The online learning industry is projected to “surpass $243 billion by 2022” (statista.com)…
And everybody wants to get a portion of this pie.
But with different courses popping out left and right, how can you stand out?
If the idea of creating a course has crossed your mind and you want to know how to compete with the other courses available in the market, read on. I have something for you to think about.
COME FROM A PLACE OF HELP.
I encourage you to make this statement your course creation mantra if you really want to create a course that stands out from the competition.
Learn it. Love it. Live by it.
What do I mean by this?
An online course is more than just a bunch of different content dumped into an online platform. It’s more than just content organization. It’s definitely more than just generating sales and making money.
An online course is a learning experience. It’s a journey from Point A to Point B. It’s a road map that gets people to where they want to be.
An online course is all about the learners – your customers. It’s never about you – the course creator.
So many people start creating a course based on what they want to teach or what they think other people wants them to teach. They end up spending so much time, money and effort putting a course together based on what they want.
Then, when they launch it, they’re greeted by crickets. Or if they do get sales, their students later find out that the course is not for them.
I’ve seen someone who spent $10,000 who did exactly this framework and got no sales.
Certainly not a situation we want to be in, right?
COME FROM A PLACE OF HELP.
Be someone who genuinely wants to help. Because if you do, you will take the time to know your audience – their pain points, challenges, problems, desires, wants and needs.
You will make the time to talk to your ideal audience. You will reach out and start a conversation with the purpose of getting to know them deeper.
When you make the time to know your audience, you have higher chances of creating a course that people want to buy — even if there’s a bunch of similar courses in the market.
Why, you ask?
Your audience will tell you exactly what they need. They will tell you what problems they want solved. They will tell you the solution they want to have.
Your job as a course creator then, is to discover these things and create your course based on what your audience wants.
Plus, when you reach out and talk to your target market, you’re building relationships. You can leverage these relationships when you start marketing your course. Remember, people buy from people they know, like and trust.
COME FROM A PLACE OF HELP.
Everything you do and create is based on what your audience wants and needs. In every decision you make in building and marketing your course, you have your ideal audience in mind.
Because truth be told, what you think does not matter.
So how do we create a course that stands out from the competition? COME FROM A PLACE OF HELP.
Here are the action steps you can take to get started.
- Decide who your target market is. Who do you want to serve? Who needs your expertise? Who do you want to help?
- Research. Get to know your audience. Find out their challenges, fears, frustrations, dreams and aspirations. Ask questions. Conduct a survey. Observe what they talk about in social media or online forums. Reach out and hop on a call with them.
- Using your expertise and experience, create a solution that solves their pain points (based on your Get-to-Know research).
- Create a course outline based on what you found from the Get-to-Know research.
- Reach out to your ideal audience and ask them if they’re interested in the course. Because you use their own pain points, chances are, they’ll most likely say yes.
- Collect the payment and deliver the training live using a Secret/Closed Facebook Group. If you’re not comfortable doing the training live, you can record it and upload the videos on Facebook. Use the “Units” Feature on FB Groups to organize the content. You can also use the “Rooms” feature to hop on video calls and engage with your students.
- Get your audience’s feedback to continue improving the course. Then, iterate based on their suggestions and feedback.
Not only is this framework cost-efficient, it also allows you to create a course that your audience wants. And when you sell them what they want, you’re likely to get a YES.
You differentiate yourself from other course creators who only want the monetary reward of selling courses.
You differentiate your course from other similar courses because it’s tailored to your ideal audience.
All this because you shift your mindset to…
COME FROM A PLACE OF HELP.