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The Online Course Coach Podcast

The Online Course Coach Podcast, brought to by TrueFocusMedia.com is THE podcast for the latest in online course creation tips, news, interviews and ideas. Whether you're creating eLearning for your company or a solopreneur building an online course to sell your expertise, this podcast will give you tips from Jeff Long as well as regular interviews from other industry leaders.
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Now displaying: December, 2018
Dec 29, 2018

Please help us bring more content to the masses by subscribing to the podcast at https://onlinecoursecoach.com/itunesapp

Marketing is the lifeblood of any business. Let's face it, how can you sell your course if nobody knows about it? We've heard it time and again someone complains that their courses are not selling well but it usually has to do with poor marketing. They simply don't inform many people about their course. Another reason could be that their course isn't solving a problem that their audience has. This leads to another key element to effectively selling your course; market research. Remember, the more knowledgeable you are about your audience and their struggles, the more specific your course can be. And because you know your audience so well it will be like you are reading their minds. You know their struggles and goals and why your course addresses those things. Before we jump into the topic of How to Automate Your Course Marketing, I want to talk about the upcoming Masterclass I’ll be hosting on January 15th at 2:00 pm EST. Learn 40+ ways to sell your course throughout all the stages of course creation. I’ll share creative ways to grow your influence and awareness of your course. While the training will be geared towards marketing courses, you can also use these strategies to promote your products and services. Join live to ask questions and join other motivated course creators. This will be an in-depth training with tips, resources, and my proven systems. It will last up to 90 minutes and won’t have an upsell at the end to a course that actually teaches you the good stuff about marketing. You get all the best from me live during the training. you can learn more about it at https://onlinecoursecoach.com/masterclass. That said, let's delve into the strategies of automating your course marketing:

Create a link in your email signature. Market your course with every email you send!

If you regularly send out emails, think of how you can market your course with every email. So instead of writing a 'plain' email or including too much of your social media links, conclude with a thank you note plus your image, graphic, or text that promotes your course. You'll want to avoid being salesy like ''hey, here is the link to my great course'', but rather say something like, "hey, are you struggling with XYZ?" "You may want to check out this course for a solution." It has to be something that address a problem. Think about rotating the text and image every few months to keep it fresh. And there are so many services that you can use for creating email signatures including the integrated email signature in gmail.

Create lead magnets on your website that have to do with your course.

A lead magnet is an incentive that you can offer to your prospective buyers in exchange for their email address or other contact information. It can help you build an audience if you don't have one and even generate sales for your course. Then you can create an autoresponder for your lead magnet that offers value and gives your audience compelling reasons to buy your course. On this note, you can use services such as convert and you can learn more of its benefits here; https://onlinecoursecoach.com/convertkit. You can also create various lead magnets to determine the interest of different topics, so you know what topics to talk about in your course. See these good examples; https://onlinecoursecoach.com/resources/. And when it comes to setting up lead magnets, this service will be very useful; https://onlinecoursecoach.com/leadpages.

Create an after-post template (easy when using WP) where you create a short ad and it gets placed after every blog post (or just with the appropriate category or tag)

   

Dec 18, 2018

Please help us bring more content to the masses by subscribing to the podcast at https://onlinecoursecoach.com/itunesapp

Copywriting is critical for online business success in this in this digital age. A well-written copy goes a long way towards converting readers to customers, otherwise, people visiting your website or blog will scroll down and move over to the next one. So in this episode, Jeff Long speaks to Paige Poutiainen about copywriting practices that sell. Paige Poutiainen is a certified funnel strategist, conversion copywriter, and founder of The Impact Copywriter. She helps growing businesses turn more web visitors into subscribers, turn more subscribers into paying customers and turn more customers into profitable long-term relationships — ultimately, reaching new levels of business growth. Paige has helped CEOs and entrepreneurs all over the world boost their sales with strategic sales funnels and conversion copywriting. Get help selling your course at https://theimpactcopywriter.com/sales-page-checklist.


Masterclass In-Depth Training

I'm pleased to announce my upcoming live Masterclass training sessions. I will go in-depth to show you the exact process, tips, resources, and my proven systems. This isn't a fluff training that tries to pitch you something at the end. There's no upsell, just lots of practical content to help you become a more successful course creator. Learn about the details of each Masterclass here, or read below. Each training is live where you can ask your questions. If you sign up you'll get access to the recording, even if you can't attend live.

