Episode 19: 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Creating & Launching a Course
Ready to create your own course and say hello to a lovely cash injection and recurring profit? But afraid of it flopping? Crippled by imposter syndrome? Learn the 5 mistakes to avoid when creating and launching a course in this episode of The Ashly Locklin Show.
Join the free Course Creation Challenge: https://www.ashlylocklin.com/course-creation-challenge
Get my free Course Creation Starter Guide & Checklist here: https://www.ashlylocklin.com/course-creation-starter-guide
Start your free trial of Kajabi here: https://app.kajabi.com/r/rMzp5EPv/t/ebabzkhf
Connect with Linda Sidhu (quiz specialist): https://www.instagram.com/linda_sidhu_quizzes/
Want to nail your quiz idea and start attracting new subscribers faster than ever before? Download Linda’s guide: https://linda-sidhu.mykajabi.com/quiz-idea
Here’s a preview of what you’ll learn in this episode:
The crucial step you need to take before creating your course.
How to use email marketing to ensure a successful launch.
How long you should be in pre-launch mode to create interest.
What you should really be marketing when promoting your course.
How to overcome the mindset blocks holding you back.
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Show Notes:
Hello and welcome to today’s show! I’m diving right in, as usual, because I personally hate small talk and chit chat and when I want to learn something, I don’t want to hear a bunch of random stories beforehand! I’m like “gimme the goods and let me get on my way!”
Today we’re diving into 5 mistakes to avoid when creating and launching a course. I explained why you should create your own course in the last episode, so if you aren’t sold on the idea yet, listen to that episode to learn why you are leaving money on the table and working harder without a course.
But there are a few things to do and consider before getting to work! Because you don’t want to pour your heart and time into a course that doesn’t sell. But don’t worry, I’m going to break down the most common mistake courses creators make when crafting their courses and launching them.
And before we dive into the goods, I am hosting a free Course Creation Challenge to help you identify your most profitable course topic, outline your curriculum, create a launch plan, and much more! It’s completely free and I will be delivering tons of tangible action steps so you walk away with a clear plan you are confident in! To secure your spot, click the link in the show notes and I’ll see you in the free challenge! https://www.ashlylocklin.com/course-creation-challenge
Alrighty, now let’s go over the 5 mistakes to avoid:
First mistake:
Not doing market research to see what your audience needs/wants
You might be super passionate about a topic and decide to create a course on it. But just because you are passionate about that topic, it doesn’t mean your audience is passionate about it too.
So the first thing you need to do is conduct market research to see what your current audience needs and wants.
My first course came out of requests. I was in network marketing and had so many people in other network marketing companies as well as women who had no interest in network marketing asking me for access to the training course I created for my team (which covered branding, selling, and social media).
In addition to the requests, I did a little market research and asked my audience if they’d be interested in a course that taught them how to monetize their social media accounts.
And that’s how my first course was born.
After that, I did market research surveys and polls in my IG to determine what my audience was struggling with and what they’d be interested in.
It’s important to validate your idea, to ensure that the audience you have now will actually buy what you are offering, it’s important that your offer comes at the right time - meaning your audience is at a point where they are ready for that kind of course.
Your audience will evolve over time as you grow it through engaging with ideal clients and as you create more content for your ideal clients, but if you want to make money sooner rather than later, you have to consider the people you have in your audience right now - since they are going to the be the ones buying it.
Skipping this market research is a critical mistake and will cost you tons of time and energy.
It’s easy to assume what your audience will want and respond to, but assumptions aren’t guarantees or facts.
Instead of assuming people will buy a course and then creating it, first conduct market research to determine if this is in fact something your audience wants, if it’s something they are struggling with, if it’s something they truly want to invest time and money into.
Your market research questions will vary depending on your offer and audience.
You could start with some IG polls and ask a series of questions to see if your audience is actually struggling with the topic you want to create a course on. Then have a poll asking if they would invest in a course to fix it.
For example, maybe you want to create a course on blogging. You could ask the following poll questions:
Do you currently have a blog?
Do you want to create a blog?
Do you want to monetize a blog?
What is holding you back from creating your blog?
If there was a step-by-step resource that walked you through creating your blog and then monetizing it, would you buy it?
If all of the answers indicate that your audience has no interest in blogging, then creating a course on blogging wouldn’t be the best use of your time right now.
