Tip: Sell Your Course Before It’s Built

By: Justin Ferriman • April 4, 2016
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tips-imageThere are many paths to creating and selling an online course. Some people choose to build out the course and then market it. Others prefer to market it first (pre-sell) and then build it.

While both methods get the job done, there are some inherent benefits to the second approach.

First, we must remember that your time costs money. You can’t get time back which is why it’s extremely valuable.

Given that courses can take a long time to create it’s important to be sure it will sell by the time you’re finished.

It’s one reason why you should begin your marketing efforts early.

But what if you just didn’t create your course until you knew there was a demand?

Instead of spending all your time building out the course you could consider “flipping” the process so that you market your course aggressively before it is complete.

This approach allows you to perform ample market research and test out which unique value propositions resonate with your desired customers.

Now you should have some idea about what you want to cover in your course as it will help you with your marketing approach.

You can even build out the first few lessons and give those away for free in exchange for an email address (a great way to build your initial email list).

If in this process you notice there is considerable demand and excitement for your promotion then you know you have a course that will sell and is worth your time.

Use this as motivation to then complete the course – taking note to cover the topics that people are showing the most interest in so that you ensure it’s included in the content.

You win because your course is more likely to sell and your customers win because your course address their needs.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter