- Create discounts and limited-time offers. Add limited-time discounts to create a sense of urgency and encourage enrollments. Promote these special offers in your email campaigns, social media pages, and ads to maximize visibility.
- Encourage free promotion by students. Some LMS solutions, like MasterStudy LMS, allow students to share verified course completion certificates on LinkedIn or other social media. This is beneficial for students because they can showcase their skills, and attract employees. And for you because they will promote your course for free, and you’ll get more potential customers.
- Analyze and improve. Monitor your marketing campaigns to see what’s working and what isn’t. Utilize tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, conversion rates, and email open and click rates, and get more insights with filters. Regularly optimize your strategy based on the data to improve your results over time.
By implementing these strategies, you can effectively market your online course and reach more students. Remember, successful marketing is an ongoing process, so keep experimenting and refining your approach to achieve the best results.
MasterStudy LMS offers exceptional tools to easily create, promote, and sell your eLearning courses. Want to reach more students and boost your sales? Start using MasterStudy LMS today and take your courses to the next level. Explore the demo now!