Now that doesn’t mean you can’t create it, it means you need to build an audience that would buy. More on that coming!
As I said, you can build your audience with your ideal clients, but that takes time. It takes time to build the know, like, trust factor...which is key to making sales online.
In contrast, if your audience indicates that they are interested in investing in a course, then you can take it a step further and create a market research survey through Google Forms and have some open-ended questions on there that ask more specific questions that illuminate your audience’s desires, hesitations, and needs. Then you will use that data to create a course that meets their needs and use their words in your marketing (on your sales page, in your marketing posts, etc).
So bottom line is: don’t just go and create a course assuming it will sell. Do market research before you do anything so you validate your idea and have a clear understanding of what your audience wants.
The second mistake:
Not nurturing your list or having a list
I say this all the time, the money is in the list...that is your email list! I launched my first course when my social media accounts had been hacked and hijacked, but I was still able to have an insane cash infusion because I had been building my list and nurturing it for months.
Here’s exactly how I was able to do that.
A few months prior to launching my course, I knew I needed to increase my warm prospects and create a list of people who would be interested in my course. So I hired someone to create a lead magnet for me, in the form of a quiz. A fellow entrepreneur, Linda Sidhu, had just launched her own business creating quizzes as lead magnets, so she created an amazing quiz for me titled: Where you Born to Be an Influencer?
I promoted that quiz through ads, with a pretty small budget, and it brought in almost 14,000 leads!
That’s 14,000 people who had raised their hands and said, “hey, I’m interested in being an influencer!” - which was perfect because the course I was leading them to was Influencer Prep Academy.
After they took the quiz, they were provided with a free branding color palette, based on their results, and enrolled in my nurture series, where I sent them a series of emails introducing myself and sharing more free tips on landing paid brand deals.
They also received my weekly newsletters and emails, so they were well-nurtured.
And when my social media accounts were hacked and taken, I leaned into my list even more and sent out more frequent emails.
So when it came time to launch my course, I had an extensive list of people who were interested and primed to buy - and that is how I had an incredible first launch - that had no bells and whistles. I didn’t do a free challenge, I didn’t do a free masterclass, I literally just launched to my list and boom! Sales came rolling in.
Before you launch, think of an irresistible lead magnet that will bring the right people to your email list, then nurture them so they are ready to buy when you launch your course!
With that being said, I have a free course creation starter guide and checklist you can download right now to help you get started! Click the link in the show notes to download the 15-page free guide! https://www.ashlylocklin.com/course-creation-starter-guide
The third mistake:
Not having a pre-launch plan to create hype & interest
Not only should you be building your email list, you need to have a social media marketing plan to prime your audience, especially if you are pivoting from one business to another. If your audience is used to you talking about blogging and blogging tips, then they’re already pretty primed for the announcement that you’re creating a course on blogging.
But if you have never talked about blogging or offered blogging tips on your social media, your audience probably doesn’t view you as the blogging expert, therefore, when you announce your course, they are going to be blindsided and less likely to be interested in buying from you.
I recommend creating a 30-60 day pre-launch marketing plan to create that hype and interest. Spend this time offering free tips and value so that you establish yourself as an expert. Show some behind the scenes work in your stories, without explicitly sharing what you are working on, to create curiosity and intrigue. Create that mystery but make it known that you have something big and exciting coming soon. That will get people interested and have them coming back to your page and stories to find out what the secret project is.
I also recommend having some sort of launch event, whether it’s a free challenge or a webinar or masterclass to bring in leads and convert them, so that requires marketing as well.
The moral here is - give yourself time (at least 30 days) to create interest, hype, and establish yourself as the credible expert.
***Before we move on, this episode is brought to you by Kajabi, the platform I use to host my courses, collect payments, host my sales pages, opt-in pages, and do all of my email marketing. It literally does EVERYTHING for my business! And it’s what I hands-down recommend to anyone who wants to create courses or funnels that bring in consistent leads or just uplevel their business - because it’s a one-stop shop! I’ve included a link in the show notes for you to get a two-week free trial to test it out! So if you want to give it a trial run and fall in love with it, click that link to set your business up for success.*** https://app.kajabi.com/r/rMzp5EPv/t/ebabzkhf
Mistake four:
Not focusing on the transformation your course will provide
When marketing your course, you want to promote the results your students can expect instead of all the things inside the course. I’ve shared this tip before in several episodes, but the biggest mistake marketers make is focusing on what the customer will get (the tangible items) instead of selling them on the transformation or results they’ll experience.
