Video Written Digest
Today’s episode is part one of a three-part series on the real business model behind profitable online courses. I want to take you behind the scenes and dive deep into the strategy behind the most profitable online courses.
Just like everything in life, there’s a lot that you don’t see when it comes to these “overnight successes” and multi-million dollar launches. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
In order to see real success with your online course, you need to have a game plan, a strategy, and a real business model behind it.
Here are the three core objectives when creating and launching your online course
When it comes to creating an online program, you really have three main objectives.
OBJECTIVE # 1: SELL – Objective number one is to sell your course – we’re starting here because without sales you’re never going to have the opportunity to reach objective number two.
OBJECTIVE # 2: DELIVER – Objective number two is to deliver on the results that you’re promising your customers will achieve once they take your program. When you’ve successfully achieved objective number two, you then have the opportunity to take your business to the next level by executing objective number three.
OBJECTIVE # 3: MAXIMIZE – Objective number three is to implement a profit-maximizing strategy that increases your customer lifetime value and creates brand advocates. This is what creates true profitability for any business.
The remainder of this post will cover objective number one, selling, and my future posts will dive into how to successfully achieve objective number two and three.
How to sell your online course
If we look at it from a simplistic standpoint, if you don’t sell your course, you’ll never have the opportunity to deliver results, and if you don’t produce the results that you’re promising, then you’re definitely not going to have the opportunity to turn your customers into repeat buyers or build true brand advocates that bring in a continual stream of new customers into your business.
The only way that your customers are going to part with their hard-earned money is if they believe that the value they’re going to receive from purchasing your program is greater than the value of money.
Customers Purchase when they believe the VALUE > $
Basic math here. And there are a few things that you need to be able to do in order to communicate this value…
I don’t want to make this overly complicated, but I also don’t want to oversimplify it either because I think that’s done way too often. I see so many people try to paint the picture that you’ll have instant success with your course as soon as you create it and preach this field of dreams philosophy “If you build it, they will come”
Although I love the movie, this is NOT a winning strategy when it comes to creating a profitable online course.
I’m all for positive thinking and the power of visualization but it also has to be backed by strategic action.
THERE ARE SEVEN KEY AREAS IN THE SELLING OBJECTIVE.
KEY #1: VALIDATE YOUR IDEA
Is there a market for your course? This is something that’s often overlooked, but the people that spend the time completing the market research to validate and improve their offer are often, coincidentally, the most successful as well.
KEY #2: BUILD YOUR TRIBE
You need to grow an audience of people who know, like and trust you so that when you’re ready to launch, you have someone to launch it to. There’s a lot of different ways that you can do this, but in today’s digital world, content marketing is most likely going to be a huge part of your strategy.
Producing high-value content and sharing it through different mediums is going to be a key ingredient to your success.
KEY #3: LEAD GENERATION
If you’re producing quality content but don’t have a way to capture leads your missing the boat. Ensure your content is driving your audience to the next action you want them to take. This may be one of the following:
- Signing up to receive a lead magnet
- Joining a free Facebook group
- Subscribing to your YouTube channel
- Following you on Instagram
- Registering for a webinar
You could move right into attempting to make the sale but typically this will not work that well when your viewer is at the very beginning of the “getting to know you” stage.
There are a ton of ways you can generate leads but a few options include:
- Forming strategic partnerships
- Paid ad campaigns on Facebook or Instagram
- Building organic traffic through SEO
- Content marketing
KEY #4 : CREATE A WELL BUILT FUNNEL
The purpose of your funnel is to guide your prospects through the customer journey. You need a way to move prospects from not having any idea who you are to becoming a loyal customer and brand advocate.
KEY #5: YOUR OFFER STRATEGY
This is positioning your course in a way that has the highest perceived value. You want to make it a no brainer decision for your prospects.
Your offer strategy is really going to be a blend of art and science and there’s a lot of different components that go into it, but some of them include:
- Pricing
- Bonuses
- Scarcity
- Urgency
- Price anchoring
- Strong guarantee that mitigates the risk for your prospects.
KEY #6: MESSAGING
Messaging is being able to communicate in a way that resonates with your target audience. You want to be able to reach them on both a rational, but even more importantly, emotional level.
In order to do this effectively, it’s going to come down to thorough market research and really understanding your customer. The validation component (Key #1) is going to be extremely important here.
KEY #7: YOUR VISUAL PRESENCE
The way that you “look” online and how you present yourself plays a big role in your authority and credibility. Your authority level directly affects sales.
So love it or hate it, looks do matter when it comes to your online visual presence.
It’s the same principle as to why you would want to be dressed well for an important in-person meeting, or have a clean office when clients were visiting. Your course brand guide controls your visual presence.
Check back soon for the next blog posts on objective number two and three or watch the videos now on Facebook!
