Have you ever built your own online course and worried about what to do with it? You put a lot of time into creating the content, but it’s just sitting there. It’s not attracting students because no one knows that you have it.
How can you brand your online course so people talk about how great it is? This article will teach you a few steps to branding your online course.
Online course branding is the process of making your online course stand out from other online courses. It can be used to attract more students and make your online course better known.
You want your brand to stand out and make a lasting impression on potential students. Keep reading to find out how you can brand an online course.
1. Research Your Audience Before Creating Your Course
If you teach a course online or are considering doing so, it is important to brand your course properly. You want students to stick with your course and feel as if it is their own. My first tip is to research your audience and make sure they are the ones you want to reach.
With online courses, it is important to know who you are trying to impact. This determines what type of material you will include in your course and how it will be presented.
If you want students under 14, say so. Be specific about job titles, level of education, number of years in their job, who will be responsible for purchasing this course (will it be an HR department for example), etc. This way, you can create a course that exceeds expectations.
2. Offer Freebies and Discounts
One of the most powerful ways on the internet to get visitors to your website is to offer them something for free or at a discount. You can even set up a contest where the winner gets all of your freebies.
A “freebie” is a benefit or benefits package that you give to a prospect in exchange for them taking action on your offer, or signing up for your course. An important thing to note is that you should create a sense of urgency. For example, you might offer a discount to the first 10 people that sign up.
Finally, your freebie should be a benefit that you know your prospects are going to value, or that you think they will.
3. Utilize Social Media to Generate Buzz About Your Online Course
If you are planning on putting an online course together and you want to make it successful, you have to brand it. You have to use your social media platforms. This is a great way to gain visibility for your online course early on before it even launches.
To ensure the best results, use your social media to generate hype about your online course before you launch it. Seriously. This will help you generate interest and reach more people than ever before.
I highly suggest that you create a Facebook event, a Twitter hashtag, a Flickr photo group, and a YouTube video as part of your pre-launch marketing strategy.
4. Post Student Testimonials on Your Course Sales Page
It’s not hard for prospective students to find information about what you teach online. Once they’ve found your course, the next step is to get them excited about enrolling in it. You can do that with reviews and testimonials that show off how great your students feel after taking your course.
Student testimonials are a significantly effective branding tool. They are an effective way to demonstrate how your course can provide value to your students. Including student testimonials for your online course can help you brand your course and increase conversions.
5. Host a Live Webinar
If you’re already creating online courses, you can brand them in any way that suits you. But why not take it to the next level and add another hook for your students (and reputation for yourself) by hosting a live webinar to pitch your course.
This might work well for you for a number of reasons. For one thing, you get to present your course in a live setting, in front of your students, in a familiar format. A one-on-one sale will also be an opportunity for you to boost enrollment in your course.
6. Partner With Other Online Instructors
Can’t brand it all on your own? Partner with other instructors to share in the branding. This is a great way to bring a broader variety of topics to your online course(s), but keep the same branding across it all.
For example, you can have four different tutors presenting on four different topics, but all use the same font, images, and formatting.
When you learn how to brand your online course, you will tell your students who you are and what they can expect to learn in your class.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to bring on someone who has already established a teaching presence. Your online courses will be more successful if you work with a strong social media presence.
7. Guarantee Customer Satisfaction
Providing a guarantee is a great way to build customer trust and increase conversions. Additionally, you can assure customers that they will be satisfied with your online course. It will also help to generate word of mouth and referrals.
Also, by encouraging customer satisfaction and support you will likely continue to attract new customers. Educators look for this factor when they are choosing an online course provider.
Furthermore, make sure you respond quickly and efficiently to emails, phone calls, and Facebook messages so all of your student’s needs are met on time.
8. Create an Affiliate Program
Making an online course is not enough. Once you have invested all the time and gotten your product up and running, you should think about how to brand your online course. An affiliate program is one way to help market your program and encourage others to sell it for you.
