How can I market my course?

[LawrenceMMiller]

Some version of this question is one of the most common by instructors so I thought I would write this, which is a summary of advice from many experienced instructors.

I have compiled a list of things you can or should do to market your course. None of these are short term or an instant path to riches. But, they are things that work if you are serious about building an online business on Udemy. Think strategically, not short term. It often takes a few years of effort to begin to make a significant return on your efforts. 

1. First and most important BE an expert in your field of knowledge. Read, study, and demonstrate state of the art knowledge in your field. If you aren’t this… nothing else is likely to work.
2. 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. Benefits are how this course will personally benefit me. Customers buy benefits, not features! 
3. 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 searching for and be sure they are in your title and/or your subtitle. This is how students will find you.
4. 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! Personality sells. Do I want to spend hours with this person? Do I like them? I know it isn't "rational" but we buy from people we like.
5. 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.
6. Identify Facebook and LinkedIn groups related to your subject matter. Join them. Participate in discussion.
7. 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. You can see mine at ManagementMeditations.com. It is only one possible model, but I am sure there are better ones. Google the names of some of the more successful instructors and you will find their personal websites.
8. 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.
9. Build your own email list be 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.
10. Your Udemy students are 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. Develop a Facebook discussion page for your students and to publish articles (the same ones as on your blog page and LinkedIn page.
15. Watch Scott Duffy’s course on Udemy SEO Marketing.
16. It is a consensus of experienced instructors that paid Facebook ads do not work.
17. 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.
18. Do not even think about purchasing reviews!!! They are now spotted and removed by Udemy’s Trust and Safety group.
19. 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 informed by the experience of many other successful instructors,

Larry Miller

[MassimilianoAlf · Accepted solution]

This is a great list with a lot of value... every new instructor should take the time to study it, thanks for posting it!

[MasudRanaParvaz · Accepted solution]

Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

[Haytham · Accepted solution]

Hi Lawrence,

Nice and to the point post.

Regards,

Haytham | realarabic.com

[Bruce · Accepted solution]

Thanks Larry, I have had a very bad experience with free coupons. Never again.

Blessings for the advice.

[akashranglani · Accepted solution]

Super Awesome.

Adding few more points.

1) Answer the questions in quora related to your course and provide course link.

2) Apply same strategy in reddit.

[KennCrawford · Accepted solution]

Great advice, thanks for sharing. 

[Edmund_P · Accepted solution]

well written

[SupaBees · Accepted solution]

Good post Larry!

Agree with pretty much all your points; my takeaway: don't waste money on FB ads directly; also I appreciate the hindsight to only offer FREE coupons to those who have visited/liked our course-related Facebook page - great idea.

Thanks!

Susan

[FinanceED · Accepted solution]

nice; and, also, if I could add:  don't let One course determine the feasiblity of your teaching efforts.  Have a couple of courses on--before, you panic!

[RKArora · Accepted solution]

wonderful suggestions Dear Larry

i have just started 2 days back and was trying to send a message through announcements but could not find thw way.

Can you help me fix the issue. I am not sure its activated to me or not?

with best & Kind Regards

Oh one more question I could find price of Camptasia $100 at some page of Udemy How can I buy this software through Udemy 

God bless you Sir

[MassimilianoAlf · Accepted solution]

This is a great list with a lot of value... every new instructor should take the time to study it, thanks for posting it!

[JBalajee]

Thank You

[AmaraMarina143]

Thank you so much, Larry, for this incredible list! My first course launched about a month ago, and I created a free coupon and sent it to 5 people - the close friends's circle - and i asked them genuinely to watch it and do a review, and that's what they did, their feedback was very helpful. I did this absolutely intuitively, and I am very happy Larry backed that up 🙂 I am only learning all the tools of promoting here, and absolutely, we have to be here for a long haul, that's the only way it's gonna work. I am already preparing the second course, and it's been fun so far. Good luck to everyone in this amazing community!

[Stephenteacher]

Great information thanks for posting

[Dries_Ketels]

Hey @MassimilianoAlf 

Love that quote. Failure can be such a nice learning experience. I quickly checked your YouTube channel and was surprised to see a fellow artist... Loved it! I might also be able to help you with your channel if you would need some help... 

I currently reach 551K people/month on YouTube and would be able to answer all your YouTube questions for FREE. Questions concerning title & thumbnail creation, intro's, SEO, getting more views, getting more subscribers, topic research, etc... ). I love helping, I love sharing knowledge and growing together. I believe those who help each other out are the ones who come out on top.

In exchange for my knowledge I would like to tap into your knowledge about Udemy courses. I would love to ask an experienced Udemy instructor questions about Udemy (course marketing, reviews, social proof, course creation, advertisement, etc.) Let me know if you would be interested in exchanging information. 

For your information here are my YouTube stats: 

- @DriesKetels (YouTube handle)

- 551K people reached/month

- 230K watch time/ month 

- 400 shares/month 

- 18K subs total

- 700 subs gained/month 

- 55K interactions/month 

- 52% aged between 25-44

Hope to hear from you, let's grow together and educate each other,

Friendly,

Dries

[LawrenceMMiller]

FYI clicking on your website and youtube links, both don't work. You might want to check them out. 

[Dries_Ketels]

@LawrenceMMiller You're right... old links. Just fixed it. Thanks Lawrence. 

[AITCD]

I agree with you.

[AliciaPaz]

Hand down my favorite post of yours Larry and there are quite a few! Thanks for sharing it here as well.

[Shigeru_M]

Hi Lawrence, great posti! do you mind if I translate your posting in Japanese and share it with fellow Japanese instructors? Your widsom is definitely we should know. 

[LawrenceMMiller]

Shigeru, Please feel free to translate and share as you wish.

[Shigeru_M]

Thanks! Lawrence! 

[ScottDuffy]

Love this post. A good strong place for people to start!

[DavidJamesAult]

Great advice, Lawrence.

[MasudRanaParvaz · Accepted solution]

Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

[aarthielumalai]

Awesome post. Thanks! Looks like I need to revamp my landing pages. They're too robotic. 

[georgippetrov]

Great list to follow and very constructive advise. Thank you for sharing.

[jaatishrao]

Your last point "Have patience" caught my eye. I am doing everything in my power to market my courses but always finding everything worthless in the end....One must possess the power of patience in order to get the best out of anything.

Thank you so much for such a inspiring, educational and motivating post.

[Auroreb]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. 

Very inspiring for me !

[RuneFlækøy]

Great info.Thank you for sharing