How to increase your online course sales

As the founder of an online course agency, I am acutely aware of the challenges that creators face in scaling their businesses. Many online educators have crafted exceptional courses, memberships, and programs, but struggle to attract students. It's a common misconception that if you build it, they will come. The reality is quite different; active promotion is essential. Too often, valuable content remains unseen, languishing in a sort of digital obscurity due to a lack of promotion or the creator's unfamiliarity with digital marketing. Although digital marketing may not be the forte of many educators, its role in the success of online endeavors is undeniable.

To effectively promote online offerings, social media emerges as an indispensable platform. However, it's not enough to post content and hope for organic outreach; the algorithms of social media platforms are designed to favor paid content. To navigate these digital waters successfully, it's crucial to understand the preferences of the platforms themselves, as well as to closely observe and emulate the strategies employed by successful online entrepreneurs. Drawing upon their tactics and the imperative of paid promotion, educators can significantly increase the visibility and reach of their courses.

Key Takeaways

• Active promotion is crucial for the success of online courses.

• Social media platforms give preference to paid content.

• Emulating successful entrepreneurs' tactics can enhance course visibility.

Understanding the Necessity of Promotion

The Myth of 'Build It and They Will Come'

As an experienced online entrepreneur and founder of an online course agency, I see many clients coming to me with the same misconception: the idea that just creating a great course is enough. You might remember the line from a famous movie, which suggests that if you build something great, people will naturally come. However, in the harsh light of reality, this simply isn't true. For your online courses, memberships, or coaching programs to succeed, they must be promoted actively. Otherwise, no matter how good they are, they risk not generating any traction and ultimately gathering what I like to call digital dust.

Why Promotion Matters:

• Visibility: Without promotion, your offerings are nearly invisible in the vast online space.

• Engagement: Actively promoting helps engage potential leads and convert them into customers.

• Revenue: Ultimately, promotion is the key to generating revenue from your online products.

Reality of Digital Dust

As I navigate through the digital landscape, I continually encounter great courses and programs obscured by the reality of digital dust. This happens when creators focus exclusively on their content and neglect the essential aspect of marketing. My expertise as an educator might not center around digital marketing, but I recognize that it's indispensable for success.

Combatting Digital Dust:

• Invest in Marketing: It's crucial to allocate resources toward the promotion and visibility of your products.

• Play by the Rules: Understand and align with social media platforms' goals to benefit from their user reach capabilities.

• Monitor Trends: Stay updated with marketing trends and platform changes to maintain the relevance of your promotional strategies.

In conclusion, the growth of your online business hinges on your commitment to and strategic implementation of promotion. Whether it's through understanding the digital platforms' business models or modeling after successful online entrepreneurs, promoting isn't just beneficial—it's necessary.

Leveraging Digital Marketing for Online Courses

The Educator's Dilemma

Creating a valuable online course or coaching program doesn't guarantee an audience. My experience has shown that many excellent programs fail to reach potential learners. This is often due to the creators' lack of promotion or expertise in digital marketing. As an educator, your focus is on imparting knowledge, and marketing might not be your forte. This can result in your courses gaining minimal attention, despite their quality.

Promotion as a Key to Success

Successfully promoting online educational content requires understanding two key factors: the preferences of social media platforms and the strategies of successful online entrepreneurs.

• Social Media Platforms' Preferences:

  • Business Model: The primary way social media businesses like Facebook and Instagram generate revenue is through selling ad space.

  • Organic Reach: There has been a noticeable decline in organic reach, meaning content shared for free gets less visibility.

  • Advertising Priority: Platforms incentivize businesses to pay for advertising, ensuring their content reaches a wider audience more quickly.

Factor Description Organic Reach Posting content for free, visibility is declining. Paid Advertising Paying for content to be seen by more people, incentivized by platforms.

• Strategies of Successful Entrepreneurs:

  • Advertising Utilization: Widely successful business owners invest heavily in social media ads, like Amy Porterfield, Jeff Walker, and Frank Kern.

  • Ad Library Insights: By examining Facebook’s ad library, it’s evident that these entrepreneurs consistently run numerous advertisements.

