It’s hard to argue with one simple fact: it’s never been more accessible to learn a LOT of things. Like, you could log onto the internet and learn pretty much anything you could ever want.
It’s the coolest.
At the same time, it’s never been more accessible to TEACH something, either. There’s a huge market for online courses, and creating strong, valuable courses can make you some big money. In fact, many of our clients here at System Envy are 7-figure course creators, and they have the kind of audience engagement and conversion rates that we all dream of.
So if you’re a 7-figure course creator — or an aspiring course creator — yourself, guess what? You’re in a really, really amazing place. However, taking an evolved, intentional approach is more important than it ever has been before.
See, while people are still devouring online courses (the global e-learning market is expected to hit $842B by 2030!), there’s a catch: audience fatigue is real. People are used to seeing the same marketing, the same messaging, and the same launches. If you want to stand out, you’ve got to evolve.
Lemme show you how to do it.
Step 1: Make sure you’re not making these mistakes.
Your audience is smart, and I can promise you that they’re not even kinda interested in seeing ads for the exact same, unchanged course year after year.
While evergreen courses are a good thing (obviously!), there’s a big difference between something that’s strategically evergreen versus never-updated. If you don’t want to completely update your course content, it’s important to at least change up your messaging, add bonuses, and restructure the way you launch your programs. Otherwise, you run the risk of isolating an audience or making them feel like you’re no longer the best option.
Now if you ARE updating your course content (woohoo!), be sure that you’re also updating and testing different messaging hooks in your marketing content and ad campaigns. For instance, take Facebook ads. They allow you to test several different options for headlines, copy, and images within each placement, which is *so* helpful in figuring out what your audience actually cares to see. Easy strategy win!
Step 2: Embrace these evolved launch strategies.
Working with the clients we do means that we’ve been on the team of some very successful launches. (Hint: $13 million in a SINGLE course launch? Oh, yes.) And there’s one thing all of these launches have in common — we’ve strategized the HECK out of them.
Here are tips from the evolved launch strategies we use with our 7-figure course creator clients:
Test different attention-grabbing video formats: It’s no secret to literally anyone that we’re in a big video-first world right now, and this involves a lot of different video formats. Lean into this by testing different types of videos in your course launches! Need ideas? If you’re running ads to a polished, produced video, make sure you test a less-professional, more unfiltered one, too. If you’re running ads to animation-heavy, graphic-heavy videos, make sure you’re testing videos with your face in them, too.
- Consistent audience engagement: One of the BEST ways to sell courses like you mean it is by regularly, intentionally engaging with your audiences outside of the launch period. We are huge on our clients running regular engagement campaigns to connect with and provide value without any sales attached — and the result regularly leads us all to surpass launch goals.
- Diversified ad spend: Back in the day, Facebook was the primary place to sell courses… but that’s not necessarily the whole truth anymore! Your audience is online all over platforms, so diversify your ad spend to reach those platforms — think: TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, beyond. It matters.
- Timely course and webinar content updates: Our 7-figure course creator clients are really, really good at aligning their courses and webinars to their communities’ current pain points, and it makes all the difference for them. Make sure you’re thinking of your audience’s present-day needs as you create content for your launches and your ads, and work to make sure that you’re genuinely aligned with their (and, honestly, the world’s!) current sentiments.
Whew, that was a LOT — but trust me here: it’s the difference between a good launch and a great one. And if you can take only one thing from this blog post, take this: your audience wants to feel listened to. When you can meet them where they are, with what they need, you’ll have yourself a strategy that works every single time.
Need ad support for your next course launch? Reach out to our team here — or find tons of advice, tips, and strategy-backed insights here.
