How To Promote An Online Course

Creating an online course is only half the battle.

If you want customers for your online course, you also need to promote it.

Below are 8 battle-tested, practical strategies you can use right away to promote your course. Pick and choose whatever strategies make sense for you. The only one that's mandatory is strategy # 1.

Before we dive into the 8 strategies for promoting your online course, we're assuming the following ...

You already have a nice-looking website that gives people confidence and makes them feel good about your brand.
Your online course is up and running, ready for people to buy ... and your course is good.
You've done the research, confirmed there's a market for your course and you have a basic idea who your target audience is.

Ready? Let's dive in ...

PROMOTION STRATEGY # 1:

Create A Sales Page

What's that phrase? "If you build it, they will come."

Yeah. No. Doesn't work like that.

Your course isn't going to magically sell itself. You need to create a sales page for your online course explaining to prospective customers:

What your course is about
What they'll learn
How your course is different than others
What your course will do for them (i.e. how their life will be better, easier, etc)
How they get your course

Your sales page doesn't need to be flashy. It just needs to be good. The most important piece of your sales page is always your sales copy. Maybe also include a short video at the top of the page and add a few pictures or graphics to liven things up a smidge, but that's really all you need for an effective sales page.

For more info on how to create a sales page for your online course, Thrive Themes has a great resource here.

PROMOTION STRATEGY # 2:

Start Blogging

Blogging is publishing articles (aka "blog posts") on your website. That's it. It's nothing more complicated than that.

Publishing written content can help you promote your online course in three ways:

Demonstrate authority. In-depth, well-written blog posts show readers you know what you're talking about ... boosting their trust and confidence in you and your course material.
Social media fodder. Blog posts give you (and others) something to share and talk about on social media to raise awareness about you and your online course.
Search engine traffic. Done right, blog posts can get ranked in the search engines resulting in stable, high-quality traffic to your website ... for free. When people talk about "SEO", this is what they're usually referring to. However, this is a long-term strategy taking considerable work and patience with no guarantees.

NOTE: I'm coming out with an online course very soon where I reveal how I consistently get over 20,000 visitors/month to my website (markbrinker.com) without paid ads. to be notified when the course is available.

PROMOTION STRATEGY # 3:

Run Paid Ads

The fastest way to get the word out about your course is with paid ads. You can usually get visitors to your site the same day you start your ad campaign.

Focus on Facebook and/or Google. These are the two 800 pound gorillas in the digital advertising space. Between these two platforms, most businesses should be able to find all the customers they'll ever need.

If/when you've done as much as you can with Facebook and Google, then go ahead and explore other advertising platforms like Bing, YouTube or LinkedIn, if you feel the need.

Based on my experience, the biggest tips I can give you regarding paid advertising are:

Start small. Don't throw a bunch of money at digital advertising just because you're impatient (or desperate) and want results immediately. Digital ad campaigns almost never work right out of the gate. It takes time and testing to figure out what works.
Don't pre-judge. Throw a bunch of mud at the wall and see what sticks. Think outside the box and try different things. With almost every ad campaign I've ever set up, the thing I "know" will work, doesn't. And the thing I "know" won't work, does. Go figure. 😮
Forget client avatars. Nearly every marketing course tells you to define your "ideal client" in excruciating detail. Ok, fine, then what? How does that translate into actionable steps? (Hint: It usually doesn't but I guess it makes you feel like you're doing important work.) Instead, I recommend making ballpark, educated guesses as to your target audience ... then see what happens. Let the data tell you if you guessed right. You might discover that your ideal client isn't who you thought it was.

PROMOTION STRATEGY # 4:

Post On Social Media

Build out your social media profiles and post regularly.

However, don't set up a social media page on a platform you don't plan on using much. It'll look like a ghost town, doing more harm than good.

Also, most social media platforms allow for a personal profile page as well as a business/professional page. Make sure to have a page set up for your business and post to your business page. Reason being, you can then send retargeting ads to people visiting your business page (whereas you can't retarget people visiting your personal profile page).

Yes, you can (and should) post offers on your social media page(s) and you might even make some sales. But the biggest benefit of posting regularly on social media is to build credibility as well as your brand.

Every promotional strategy doesn't have to give instant gratification. Sometimes it's just a cog in your overall marketing machine.

PROMOTION STRATEGY # 5:

Build An Audience

Wouldn't it be nice to have a group of raving fans ready to buy your next online course as soon as it comes out?

To do that, you need an audience -- people that know you and care about the work you do.

However, you've seen the stats:

Most people don't return to your website after their first visit.
It usually takes multiple touches before making a sale.

So you need a mechanism for staying in touch. The best way to do that is via email. Not everyone checks (or pays close attention to) their social media every day, but everybody checks their email.

To build your list, you'll need an email service provider (ESP) to manage and send messages to your list. There are many providers to choose from. I've been using Aweber since 2008 and it still works great for me.

