There are arguably thousands of courses or programs online, and launching a new one can be a thrilling but scary thought for many people. This is especially true if you’ve never launched a course before. However, there are five ways you can launch a new course or program, and doing so will depend if the course is for credit, continuing education units, or if it’s a non-credit learning course. We’ll outline the five biggest steps you can take to successfully launch your course below with a bonus tip.
1. Research Your Market Area
One of the first things you do after you pick out a subject is dive into research. The goal of this research is to find out which areas are the most popular for your chosen subject so you can market directly to them. This strategy will help you narrow down specific areas where your subject is most in-demand, and this can make it seem less overwhelming when you first launch it. It also sets you up for more people to choose your course straight away.
To properly research your market area, check Google Trends. Google Trends will allow you to analyze how popular certain search queries are across different languages and regions. It produces graphs that compare the search volume for these queries over time.
2. Routinely Update Your Email List
If you have people already subscribed to your product or site, don’t forget to keep them in the loop. You’ll start by sending an email out a few months before you launch your course or program to let them know what’s coming. Send out a few reminders before you actually launch your course, but stagger them over a few weeks, so you don’t flood your subscribers. It doesn’t have to be a long email. Sometimes, a single sentence or two is enough.
3. Set Up and Run an Ad Campaign
Ad campaigns are a fast way to get the word out about your upcoming course or program. To get the best results, you can start running your campaign a few weeks before your product launches right up until the launch date to generate excitement. Use the data you got from step one to identify the regions you want to target with your ads.
You can run ads through multiple platforms to make it as far-reaching as impactful as possible. Facebook is very popular, but so is Google, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Bing. Mix it up and market all over to give yourself the best chance of reaching the most interested parties possible.
4. Add Your Program to Course Directory Sites
It’s important that people can easily find your course or program once they hear about it. So, you want to add it to course directory sites. Ideally, you’ll put it in a few of them so people can access it from whichever sites they’re most comfortable using. This will allow you to pull people in from multiple sources.
5. Hire a Team to Promote on Social Media
You can’t be everywhere at once, so it’s a good idea to hire a team of people to promote your course or program on various social media sites. They should be able to excite people for it, and it’s a great way to engage audiences on a personal level. You can sit down with this team and have them choose which sites each person is going to handle.
You can then create a promotion schedule and outline how you’d like them to promote. They can create posts, interact with other people, put out videos, and schedule short previews of your course or program. They can also target specific regions and encourage people to follow and share your content to expand your reach.
Bonus Tip – Video, Video, Video
Never underestimate the power of video when it comes to launching a new course or program. They work to humanize your brand and draw people in. Put out short video clips of highlights of your program or sneak peeks of items your course offers. The more excitement you can convey through the video, the more excited your audience will be to sign up and take your course or program. You should start posting video clips a few weeks before the launch and continue until launch day and beyond.
Contact Six Degrees Digital Media
If you’d like a dedicated and passionate team behind you to help fuel your new course or program launch, contact us. We’re ready to help you create and promote your course, and we’ll give you tips to help you market more effectively to encourage success.
