5 Critical Course Launch Mistakes To Avoid
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Hey there, fellow business owners!
Whether you're exchanging your precious time for money and seeking to build passive income or trying to open a new revenue stream for your business, an online course might just be your perfect solution.
Just picture this: a product that keeps on selling, day after day, with minimal upkeep. Sounds like a sweet deal, right? Well, that's what selling online courses can do for your business. It can provide you with a new stream of income for your business that scales and sells 24/7. But let's be real - successfully selling a course is often easier said than done.
Having launched hundreds of online courses and digital products, and coached numerous business owners on building new income streams through online courses, I've seen the pitfalls that first-time course sellers can fall into. But fear not, I've also learned how to avoid them and stay firmly on the path to success.
Read on to discover the top mistakes course-sellers make, and how to dodge them to improve your chances of success.
Why Launch An Online Course
Before we dive into everything that could go wrong, let's talk about why you should consider selling a course in the first place.
If you're currently delivering a product/service (especially if you're trading time for money), an online course can provide a major revenue boost for your business without the hassle of managing new customers.
An online course is like your superstar salesperson that never clocks out. Plus, you get to share your hard-earned knowledge and position your business as the go-to expert in your industry. It's a win-win!
Still not convinced? Here are the top benefits that come with selling an online course:
Now let’s tackle those pesky pitfalls.
Top Course Launch Mistakes
Now I’ve seen a thing or two when it comes to launching an online course. Beyond the snafus that can happen when creating an online course, there are several critical mistakes I see even the most seasoned course-sellers make.
Here are the top 5 mistakes to avoid when launching your next online course and how to avoid them.
Not Pre-Selling The Course
Pre-selling is a critical part of a successful online course launch - so don’t forget it!
Selling an online course takes more effort than pressing ‘publish’ and watching the customers roll in. You need to validate the messaging and positioning as well as generate buzz to drum up sales. Without pre-selling, you run the risk of your course falling flat out of the gate and an uphill battle to break even.
After all the hard work you put into creating your course, there is nothing more disappointing than sharing it with the world and not making a sale. Pre-selling your course is the key ingredient in ensuring your course is a success and sells right out of the gate. It’s so important that I wrote a complete guide to pre-selling an online course, so check it out!
Pre-selling your online course before its launch is one of the top things I recommend course-sellers do to improve their chances of success.
Launching Without An Audience
Pre-selling is infinitely easier if you have an audience to sell to.
If your Twitter follower count is in the double digits and if your last email newsletter was sent months ago, stop what you are doing right now and focus on building up your audience.
It’s far easier to sell to people who are following you than it is to earn new sales from strangers. The ROI on email marketing across industries is eye-popping compared to other channels like social media, paid ads, or organic SEO. Selling is never easy, but it gets much easier when you have a large group of people following you. Check out my guide on 19 course-promotion tactics, which will give you some excellent ideas on growing your audience fast.
Not Having A Strategy
Sports teams have game plans, bakers have recipes, and successful course sellers have launch plans and marketing strategies.
Not having a strategy is almost always a recipe for a lackluster launch and disappointing sales totals. While you may get lucky if you catch lightning in a bottle with the right course topic, your chances at success improve with a good strategy and plan of action. A simple course launch checklist works wonders to give you a framework to follow and ensure you’re not missing a step on the path to course-selling success.
Not Having A Target Audience
This is a major pitfall for any product, not just online courses.
As the adage goes, selling to everyone is selling to no one. If you don’t have a clear idea of who your target audience for your online course is then not only will the course not resonate with anyone, your messaging and positioning will fall flat as well.
Niche down as much as possible to ensure that your course content and marketing strategy are perfectly aligned with your target audience. It will go a long way toward ensuring that your messaging lands and your course makes sales from the moment you launch it.
Fuzzy on who your target audience is? Check out my guide on defining a target market to nail yours down and perfect your messaging.
Waiting For Your Course To Be Perfect Before Launching
Perfect is the enemy of good.
It’s tempting to worry about whether your course is totally polished before you launch. Your course is your baby after all. Perhaps a module could be updated, or a video re-done. Maybe the quiz questions need a refresh… the list goes on and on.
Here’s a tip: stop worrying. There is always something you can improve, but that’s okay and doesn’t need to put off your launch.
Launch your course and then collect feedback from your students to guide you in what to change or improve for the next round. As long as you sit on your course, it won’t make any money. While critical feedback might be intimidating, it’s far more helpful than not getting any feedback at all.
Fearlessly share your course and update it over time as needed.
Avoid These Mistakes And More With An Effective Launch Strategy
Selling an online course is an excellent way to open up a new stream of revenue for your business.
Not only is selling an online course a passive stream of income that won’t take up more of your time, but it also allows you to reach a much larger audience than you would have been able to. Especially if you run a business that requires you to interact directly with your customers.
Selling an online course successfully though? As you can see, there are a number of things that can go wrong. Fortunately, I have the solution for you: an online course checklist. I’ve perfected this checklist from years of experience launching online courses and coaching businesses of all kinds on building new streams of passive income. Don’t launch your next course without reading and following this checklist
Download the full checklist below to guide you through your next course launch!
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