What Course Creators Need To Have In Place Before Launching Their New Course
Launching a new course? In this post, we discuss what you need to know before launching your course.
Do you have a brilliant idea for a course but not sure where to begin and how to get it out there? Maybe you’re stuck on how much to include in your course or maybe you think you have it fine tuned with every graphic perfect and video recorded and re-recorded. Should it be one course that includes absolutely everything you know about the topic or should it be two courses?
The most important thing you need before launching your course is an idea of what your course is going to be; not necessarily having the content pinned down but an idea of what you would like your audience to take away from your course. For example, if you offer a course on social media marketing; you want your client to finish with a good understanding of social media platforms and social media marketing terms like lead magnets and email sequences. You need to know where you want to start and what you want to achieve.
You also need to know who your Ideal Client is, i.e. who you’re creating this course for. After all, the reason someone picks your course is not just for the knowledge they will gain but for the experience promised.
A concern we hear from course creators is the amount of competition saturating the market. They often fear that, by targeting a specific audience, they may be excluding potential clients. The opposite is actually true, creating a course with your Ideal Client in mind helps attract the people you want to work with and who will benefit most from working with you. You can’t please everybody, there are going to be certain personalities that you work best with and that’s why it’s important to know who your Ideal Client is so that you can make a connection.
You also need to work out the content of your course. You don’t have to include absolutely everything you know. You need to pace the learning journey so you don’t overwhelm your audience. It’s both useful and important to use feedback to help create your course. Ask your audience what they want to learn by using a questionnaire or as part of your email marketing. Let them know you are creating a course on a specific topic and ask if there’s anything they’d like included. You might discover what you think is needed is not what your audience actually needs.
Consider creating the course as you go; tailoring each module as you receive feedback along the way. That way you can focus on the concerns your ideal client has or discovers as they learn. You can always ask your ideal client for feedback while you’re creating your content. Open up a dialogue through your email marketing by asking for feedback, suggestions for your course and by giving progress updates, all while building your audience at the same time.
This leads to a final point: You need to sell your course before you create it. Let your audience know about the course you’re planning to offer, get them interested and ready to sign up before you launch it. Post it to all the social media platforms that you use and build your email list so you can let your audience know what’s on offer. Remember: You don’t need to wait until your following has grown to 10,000 or more to create your course. You’re far more likely to sell your course to a smaller audience of Ideal Clients than to a larger group of followers that are only somewhat interested in what you offer.
The main points to consider before launching your course are to know who your Ideal Client is, have an idea what you want your audience to take away from your course and design it to service them. You don’t need to have the content pinned down before you launch; you can tailor the content as you go. You don’t have to wait until you have an enormous following before launching either.
Want to learn more about launching a course? Check out our guest appearance on the Confident CEO Podcast with Verity Sangan.
You might also enjoy Verity’s guest episode on Showing Up Solo.
