How to promote your online course and get more enrollments

You’ve completed the coursework, you know exactly what you can offer potential students, and now you just need to promote it. For many online course providers, this can be the toughest part of the whole gig, especially if marketing isn’t your strong suit. Using Go1 to create and sell your courses gets you some great exposure through the course marketplace, but with a few steps you can drastically increase the number of enrollments for your course.

Your success in how well you promote your online course is going to be the ultimate decider in how many sales you make. While you might have the worthwhile content and a comprehensive course guide, nobody is ever going to hear about it without the right promotion strategy. So, what’s the best way to reach out to potential students? Here are a few simple ideas that can take the word of your course and spread it like wildfire to those who matter most:

Give Learners A Chance To Try For Free

Everyone loves a good sample, whether it’s at the local supermarket cheese aisle or with a tasty morsel of free education. Particularly for those new to the e-learning game, you might find it hard to have anyone show interest in your course without any prior knowledge about it.

By offering bite-sized portions of education and training for free, you’re able to show your worth and give potential students just enough to leave them wanting more. Offering free smaller modules is a great way to build up a customer base too, and get you some contacts that you can use with your future marketing efforts.

Engage With Social Media

As 90% of people aged 18 to 29 use some form of social media today, you’d be crazy not to utilize this free form of promotion. A third of these millennials even say that social media is their preferred way to communicate with businesses, meaning this might be the only way you’re going to reach out to this important segment.

When done right, your social media presence can have a huge impact on your brand image. By sharing relevant information with your followers and offering special deals, such as your free modules, you can target a greater share of potential students without having to spend a cent.

Have Quality Endorsements

If you’re lucky enough to already have some satisfied learners who have completed your course, their endorsements are one of the best promotional tools you can use. As humans, we can be reluctant to try new things, especially something as important as our education, and so it helps to see relatable and honest feedback from others in the same situation.

Whether you want to use a basic feedback questionnaire or take the time to speak with your previous students directly, these endorsements can not only help you to promote your course but also help identify potential areas for improvement in how it’s delivered.

Be Specific

The aim of a good e-learning course is to provide your students with a solution to their problem, so you need to be specific about what your course can offer. When promoting your course, don’t leave anything out or be too general in your descriptions. Your potential students need to know specifically if you can help them achieve their work or personal goals.

In your advertising, state exactly what your course offers and how it can benefit the learner. Give specific examples of the knowledge they’ll walk away with, and ensure you stick to your promises. Don’t offer something that you can’t deliver, otherwise not only will your student be disadvantaged but your name as a reputable course provider will take a hit as well.

Have Expert Knowledge in Your Field

Being an authority in your field makes you a respected and trusted source for providing others with education. It is your responsibility to build your credibility so that others look to you as a beacon of information and expert advice, and in turn, trust you to as an educator and trainer in the field.

Post regular updates on your social media accounts with links to accurate and credible information. Join e-learning groups with other education providers. Comment regularly on articles and posts, as well as hosting your own blog. All of these things will work towards building your credibility and improving your brand image.

Ask Market Leaders to Help You Promote

While it’s all well and good to promote your own wares and tell others just how great the course will be, having the backup and support of respected leaders in your field will be far more effective. This is where it’s important to have a solid network of professional peers who can help each other to promote their individual interests.

If you’re still new to the market and don’t have any largely respected leaders to promote your course, try reaching out to form a relationship. Offer them a free look at your course and prove to them how worthwhile it can be to potential students. Once you have a relationship, offer them a platform to discuss relevant issues and allow them the opportunity to be a guest contributor on your blog or social media accounts.

Be Smart About Your Promotions

While you might be tempted to yell from the rooftops about your e-learning course and make your message as loud as possible, it’s not always going to be the best method in reaching your target audience. Think about what your course offers and who it’s aimed at specifically to gain some insight about where and how you should promote it.

There’s no denying the power that digital media can have in promoting an e-learning course, as it’s this very form of media that you’ll use to deliver education to potential students.  Social media accounts, email marketing, and online forums are all crucial in promoting your course the right way, provided they’re done right.

Just by utilizing a few of these tips, you can be more efficient in the promotion so that the majority of your time is spent on the important task of teaching and working on the curriculum. The e-learning market is a completely different ballgame to traditional education models, so you need to treat it with the uniqueness it deserves.
Have Questions or Need more Help? Go1 Learning Consultants are on hand help you start selling courses and guide you through the process.