1. Course Marketing Mastery

2. 30 Creative Ways A Course Creator Can Grow Their Audience, Impact & Email List

3. Rapid Revenue Streams - Create 20+ additional revenue streams around your online courses to explode your income

  • March 26, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.
  • Learn 20+ ways to package your services and products so you can earn more money, many of which can be automated.
  • Sign up for Rapid Revenue Streams

4. Outsource Your Course - learn how to find talented & affordable people to help you create your course faster and cheaper than you thought possible

  • April 9, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.
  • Learn my proven systems to know how to outsource almost aspects of course creation to someone that's talented and affordable (around $3-$25/hr!)
  • I'll share where I go to find skilled Virtual Assistants, my hiring process, simple job posting scripts, and more!
  • Sign up for Outsource Your Course

Without further ado, here's the brief from the interview, however, you may listen to the podcast for more insightful comments.

What is your background? How did you get started with copywriting?

Paige is a funnel strategist and conversion copywriter, and she's the founder of the Impact Copywriter. She got into copywriting right after grad school, taking a job at a startup where she got her feet wet in doing landing pages, websites, and content marketing, among other skills. According to her, this job was taking so much of her time and was really stressful. So she decided that if something was going stress her, then it's got to be something she's building for herself. She quit the job after six months and jumped into freelancing, and one day she landed at Copy Hackers and started diving into their stuff. With time, she narrowed down her niche to find the clientele she wants to serve. Paige has always been interested in personal development and so so she started creating courses along these lines, and she does sales pages left, right and center.

How does somebody know what their audience wants?

We call it the voice of the customer (VOC) research in marketing. When it comes to course creation, it's about going out and finding out what students are experiencing, their challenges, and their expectations. Of course, there are several ways to do this, but the most popular ones are interviews, surveys, and online conversation mining, where you get into Facebook groups, for example, and grabbing the language that they are using. The goal is to get what people are struggling with and that can help you create a course that solves their problem. If people can relate to your content, then they are more likely to purchase your course.

What are some of the keys to writing a good copy?

The first thing is to ensure you have done enough research about your audience. That is going to transform into the copy you are writing. The next step is to create a framework that you are going to use in breaking down your copy. As a general rule, you want to stick to PAS (Problem, Agitate, Solve) formula. Understanding the problem your audience is facing is critical to writing a copy that evokes a response. The more openly you can elaborate the problem, the more your audience feels that you understand. Then, agitate the problem - pour salt onto the wound that you just identified. This digs into the emotional part of your audience. Lastly, provide a solution to the problem - this is what your audience is yearning for.

How important is the length of any piece of copy?

There's no specified length for a sales copy. Copywriting involves different stages of awareness and this determines how long your piece is going to be. It starts from the initial stage of problem unawareness to problem aware, then solution aware and product awareness. The last stage is where your audience makes up their mind whether or not to purchase the product (your course) that will help solve their problem.  So the length of your piece will depend on how deep the problem is and how much you put into addressing it and providing solutions.

Tell us about "Sales Page Persuasion"?

It's a 60-minute or 30-minute conversion-boosting sales page review whereby Paige goes one on one with a client in guiding them to improve their sales page copy. She zeros in on exactly what a client's sales page needs and provides suggestions on what to change, add or remove. She can as well help in creating a sales page from scratch. Learn more about Paige Poutiainen here: https://theimpactcopywriter.com.

Dec 6, 2018

Please help us bring more content to the masses by subscribing to the podcast at https://onlinecoursecoach.com/itunesapp

Needless to say, running a successful business is a challenge. Times keep changing rapidly and the uncertainty about the future grow overwhelmingly. Think about this, in just one generation, businesses have had to adapt to totally new marketing channels (web and social), decide how to put resources into and use new technologies, and compete on a universal platform - things were unthinkable to former generations. The major side effect of these fast changes and development is that not one CEO, employee, or course creator for his matter can be an expert in everything. This is the reason, as I would like to think, the biggest challenges that businesses have today are best addressed by qualified consultants. So today I thought of sharing some of the lessons have learned from being in business for 15 years now. I speak about why you should hire a coach or business consultants, why you should outsource some of your work, how to find your audience, having a success mindset, and generally how you can become successful in your course.


Masterclass In-Depth Training

I'm pleased to announce my upcoming live Masterclass training sessions. I will go in-depth to show you the exact process, tips, resources, and my proven systems. This isn't a fluff training that tries to pitch you something at the end. There's no upsell, just lots of practical content to help you become a more successful course creator. Learn about the details of each Masterclass here, or read below. Each training is live where you can ask your questions. If you sign up you'll get access to the recording, even if you can't attend live.


1. Course Marketing Mastery

  • Boost Awareness & Sales Before, During & After Course Creation
  • January 15, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.