People aren't normally going to join your list "just because". You need to offer them a small incentive ... a thing of value like a book, report, checklist, video, webinar, etc ... in exchange for their email.

Once they're on your list, you then want to share useful/helpful content to develop a connection with them. A recent study showed that, on average, people you have a connection with spend twice as much as people you don't have a strong connection with.

PROMOTION STRATEGY # 6:

Make Offers (Ask!)

Getting the word out and raising awareness about your course is all well and good. But to make sales you have to make offers.

Many people struggle with this because they don't want to be perceived as pushy or salesy.

But your course doesn't help anyone until you make a sale.

Remember, you worked hard to produce a top-notch course with valuable info to make their life easier/better. So your attitude should be, "You need this!"

Be deliberate and direct. Ask them to take action. And ask often.

Offers come in 2 forms:

Direct. This is where you flat out ask them to buy your course.
Indirect. This is where you offer something valuable ... either free or at a minimal cost ... as a precursor to warm them up before asking them to purchase your course. (see Strategy # 6 above)

PRO TIP: Once you make the offer, you must follow up. Done right, you won't come across as annoying. Most people are extremely busy and distracted. So persistent follow up is needed just to break through the noise of modern life.

The number of times you make an offer is always in direct proportion to total sales. If there ever was an immutable law of sales and marketing, this is it.

PROMOTION STRATEGY # 7:

Start Podcasting

I'll admit, I was late to the podcast party. I didn't listen to podcasts until recently. I thought they were just for nerds, hipsters or people that had nothing better to do.

But now I listen to several podcasts regularly. Tens of millions of Americans listen to podcasts -- and the medium is only getting more popular by the day.

Publishing your own podcast lets you talk about what you know and gives people an insight into what makes you tick -- deepening your relationship with your audience.

Podcasts are great to share on social media or embed on your website. You can even take a segment of your podcast and transform it into a video or transcribe it into written content.

Companies like Anchor.fm make it easy to start and distribute your podcast. No longer do you need expensive hardware or software. If you're new to podcasting or you've been thinking about starting your own podcast, Anchor.fm has a great "how to start a podcast" resource here.

PROMOTION STRATEGY # 8:

Work With Influencers

One of the fastest ways to get exposure for your online course is with the help of influencers.

Influencers can introduce you to their audience, and if you're lucky enough to get their endorsement they can help you sell a lot of courses.

Think Oprah Book Club.

Influencers can mention you on social media, to their email list or even have you as a guest on their podcast.

How about giving an influencer free access to your course to get their feedback? If they like your course you might get a glowing seal of approval. This is exactly how editorial book reviews work.

What I Don't Recommend For Promoting Your Online Course (And Why)

Below is a list of commonly touted promotional strategies of online courses and the reasons why I do not recommend them.

Host live webinars. Too complicated. The amount of energy you'll expend with all the moving parts, not to mention the energy expended producing and delivering your webinar is a momentum killer.
Affiliate program. Sounds good on paper, but the reality is it's time-consuming to set up and very few affiliates actually promote you. I speak from firsthand experience.
Join online discussion groups. Most discussion groups prohibit any kind self-promotion. Mingling with group members, one on one, and commenting might be fun or interesting, but it's not a very efficient strategy for reaching a lot of people to let them know about your online course.
Attend local groups or meetups. Same as my response about online discussion groups, not an efficient strategy.
Guest posting. Been there, done that. A whole lot of work for a whole lot of nothing.
Infographics. Seriously, does anyone look at these any more? (Did they ever?) I think marketing "gurus" often recommend the use of infographics because other marketing "gurus" recommend them. In my opinion, they're a waste of time.
Newsletters. My email Inbox is already overflowing. How about yours?

How an Online Course Saved Our Struggling Business

Narrisa and Paolo are former television journalists whose small video production company struggled to survive in an economic downturn.

Instead of throwing in the towel, they decided to take their knowledge and expertise and create an online course called "Camera Confidence: Become a Powerful, Confident Speaker on Camera!"

To learn more about their inspirational true story and how an online course saved their business click here.

Conclusion

The 8 strategies listed above are the most effective ways I know of for promoting an online course. If something new comes along, I'll be sure to amend my list.

Don't try and do all 8 strategies at once. Start with one strategy, then add another, then another until you're satisfied with your results.

If you're an introvert like me, you might have to get a little uncomfortable and push yourself to get out of your comfort zone.

But if you implement these strategies consistently, even imperfectly, I guarantee you're going to get noticed and you're going to sell your online course(s).

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About the Author

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Mark Brinker

Mark Brinker is president of Mark Brinker & Associates — a business website design and development firm in Sterling Heights, MI. He's the author of "The Modern Website Makeover", which you can download free here. You're also invited to Mark's NEW (and FREE!) "Boost Your Brand" video challenge and you can sign up here.