For example, with Teachable’s affiliate program, you can empower your users, turn readers into customers, and generate further revenue. You handle all of the content, marketing, promotion, and sales, but affiliates earn a percentage of any sales generated.
9. Be Active on Online Forums and Communities
The place to go to get your questions answered and promote your online course is a niche forum or community.
You’ll be able to scope the local situation (is anyone else having these same issues? Is it being handled appropriately?) and get answers from people who are just like you, and who want to help.
10. Create an Eye-Catching Course Description
Get ready to brand and enroll students in your course. Your course description is the first thing students will see, so it’s extremely important to make it attractive.
Create an eye-catching course description to entice potential students who are on the fence about whether to join your online class.
Besides, a good course description can help attract your students and convince them to enroll. But what makes a great one? An eye-catching course description contains all the right elements, like key benefits, who it’s for, and information about what the course will cover.
11. Create a Sense of Community and Belonging
The Internet is full of fantastic educational resources for teaching and learning. While many classes include a suite of online tools with the course, it’s in your control to personalize and shape your online presence.
There are several ways you can use online tools to engage your students and promote yourself as an educator. This all starts by creating a sense of community with your students.
When learners feel like they belong to a community, it can create a feeling of safety, and make it much easier for them to express themselves, ask questions and seek help.
You want to develop a sense of belonging that they can’t find anywhere else. And you can do this by providing resources and opportunities for communication in your online course.
12. Design Your Course to Be Mobile-Friendly
If you love your students and you want them to succeed, then make it easy for them to see your course on their phones or tablets. Making your online course mobile-friendly improves your students’ overall experience and gives them a better chance at succeeding.
The easier it is for your students to get your information, the more likely they are to complete the course and earn their certifications or degrees.
Before designing your course, determine whether the topic you want to teach would work well on a tablet, laptop computer, or mobile device. If so, include text that’s easy to read and images that are designed for smaller screens.
13. Don’t Forget to Build Your Email List
Email lists have been around for a long time and they are a great way to consistently deliver your content to an engaged audience. With email marketing, you can reach out to all of your customers, both current and past, whenever you want with a single click.
You need to build your email list. How can you do that? By offering a free giveaway as an incentive to sign up. It’s one of the easiest ways to grow your list — in fact, most growth hacks are based on giving away something for free. And when it comes to giveaways, there’s no limit to what you can offer.
As your email list grows, you’ll be able to tell more stories through emails to your readers and subscribers. As a result, you’ll be able to offer new products and services to your following buyers.
FAQs
What are the things to consider before creating an online course?
Before you think about creating an online course, there are a few key things to consider. First of all, ask ‘Will, my target audience benefit from learning this?’ If the answer is no.
You probably won’t receive great engagement or instructor ratings and your students likely won’t return to purchase other courses you develop.
Before you even consider your subject matter make sure there is demand for your course. Without demand, you won’t get interested and without interest, it will be difficult to continue creating online courses in the future.
Why do you need to brand your online course?
The answer is simple: it sets you apart. The purpose of online course branding is to create a memorable experience that makes students want to enroll in your course, and then return for more courses.
If your brand has a distinct atmosphere and identity, you can increase the value of your online course, increase knowledge and reduce churn.
Final Thoughts
Making an online course may seem daunting when you are starting a new business, but it is easier than ever before.
A huge part of building a successful business lies in marketing. If you are looking to find new students and make your product known, think about the different marketing techniques available.
Remember, a good brand gives you the power of familiarity and association. The more the audience associates your brand with a feeling or benefit that it provides, the more successful your course is liable to be.
A strong brand will help your course maintain a positive reputation, regardless of what changes you bring to marketing your course.
Engaging your online learners should be taken seriously in addition to branding your course online. Even if you spend a lot of time, money, and effort building the brand of your online course, it’s pointless if learners don’t find it useful or interesting.
If your online course is engaging, students will tell their friends about it. As you probably already know, word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best forms of marketing.
To learn how to create engaging courses, read the article on practical ways to increase online course engagement.
Thanks for reading.