It's evident that the future of growing an online education business lies within strategic promotion, particularly investing in paid advertising on social media. While organic reach should not be disregarded, understanding the diminishing returns it offers is crucial for planning a sustainable growth strategy.

Strategies for Promoting Online Courses

Free vs Paid Promotion

When scaling an online education business, actively promoting courses is not a choice but a necessity. There is a persistent misconception that once an online course is created, potential customers will come naturally - this is false. To gain visibility, one can choose between free promotional efforts, commonly known as organic reach, or paid promotion through social media ads. As an online course creator, I understand the value of both strategies and recommend a balanced approach.

Organic Reach

• Understand the Platforms: Each social media platform has its own algorithm favoring certain types of engagement. Stay informed on the latest best practices.

• Engagement is Key: Regularly engage with your audience by responding to comments and participating in discussions to foster a loyal community.

• Consistent Content Delivery: Post valuable content consistently to keep your audience interested and coming back for more.

• Optimization Tips: Utilize relevant hashtags, compelling captions, and high-quality images to enhance visibility.

Paid Promotion

• Budget Allocations: Determine a budget that aligns with your business goals and allocate funds strategically across different campaigns.

• Targeting and Retargeting: Take advantage of precise targeting options to reach your ideal customer. Utilize retargeting to remain in front of interested individuals who haven’t converted yet.

• Creative Ad Formats: Experiment with various ad formats (videos, carousels, images) to see which resonates most with your target audience.

• Monitoring and Adjusting: Regularly review ad performance metrics to optimize campaigns for better results.

The Mechanics of Social Media Platforms

Platforms' Business Models

Business models of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube revolve around maximizing revenue through selling advertising space. As businesses, these platforms need to satisfy shareholder demands for continuous growth, achievable only by increasing ad sales. This compels them to prioritize paid content to ensure profitability. Here's how it breaks down:

• Revenue Generation: Selling ad space to businesses, including mine.

• User Engagement: Sophisticated algorithms to keep users on platform longer, enhancing ad value.

• Content Prioritization: Paid content over organic to drive ad sales.

Platform Monetization Strategy Content Prioritization Facebook Ad sales Paid over organic Instagram Ad sales Paid over organic TikTok Ad sales Paid over organic YouTube Ad sales Paid over organic

These tactics ensure platforms can maintain and grow their revenue streams.

The Diminishing Organic Reach Trend

Diminishing organic reach is an observed trend across all social media platforms. Despite any hacks or tactics, the organic reach of content is dropping consistently. For instance, less than half a percent of followers may see a post on their feed. This is intentional; as platforms evolve, they increasingly diminish the visibility of organic content to encourage ad spending.

• Current Statistics: A stark decline in organic content reach.

• Future Predictions: Continuation of this trend as platforms evolve.

• Business Impact: Necessity for businesses to invest in paid promotion to maintain visibility.

Historical data clearly showcase this downward trajectory. Even newer platforms like TikTok, while initially offering more organic reach to attract users and businesses, eventually align with the prevailing business model—prioritizing paid content to drive revenue. For scaling and growth, businesses must thus adopt a pay-to-play approach.

Paid Advertising: The Name of the Game

Leveraging the Current Golden Era

I'm finding myself in what can arguably be described as the Golden Era of social media ads, a time when the advertising space hasn't been completely overtaken by colossal corporations with extensive budgets. For those like me seeking to flourish in the online education realm, it's imperative to understand that social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are businesses first and foremost, with their profitability hinging on selling advertising space. As a result, they're inclined to diminish organic reach, making it abundantly clear that my best educational content, much like theirs, should be beyond a free access point. I consider the remaining organic reach as a kind of lead magnet they provide.

Current Social Media Advertising Reality:

Platform Organic Reach % Ad Priority Facebook < 0.5% High Instagram Low High TikTok Moderate Increasing YouTube Low High

These platforms prioritize content that contributes to their revenue, which means an investment from my side is non-negotiable if I wish to truly scale my business. Now is the time to leverage paid advertising on these channels, while the cost remains relatively modest compared to what the future likely holds.

