Plan Your Course Marketing Before You Publish, Here are Proven Marketing Ideas
Comments
-
thank you.
@LawrenceMMiller
wrote:The following is a version of a message I posted on FB several years ago and I have republished it several times because the question about how can I market my course is one that appears with great regularity. When the new Udemy platform went live I published it in the instructors forum. But, I think many of the suggestions below are ones soon-to-be instructors should be thinking about. Marketing is not an event, it is a process that extends over a long period of time. Get started now!
None of these are an instant path to instructor success. But, they are things that work if you are serious about building an online business on Udemy.
- When you are planning your first course, shoot your best shot! Your first course will establish your brand and a bad hastily created course is not the way to get started. Your first course should be on a topic in which you have genuine expertise. Take your time to make sure this is a high-quality course. I am now working on my sixteenth course and I am taking three months to develop it. Take your time. Get it right.
- BE an expert in your topic. Read, study, and demonstrate state of the art knowledge in your field. If you aren’t this… nothing else is likely to work. Some people fake knowledge in a topic in which they have no experience and it quickly becomes obvious. It results in failure.
- Be sure that your course landing page communicates your expertise… “Why should I listen to you?” And, be sure that your course landing page communicates the “benefits” of your course, not merely the “features” of your course. Customers buy benefits, not features! The features describe the topics covered. The benefits answer the “so-what?” question. How will this change my life?
- Remember that most of your future students will be on Udemy searching for something. That “something” are key words that they will put into the search bar. Think carefully about the key words your future students may be search for and be sure they are in your title and/or your subtitle. This is how students will find you.
- Your promo video is what catches students after they land on your page. Spend ten times the amount of time perfecting your promo video as you do on any other lecture. State the benefits of your course, your qualifications, and invite them to join you. These are more important than outlining all the topics (features) of your course. Also, remember that buying decisions are not simply “rational” decisions; they are emotional decisions, and that is about how you make them feel! Smile! The viewer is asking him/herself, “do I really want to spend hours with this person?”
- Be your own “brand manager” and build your brand. Brands are built over time by building trust in your marketplace. Brand value is created by being trustworthy, creating consistent value for your customers, over time. The most successful instructors are focused on “marketing”, not just “selling.” Know the difference.
- Identify Facebook and LinkedIn groups related to your subject matter. Join them. Participate in discussion.
- Demonstrate expertise by publishing a blog/website with your biography, articles you have written, a page for your courses, and regular blog posts that are educational, value-adding posts. Google the names of some of the more successful instructors and you will find their personal websites.
- Then, share these blog posts or articles with all relevant groups on LinkedIn or FB. Your LinkedIn page should have articles by you, on your area of expertise. Prove that you are a “thought leader” in your field.
- Build your own email list by capturing visitors to your website. I use Sumo, but there are other WordPress plugins to do this… oh, use WordPress for your blog. You don’t have to be a web development expert to create a WordPress website.
- Your Udemy students will become your own mail list in that you can send both educational and promo announcements. As you build the number of students there is a multiplying effect when you share what you write.
- After your first course, plan to develop additional courses in your area of expertise. The more courses you have the easier it is to launch a new course by marketing to your current students.
- Obviously, do a great job of developing your on-camera presence and your courses. Engage in continuous improvement. Alexa Fischer’s Confidence on Camera course is excellent for improving your on-camera presentation skills.
- Develop a YouTube channel where you can upload the introductory lecture(s) to your courses and include a link, with a discount coupon, to your Udemy course.
- Develop a Facebook discussion page for your students and to publish articles (the same ones as on your blog page and LinkedIn page.
- Watch Scott Duffy’s course on Udemy SEO Marketing.
- It is a consensus of experienced instructors that paid Facebook ads do not work.
- Do not give away of free courses or thousands of free coupons. Those who take these coupons are not likely to go through the course and are likely to leave poor reviews. Give away a few free coupons to those on your personal FB page, those who know you, and may go through the course and may give a good review. This is something to do only at the first launch of a course.
- Do not even think about purchasing reviews!!! They are now spotted and removed by Udemy’s Trust and Safety group.
- Have patience… you are building a business and like starting any business, it is not a get rich quick thing. It takes patience and persistence. Udemy is not a path to quick riches and it is not “passive income.”
The above is only my advice, but they are informed by the experience of many other successful instructors,
0 -
Very practical Guidelines. I really enjoyed.
1 -
I agree somehow, but you should note that every udemy instructor starts small.
In my opinion, if you want to build on online business selling courses, you need leverage. Being a success on udemy is one big leverage, especially if you have a fairly good amount of students.