We don’t buy a workout program because we want the workouts. We buy the program because we want to lose 20 lbs, have more energy, feel sexier, and look hot in our clothes.
The same goes for marketing your course. Sure the modules, the workbooks, the calls, the resources are important to mention, but the main focus should be on what life will be like after your students complete the course. What will change for them? What will be different and better? What will they experience?
Using the phrase “Imagine…” is really powerful here.
For example, if you’re teaching a course on growing your Instagram...
Imagine what it will be like to wake up to new followers every day…
Imagine what it will feel like to hit that 10K mark and finally get the swipe up feature….
Imagine what having an engaged audience of the right people will do for your business…
So when you go to make your marketing plan, make an extensive list of all the benefits and feelings your students will experience after your course!
Mistake 5:
Not going all in because of imposter syndrome (worried what people will think)
Worried what people will think?
Afraid you don’t have what it takes to be the expert?
Terrified of putting yourself and your course out there?
Feeling like an imposter and worried people will say, “who are you to think you can do this?”
I feel ya! Imposter syndrome is completely normal and even millionaires at the top of their game experience imposter syndrome.
But if you don’t go all in, if you don’t play big, if you don’t put yourself and your course out there, it will flop.
You can’t say, I’m just going to send a few emails and see how people respond. Or I’m just going make a post and see how it goes.
As I said earlier, you have to create a ton of hype and interest and that takes going ALL in...with posts, emails, stories, challenges, all the things.
The reality is, you just need to have a slight edge over your students. Many refer to it as the 10% edge...you just need to be 10% ahead of where your students are. Your first course doesn’t have to be your life’s work or what you have a PhD in, and you don’t need a PhD to be a successful teacher or course creator.
You just need skills and knowledge that you want to share. Skills and knowledge that others are seeking.
And sure, people will judge you...for sure.
They’ll judge you when you aren’t successful and just starting out. They’ll think or say, “who is she to create a course?”
And then they’ll judge you when you’re successful. There is no winning!
So stop worrying about what others think.
My mantra for the past 6 years has been: I can’t pay my bills with other people’s opinions.
So I learned real quick to stop caring about what others said or thought about me.
Now with that being said, there are going to be more supporters than haters. People will celebrate you, cheer you on, congratulate you, and buy your course even if they don’t need it - just because they like you and want to support you!
So focus on THOSE people. Focus on the people you will help through your course.
And when that imposter syndrome and doubt creeps in, remind yourself of what a badass you are. Remind yourself that you do have gifts, talents, and knowledge to share with others. And forge ahead.
But whatever you do, don’t play small. Don’t dip your toe in the water and expect a phenomenal launch. That will fail and then you’ll be discouraged. Instead, go all in and proudly pimp out your course!
So to recap, the 5 mistakes to avoid when creating and launching your course are:
Not doing market research to see what your audience needs/wants
Not nurturing your list or having a list
Not having a pre-launch plan to create hype & interest
Not focusing on the transformation your course will provide, not making it appealing
Not going all in because of imposter syndrome
If you haven’t joined my free course creation challenge, enroll through the link in the show notes and we’ll be diving into so much more! The goal is for you to walk away from that challenge with a profitable course topic and launch plan! So secure your spot now! https://www.ashlylocklin.com/course-creation-challenge
Thank you for tuning in! Please take a screenshot and tag me @ashly_locklin, tell me what you thought of the episode, let me know if you are thinking of creating your own course and what topic you choose!
And most importantly, get out there and make those money moves!
LINKS:
Join the free Course Creation Challenge: https://www.ashlylocklin.com/course-creation-challenge
Get my free Course Creation Starter Guide & Checklist here: https://www.ashlylocklin.com/course-creation-starter-guide
Start your free trial of Kajabi here: https://app.kajabi.com/r/rMzp5EPv/t/ebabzkhf
Connect with Linda Sidhu (quiz specialist): https://www.instagram.com/linda_sidhu_quizzes/
Want to nail your quiz idea and start attracting new subscribers faster than ever before? Download Linda’s guide: https://linda-sidhu.mykajabi.com/quiz-idea
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