“Create a course and they will come”… or so you hope! Sometimes despite best efforts our entrepreneurial ventures don’t go the way we originally planned.

If you have created a course and are disappointed in the sales (or lack thereof) then you might be feeling a bit defeated, wondering what to do next.

First, let me say that just because the original idea didn’t unfold the way you wanted it to it doesn’t mean you should stop trying. Consistency is key in entrepreneurship – and if anything you likely learned a thing or two during this initial process.

Sure, it’s not what you wanted but not all is lost.

Here are three ways you can make the most of a not-so-ideal situation.

Make The Course a Bonus to Something Else

Just because the course isn’t selling doesn’t mean that people won’t find the content valuable. As you continue your entrepreneurial journey, save your course for a future endeavor.

It could make a fantastic bonus for your next product (or products) which will increase the value of your next offering as well as help decrease refund rate.

Create a Lead Magnet

Your course has some pretty amazing content. You can leverage this content to create a lead magnet to build an email list. People often say that there is “money in a list”, and with good reason. You can promote to this list again and again (just don’t spam). 🙂

Find the most interesting parts of your course (i.e. the sections that provide the most value) and bundle it into a special report. In exchange for the report you get the individual’s email address.

Lead magnets work best if they are associated with a blog. Just put the opt-in form in the sidebar or at the top of the site so people can learn more. However, you can also promote the lead magnet in your signature in forums and social networks.

Recycle The Content into Blog Posts

Naturally this strategy should only be done if you think you will never offer this content as a course, but what I like most about this approach is that all of your hard work isn’t lost.

Content marketing is the best way to build a business from nothing (I can attest to this as LearnDash started from a simple blog).

If you feel that the course will never sell then this is a powerful way to re-use the content in a way that will provide a tangible benefit. Take the various components of your course and schedule them as blog posts.

Depending on how large your course is you could literally end up with hundreds of blog posts around a specific topic!

Google will love this because you will be posting often. You will start to notice gains in traffic as you promote these posts on social networks. If you have a Lead Magnet as well then your email list will grow.

Best of all, you can focus on promotion of your site since you don’t have to worry about constantly pumping out blog posts (at least for the time being).