Pay to Play

When contemplating how to effectively promote my online courses or programs, I'm faced with two fundamental choices: the organic reach, which offers limited visibility, and paid content that has the potential to expand my reach significantly and swiftly. Evidently, in the pursuit of success, it becomes essential to invest in paid advertising. This strategy aligns with the modus operandi of the most flourishing online business owners and thought leaders in the education space—individuals like Amy Porterfield, Jeff Walker, Frank Kern, and James Wedmore, all of whom are actively investing in numerous advertising campaigns.

I've taken a leaf out of their book. Taking advantage of the Facebook Ad Library, I often monitor the ads run by these industry leaders. Their tactics are revealing; hundreds of ongoing ads signal a strong focus on building an audience through paid channels. This not only demonstrates the effectiveness of paid advertising in scaling a business but also emphasizes the importance of securing a foothold in the market while conditions are still favorable.

My Advertising Approach:

• Pay to play: Investment is key for visibility and growth.

• Model success: Emulating industry leaders' strategies.

• Build an audience: Capitalize on affordable advertising costs.

In summary, to achieve the desired impact and live the life of a successful online entrepreneur, I am committed to a 'pay to play' approach, firmly establishing paid advertising as the cornerstone of my promotional strategy.

Learning from Successful Online Entrepreneurs

Modeling After Industry Leaders

When considering how to scale an online education business, it’s important to look at what leading online entrepreneurs are doing. Top figures in the industry don't try to reinvent the wheel; instead, they adopt strategies that have proven effective. As I have observed, whether it's Amy Porterfield, Jeff Walker, or Frank Kern, successful online educators always seem to be several steps ahead.

• Strategy Adoption: Following models set by industry pioneers is key.

• Observing the Best: Reviewing how authoritative figures maneuver their marketing strategies is beneficial.

I’ve noticed that my approach aligns with what these industry leaders do. By focusing on proven methods and tweaking them to suit my unique offerings, I've been able to leverage their successes to bolster my own strategies.

Insights from the Facebook Ad Library

Understanding trends and strategies can be significantly enhanced by using tools like the Facebook Ad Library. This tool sheds light on the ad campaigns of successful online entrepreneurs and businesses. Here is how I use it to fine-tune my marketing approach:

1. Research: By entering the names of top industry players, I can see their active ads.

2. Analysis: I examine the content, the design, and the calls-to-action these experts use.

3. Application: I then apply these insights to my own campaigns.

Using this method, I've been able to craft advertisements that are more effective, ensuring that my content reaches a larger audience, leading to a more robust growth of my business.

In my observations, paying for visibility on social media is the game-changer for scaling an online course. Organic reach is seemingly on the decline, as social media platforms prioritize their revenue-generating paid content. As such, I invest in social media ads to ensure significant visibility for my content, as relying solely on organic reach is inadequate for sustainable growth. This aligns with the business models of both social media platforms and my own, as the best results come from behind a paywall.

In conclusion, by adopting the strategies of online business leaders and utilizing tools like the Facebook Ad Library, I refine my promotional efforts—successfully scaling my online education business while navigating the evolving landscape of digital marketing.

Conclusion

Emphasizing a Proactive Approach

I can't stress enough the importance of not sitting back and waiting for students to come. The digital realm is vast, and countless courses are gathering "digital dust." Being proactive is non-negotiable. In my experience, effective promotion is what differentiates successful online courses from those that are overlooked. With my expertise in scaling online education businesses, I have identified key strategies to make sure courses gain the attention they deserve. One such strategy is to understand that our digital efforts should go beyond content creation; actively promoting courses is what brings tangible results.

The Crucial Role of Advertising

It's a fact: social media platforms are businesses. They prioritize content that contributes to their revenue, which means paid content is favored over organic reach. Having monitored the trends, I've seen a consistent decline in organic visibility; platforms are structured to support monetization through ads. So, how does one navigate this to their advantage? By advertising. Investing in social media advertising is a game-changer. It's a golden opportunity to scale an educational business effectively. Observing the most successful online entrepreneurs, it's evident that heavy investment in paid ads is the norm. Their relentless focus on advertising builds strong, resilient brands and courses that reach audience numbers organic content simply can't match. This is not a trend, but a foundational shift in how online education must operate to thrive in this competitive digital landscape.