Effective marketing is all about building momentum, and it’s an essential component of promoting a course.
If you can create intrigue long before your course becomes available you already have some serious runs on the board that include increased conversation about your offering and registered interest in the course you are set to provide.
Here’s an insight into how and why you should market your course while you create it.

A sneak peek

The key question many will ask when deciding whether or not to undertake a course is ‘what’s in it for me?’ So why not give them an insight into exactly what’s on offer.
A great way to do this is by sharing little snippets of course information as your course comes together and it’s an incredibly easy strategy to employ.
Share an image of your course graphics or a snapshot of a course worksheet on Instagram, or simply note on Facebook what you’re working on today.
This little window into what you’re up to helps grab people’s attention, giving them a heads up as to what’s coming and what it will offer them.
In a nice twist this method acts as a teaser and a freebie, providing something for nothing in the knowledge it may pique someone’s interest to take the full course.
The great thing is this strategy can be rolled out throughout the life of your course creation offering little snippets and prompting conversation about your brand and what you do.

Behind the scenes

There’s something so enticing about seeing the inner workings of someone’s thought process, and there’s ample opportunity to use this voyeuristic charm while you go about building a course.
Options include a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the tools you use to put your course together via Facebook live or Youtube. Here is one I did:

This ‘behind the scenes’ access offers a host of benefits including establishing your authority and promoting familiarity, while also providing an insight into the items that will be part of your ultimate product.

Questions anyone, please?

The best courses offer a dialogue between the educator and participants, so why not kick off your marketing on this inclusive two-way street?
Mentioning your upcoming course and calling for questions on a platform like Facebook offers benefits to you as the course creator and your participants as well.
It enables you to establish meaningful themes that relate to topics of interest, while encouraging potential participants to become invested in the course.
The simple fact is, if they’re already asking questions long before the course date, they’re nearly across the line to registering as a subscriber, while even those with nothing to ask become increasingly aware of the topic.

A fact a day

Chances are your course will be packed full of interesting facts or pointers, creating another marketing opportunity as you gear up to release the full product. Twitter, Instagram or Facebook are all viable options for this steady release of quick one-liners and can generate conversation about the topics your course will cover.

Share any PR wins

If your course or its subject matter has been fortunate enough to attract conventional media interest, be sure to share these too, noting them on social media and tagging them into your upcoming event.
This helps build interest while also establishing your authority as ‘the educator’ in that field. Again, it builds the momentum that’s so crucial to promoting any event.

The benefits

The benefits of marketing your course as you create it are numerous allowing you to hone the content to the type of interest you receive. It also allows for a host of other greater brand and product awareness wins along the way.
These include:

  • Establishing your authority by sharing the techniques you use behind the scenes.
  • Creating the sensation of an ‘in group’ that is privy to not yet released information or snippets of what you’re yet to reveal.
  • Generating discussion about the areas you will be covering that allow you to further tailor your course to participant’s interests or needs, while having them ‘invest’ in the creation..
  • Providing a sense of familiarity that allows people to get to know you and your methodology and encourages them to sign up.

Key takeaways

Marketing your course as you create it is an effective way of using the tools at hand to generate interest as you go.
It allows people to become invested in your offering and feel privy to sneak peak, behind the scenes information. All this adds to the conversation and momentum around your course, and doing it is as simple as using your social media to keep people up to date.