Both business models work, the most important is to be consistent and to improve everyday.
0 -
Appreciate this. It is valuable information.
Dr. Troy Walls
0 -
Thank you for sharing those tips.
0 -
@LawrenceMMiller
How can you say you are lazy when you follow all the marketing steps you mentioned ? You could easily use platforms like Kajabi and follow your marketing strategies and make at least 10 to 15 times more, with your calibre. Why stick around here ?Why are you not accounting for the huge payout increase when you host your own platform ? You get almost all your sales proceeds on your own platform.
0 -
@Diptopal
I have my own platform on Zenler. The comment you are replying to is dated 2019.It is extremely difficult to bring enough students to your own site to make the effort worthwhile. I make about $20k per month on Udemy by relying almost entirely on their marketing. I am accounting for the huge payout difference. I "stick around here", like other successful instructors, because it has paid off very handsomely.
0 -
@LawrenceMMiller
That's very good to know. But my scene is different. Launched the course on March 9th 2023 and have made only 600 dollars till date. Probably my course caters to a very niche audience and hence does not get traction.It's definitely not bad for everybody, I admit. I think as far as my course is concerned, UDEMY is the wrong platform to release it on. In this pace I never see myself breaking the 150 USD mark per month. Too bad I don't have the patience to play the waiting game in hope that someday this will pick up. I'm done with UDEMY, so moving on.
Wishing you many more years of success.
0 -
I think you are right that your topic is one that is not likely to gain a lot of students on Udemy. It is too narrow, too technical. My topics are intended for a much broader audience, although there is a great deal of competition in my category.
Good luck.
1 -
Sure its true that need lot of traffic to get some student pay.
But my think thant UDEMY can be used like a market platform also.
Here I started from scratch with Fiverr courses.
Have both ukrainian and english versions.Not satisfied with english version because of lot video skipped but anyway have some interested students who in feature can buy some course
Wish good luck to all who just start. My advice to start from free 2h course
0 -
Thank you for sharing your advice and insights, @LawrenceMMiller
! Those have been quite helpful and instrumental!0 -
Hi, @LawrenceMMiller
Thanks again for this share.I wonder if you could give some practical tips with regard to Item 4 - keywords.
I am a newbie
on Udemy. Published my FIRST EVER leadership course at the end of February and am exploring every step to boost sales. Would like to see if I need to adjust the wording on my landing page to increase the course visibility. Would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction, as would like to see the "how" bit better.
Would be grateful for an advice.
Best regards,
Dillyara D.
0 -
Hi Anonymous,
I had also wondered about the benefits of using the Udemy platform. Like many of us, I have been courted by other learning platforms to feature my course(s). However, after attempting to host my own courses and considering working with a different platform, I have decided to give Udemy the entrepreneurial attention that they suggest.
I realized that I did not want to 1) spend the time doing my own marketing, 2) staying abreast of and complying with regulations, 3) responding to customers that might have technical issues or 4) want to request refunds, etc. These are integral administrative, technical and compliance issues that Udemy manages for us.
I send people to Udemy because they may need courses that support what they are learning from me. I trust that Udemy holds instructors to a minimum standard, so I feel comfortable recommending this platform to others. I have experienced the scrutiny firsthand.
I began with Udemy many years ago, but have only recently decided to get serious about building my e-learning brand. I plan to give this time serious effort and see what happens. Also, I glean so much from the community of fellow instructors and hope to continue enjoying and suggesting Udemy courses to my students. So far the benefits of working with the Udemy learning environment far outweigh any shortcomings.
I would like to know how to get paid for my recommendations as well.
DrMJ
1 -
Hi, very valid point.
I am actually now experiencing the same situation....At one point I was promoting my Udemy course and have been referring folks to my course landing page, as I was building awareness of the course and was sharing my course coupon with the prospects.
At that point, I did not have my own website.
Now that my website is available, I am promoting my course from various social platforms by sending the prospects to my website. I also offer additional bonuses, if people buy the course from my website.
As a result, I offer a higher course price on my website. Higher, than what Udemy offers, particularly during promotion time period. And to avoid people getting confused, i stopped promoting my Udemy course link when publishing my posts or videos.
Given Udemy marketing resources and the revenue share they take, it feels that it makes sense if Udemy takes the lead in promoting authors' courses. I realize that things also depend on the number of courses published by a certain author...
How do you handle your marketing strategy and this inner conflict?If you have got your own website, do you still send people to your Udemy course page?
Also, can anyone advise if Udemy has the practice of giving some feedback to authors about their courses and the outcomes of their promotional campaign and marketing efforts?Thanks,
Dillyara D.
0
