In this blog, you will discover all the important steps you need to take in order to make a successful course launch.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Education technology is booming and online education, in particular, is the future. Courses are a great way to build a product, build a community and get paid by teaching.
According to a recent Statista study , the online education market in India is forecasted to be valued at INR 39 billion by 2018 and reach INR 360 billion by 2024.
A course launch is a way to get your new user experience off the ground. It’s the first time you invite people to try out what you’ve built, and it’s an important step in building an audience for your work.
It’s not easy doing a course launch. There are many moving parts, and they all need to work in unison to give you the most potential for success.
In this article, we’ll share the best tips for a successful course launch that’ll help you avoid common pitfalls.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Table of Contents
Things to keep in mind to successfully launch a course
Plan, plan, plan!
Planning a successful course launch can be one of an entrepreneur’s most exciting and nerve-wracking moments. It’s an opportunity to cultivate a community around your product and begin to build a lifelong relationship with your customers. But it can also be very difficult to do well. It takes careful planning, attention to detail, and consistency. So, here’s what you can do:
- Set a goal for your course launch and define what success looks like for you. Make sure it’s achievable and motivating enough to keep you going through the process.
- Develop a budget and timeline for your project to stay on track as you go along.
- Take at least two months between when all content is ready to go live and when it goes live to market the course well.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Craft a killer headline
A killer headline speaks to the reader and makes them want to click. It should be short, catchy, and engaging. With that in mind, here’s a formula you can use:
- “Benefits + Number + Urgent Call To Action”
For example: “How To Turn $50 Into An Extra $100/Hour Using This Free Tool!”
The benefits they’ll receive from reading this post are benefits of learning how to do something important (in this case, finding gigs). Adding a number instantly increases urgency because it gives the reader something specific to work toward—and then there’s that urgent call to action at the end asking them if they want more money—so what could be better?
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Tell a story
You want to tell a story. This is not necessarily a novel concept, but it often gets overlooked.
The biggest reason you should tell a story is that it will help your audience connect with you and your product, increasing sales. You’ll also be able to get more reviews, word-of-mouth, traffic, and links.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Don’t overdo it in the graphics
Graphics are a wonderful way for a successful course launch by making it look nice and keeping it organized. But don’t overdo it. You want to use graphics to highlight key points, not drown the viewer in flashy animations or distracting elements.
Users will appreciate having a clear path through the course launch with so many distractions online. The best way to do this is by using graphics as a guide:
- Don’t rely on text alone—use images and icons where they can help tell the story of what you’re doing in your course launch. For example, if you’re highlighting dates for an event like Live Training Days, try using icons for months of the year instead of just writing out those words (consider using icons from Google Material Design).
- Use diagrams when appropriate—they help explain processes and concepts visually that are easy for users to understand at first glance without reading any text descriptions below them.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Show the value of your product
Whether you’re launching a new product or service or trying to convince your existing clients to invest in a new service, it’s difficult to show the value of what you’re offering. People are naturally skeptical of new things and don’t feel the need to invest in something they can already get.
When the product is a long-term investment, like with courses, people may not be sure that they will benefit from it. In order to overcome these obstacles, it’s important to realize that getting clients on board isn’t about convincing them with facts and figures—they are about showing them how your product will help them achieve their goals.
Here is an example: A writer wants her readers to take her course on writing fiction. She creates an email campaign with the following message: “Stop struggling with your first draft! Start writing the second draft today!” The writer has shown the value of her course by describing how it will help her readers reach their goal of finishing their stories. This simple step could mean the difference between dozens of her readers taking her course or just a few.
Here’s what you can do:
- Showcase the value of your product and how it’s going to help your target audience.
- Support your promise with case studies and testimonials from industry leaders.
- Create a sense of urgency by outlining the limited-time offer or special bonuses available to early adopters.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Include social proof
Social proof is a powerful way to build trust and credibility. It’s also the best way to prove that your course is worth investing in. Some popular social proofs include:
- Social media followers: If you have social media accounts, display the number of people who follow you there. This will help potential students understand how big your platform is before signing up for your course.
- Number of users: Show off how many users engage with your content on an ongoing basis by displaying a graph or chart with user activity over time (such as the number of downloads). This shows that people are interested in what you have to offer and have confidence that they’re not going to be left out on something cool if they sign up right now.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Make it simple to buy
When you’re selling a course, you want to make it as easy as possible for your potential customers. You don’t want them to have to fill out forms or sign up for services they don’t yet know they need.
You also want to make sure that you’re communicating the price and making it easy to understand so that people know what they’re getting into before they buy.
Finally, if your customer has already purchased a product from you in the past (likely if this is the second time around buying), ask them if there’s anything else that would make buying more appealing or relevant. This could be another product from you or someone with similar content/offerings.
Lastly, have multiple payment gateways to offer extreme flexibility to your customers. With Graphy, you can include a number of payment gateways including Instamojo, Razorpay, Xendit, ShrujoPay, PayPal, and Stripe. This makes the process of selling your online course quite easier.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Over 30,000+ creators have launched their online teaching businesses using Graphy. Join now.
Provide accessibility options
One of the most important things to do for a successful course launch is to make it as accessible as possible. That means providing captions, transcripts, and speed control for the video content; closed captions for audio content; and simple navigation on your website so that people with disabilities can easily read your materials.
Here are some more details about how you can do this:
- Provide transcriptions of all videos in your course. You can use software like Captioning Assistant or Subtitle Workshop to add subtitles/transcripts automatically (or manually if you prefer), then upload them to YouTube or another hosting platform where they’ll be available when someone watches the video.
- Keep videos short—less than five minutes long—and break up longer ones into multiple clips so that viewers don’t get bored staring at one screen for too long before being able to click ‘next’ and move along in their learning process.
- Allow for speed control on both YouTube and Vimeo platforms so users can adjust playback speed based on their preferences or needs (for example, speed up fast-talking speakers).
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Final stage – launch
It’s time to get the word out when you’ve got a sales funnel set up. Post your course on social media and keep the momentum going by making announcements every few days or weeks.
You can also ask people who are already in your audience if they’d like to spread the word about your program by sharing it with their networks (remember, this is called “social proof,” so try to reach out directly). It’s always helpful for people who want to learn something new about marketing or business development to refer back to their own experiences, especially when those experiences relate directly to what you’re offering.
Be sure that all of these efforts are interconnected; each piece should lead naturally into another one. For example, if someone signs up for your email list after seeing an ad online, they’ll likely be interested in being included when you launch a new video series on YouTube next month. They’ll probably be interested in other products.
And that’s how you’ll complete the process of successful course launch.
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Graphy is the content creator’s favorite Learning Management System (LMS). Its robust features are dedicatedly made for admins and learners to exchange information and provide the best teaching experience to their audience.
Why choose Graphy for creating your online course?
- Launch your online course website & branded mobile apps
- Multi-layer security to prevent your content from unauthorized accessibility and piracy.
- Integrate multiple-payment gateways
- No transaction fees
- Market your course by creating promos or discounts
- Create an extraordinary website and mobile app without any coding required
- SEO optimized landing pages to rank better on search engine
- Excellent customer support through dedicated account managers
Got Your Content Ready? GRAPHY is all you need to get started!
Over 30,000+ creators have launched their online teaching businesses using Graphy. Join now.