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7 Ways to Market Your Online Course

By: Rachel Kolman February 15, 2024
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All course creators want to sell more courses and have more participants. But if you expect to grow your audience, you’ll need to market your course the right way. 

Marketing takes time and effort to see results. It can be overwhelming at first, and some newbies shy away from marketing efforts to focus on their course. But, if you’ve been at it a while and are still not seeing enrollment numbers increase, then maybe it’s time to shake up your marketing strategy. 

To get you inspired, here are some ways to market your online course:  

1. Optimize your landing page
2. Create lead generation campaigns
3. Get active on social media
4. Offer discounts and generate urgency
5. Invest in paid advertising
6. Check your website
7. Network

Let’s take a closer look at each tactic. 

1. Optimize your landing page

You probably have a landing page already, but is it actually converting visitors? The entire goal of your landing page is to drive more course signups. If that’s not happening, then it’s time to rethink and optimize your landing page. 

You need to make sure you are effectively communicating the benefits of your course. It should make sense to users who want to learn more and click your enroll link. 

Here’s how you can get started optimizing your landing page:  

  • Write a compelling headline with matching copy that communicates the value and benefits of your course
  • Offer a clear course description that explains what participants will learn and how they’ll be learning 
  • Feature testimonials from real people, showing tangible benefits of the course
  • Include an enticing call to action (or increase your number of CTAs) 
  • Showcase a bio about yourself, with a professional photo, to establish credibility and trust
  • Keep a clean and professional design (use a Kadence template for help!)

2. Create lead generation campaigns

Lead generation is an effective way to market your course. It helps you find learners with groups of people who may be unfamiliar with you but interested in your course topic. 

However, lead generation is not a one-way street. You’ll need to provide value to the audience first. Here’s how:

  • Provide helpful webinars that demo a skill your course will cover 
  • Publish long, unique, and interesting PDFs or articles on topics from your course
  • Produce ready-to-use resources that folks can plug in and use, such as a free tutorial 
  • Offer mini courses as a way to capture emails of interested folks who may want to take the full course 
  • Promise valuable content in email newsletters, such as “freebies” or tips that come right from your courses. 

In exchange for this valuable content, you’ll be provided with email addresses. You can then nurture these contacts through email with more content about or related to your course. If you keep up the above consistently, your leads list should only keep growing. 

3. Get active on social media

Being active on social media as a marketer can be tricky but essential. You want to participate in discussions but not overly spam your own content. 

Try to spend more time sharing valuable content instead of being sales-orientated – your audience can see right through it. Test out video formats, especially for Instagram and TikTok, to capture attention and show personality. 

Also, make sure you’re building a social network with other course creators and industry experts, too. They’ll naturally want to promote you or share your content. You don’t have to be on every platform, but pick the few that fit your niche the best and invest your time in being active on them. 

For more tips on how to utilize social media to promote your course, check out our social media promotion articles for LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

4. Offer discounts and generate urgency

Marketing often revolves around creating a compelling or urgent need for your product – in this case, your course. 

To create a sense of urgency, limit the number of seats available and create a waitlist. This works best for when you plan to launch a new, never-been-seen-before course. You can also offer limited-time or early-bird discounts for new courses to create a compelling reason to sign up. 

To see higher enrollment in established courses, consider offering coupons, special promotions for existing learners, and bundles. You can bundle several courses together at a discounted price or bundle a course with a product or service you offer, such as software or a one-on-one coaching session. 

5. Invest in paid advertising

Advertising is a straightforward way of marketing your course. You get to choose your audience, content, and budget. There’s a reason so many folks rely on it: Paid advertising can allow you to reach many people across different platforms without investing hours of your time. You can choose to run ads based on views, engagement, or pay-per-click

Popular platforms where you can run course ads include:

  • Social media, like Facebook or Instagram 
  • Google Ads
  • Publication websites in your niche
  • YouTube 

For a quick way to get started, look at current high-performing posts on your social media accounts. Then, promote them to “paid” to get more views and engagement.  

6. Check your website

Similar to a landing page, your website needs to be optimized, too. You’ll probably lead most users to your course landing page, but having your website up-to-date and optimized can help market your course all the same. After all, folks may be finding your course through a variety of entry points. 

Optimize your website so it’s more likely to appear in search engines. Some simple ways to get started with SEO include: 

  • Making sure your website is mobile-friendly and responsive 
  • Including relevant keywords and search terms on your site
  • Installing an SEO plugin like Yoast to monitor metrics 
  • Keeping your blog active
  • Linking your own pages to other pages on your website 

Additionally, add call-to-actions for your course on your homepage and blog – or even on a banner – so you’re marketing your course across the entire site. 

7. Network

Just because your business is online doesn’t mean you can’t network with others in your field. Networking is still a great way to market yourself and your online courses. 

When you network, you’re growing your reputation and your resources. The best way to utilize your network is by being a guest or inviting guests on various platforms. Some examples include: 

  • Podcasts covering topics in your niche
  • Blogs both on your site and partner sites 
  • Webinars where you can offer a pitch for your class to attendees
  • Other courses as a guest lecturer or expert in the field 

Make courses to market with LearnDash LMS 

Creating a course is just the start – making sure folks find your course is just as important! 

LearnDash LMS takes the pressure off creating courses so you can focus on engaging learners and growing revenue. You can build a course right into a WordPress site, using all the features of WordPress you know and love.

Ready to get started? Try the demo and see how simple it can be to make your first course in WordPress using LearnDash.

Rachel Kolman

Rachel Kolman has over 10 years of experience writing and editing for a variety of clients and brands. She is passionate about education, social change, pop culture, and video games. She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and two cats.