Sign up for Course Marketing Mastery


2. 30 Creative Ways A Course Creator Can Grow Their Audience, Impact & Email List

  • February 12, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.
  • Learn 30 creative ways to grow your email list all while being authentic and your true self so you don't feel like a slick marketer.

Sign up for Grow Your Audience, Impact & Email List


3. Rapid Revenue Streams - Create 20+ additional revenue streams around your online courses to explode your income

  • March 26, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.
  • Learn 20+ ways to package your services and products so you can earn more money, many of which can be automated.

Sign up for Rapid Revenue Streams


4. Outsource Your Course - learn how to find talented & affordable people to help you create your course faster and cheaper than you thought possible

  • April 9, 2019, at 2:00 pm EST.
  • Learn my proven systems to know how to outsource almost aspects of course creation to someone that's talented and affordable (around $3-$25/hr!)
  • I'll share where I go to find skilled Virtual Assistants, my hiring process, simple job posting scripts, and more!

Sign up for Outsource Your Course


 

Get a coach

A coach can help you identify and focus on what's important in order to accelerate your success. Some of the benefits of hiring a coach include:

  • You will get clear about your goals
  • Identify blind spots
  • Focus on development efforts
  • Gain a competitive advantage
  • Increase engagement
  • Acquire leadership skills
  • Train your brain into a winning mindset
  • Boost your overall well-being

The truth is, there is someone out there who has a better understanding of whatever you want to do, and so it's better they give you proper direction.

Network where your ideal customers/clients are

Find out where seminars, conferences, and local meetups that relate to your field are. These are the exact places where you can find clients and customers to your course. Basically, the more people know you, the more you are likely to get referrals, recommendations, and hires.

Speak whenever you can

Yes! Speak whenever and wherever you go. You never know who's listening. One time I volunteered to speak to a group of people and it happened that one of them was a marketing manager for a certain organization. The guy hired me and we worked for a few years, which brought in several thousand dollars. So the more you can speak, the more you can network. But don't just get into work related stuff and giving business cards because it doesn't give a great impression. Get to know people first, where they are coming from, their motivations, their struggles; try to connect with people on a personal level so they can open up with you.

Build an email list of people that want your content

These people not only become your followers but also your friends over time. Most of the people that have done one on one coaching with me, group coaching and masterminds have actually become my friends. These are people I keep in touch with as I want to see them learn, improve and grow, and consequently they become more than consumers of my content and resources.

Don’t believe everything you think

Being an entrepreneur can be tougher in your head than outside of it. It’s a mental game. Everything you think of might not be practically true. Perhaps you are wondering whether or not your course will sell, or if the marketing strategy in place is viable. That which seems impossible in your head might not be the same to the outside world. As the saying goes, "it always seems impossible until it's done". So if you are most often in your head thinking about whether or not your course is going to sell, or what marketing strategy will work, for instance, never fret! Just sit down with your team, write down your different skills and see how they can serve and provide solutions.

Success or learn. Not success or fail

In business, it's about success or learn. If your business is doing good, fantastic! If not, then learn why it's not working. This another reason why I'm doing masterclasses is to inform you succeed with your course even if you are just starting out.

Don’t try to learn everything

You can't solve all the puzzles in your field. Hire out the complex things and you will find yourself saving time and money as well as being more productive. Plus, feel good paying for quality content as you are not really going to get to the next level from free content. Free content is usually shallow and less valuable. So be sure to bring other experts to your business to help you solve the difficult stuff that you can't manage. It's very important for growth. Learn to outsource even some tasks that you can still do. Doesn't it get overwhelming being the sales strategist and marketer, article writer, video editor - doing all these alone in your business? So it's important to get others to do things for you while you put more focus on a few other things. That reminds me of another masterclass I'll be covering about how to outsource your course. Click here to leearn more and sign up for each Masterclass..

Stop doing the doing. Hire people for the doing. Focus on strategy, sales and management

Hire people out, whether for short-term or full-time, or even virtual assistants. Perhaps you want them to be your marketers, customer service, or whichever tasks you want to assign them - don't be afraid to hire people. Feel free to hire experts too for bigger things, such as consulting, business development and project management.

Success is more about mindset than skill level

This is something have learned over the course of my 15 years in business. My success has always relied on my ability to solve problems. So as far as your skills matter, you must have the mindset for success too. In any case, you can always hire up for things are complex for you to do. Otherwise, make sure to learn skills in business, sales, and managing people.

Take home points

  • Make sure that you are learning and growing your business consistently.
  • Find out what your audience needs and how you can meet their needs.
  • Water the gardens that you invest in; whether business, friends or family.
  • Don't grow the business for yourself, but grow to impact a million people.

 

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