Starting off a new year and a new month by, once again, participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge where I will be writing and publishing a post for the next 31 days. Since one of my business specialties is email marketing and product/program development, my theme for this month will be around digital course creation and how to market it.

Let’s start off today’s post with steps on how to pre-sell your course. In order to validate your idea for a course or training program is to pre-sell your course. You can do that using these 12 steps:

Step 1: Determine what your course or training offer will be. You might already have an idea for your course. If not, you need to find your audience pain points by asking and observing conversations in the communities they frequent. Create an outline of your product.

Step 2: Determine your price range for the course. Decide what you will include in the package you’re offering. Will it include written content, videos, workbooks, templates, one-on-one coaching, group-coaching, or something else that fits with your topic?

Step 3: Set up your early interest page. Set up a page where you can capture names and email addresses of those interested in the course. Include a teaser about what they can expect from you. You’ll promote your pre-sale to these people.

Create follow-up emails for those who opt-in by providing high-quality content. You’re preparing them for the pre-sale of your course via blog posts and your newsletter. By providing them valuable content on your topic, you’re showing them that the topic is important and that you know something about it.

Step 4: Create some of the content. Create some content for your course and as teaser content for your blog, podcast, Facebook lives to build interest on the scheduled release. This helps build up the buzz on the course. Be sure to include a call to action in the content for readers to sign up for your course to learn more. Make this content available to beta testers to collect their feedback. This gives you an idea of what needs changing.

Step 5: Set up your sales page. Send people to this page from your traffic generating efforts like blog posts, social media buzz, and ads. Include a short overview of your course including information such as the benefits and features. Make it full of action verbs and language your customers understand. It should be a paragraph or two in length.

Add a compelling call-to-action. This is the “wow factor” that convinces visitors to click the buy button and pre-order your course or training.

Include mock-up versions of your course. You haven’t created your course yet, but if you’ve decided to move forward at this point, you should have some type of image of the product created. This can be your logo and the top of your sales page dropped into a mock-up image of a computer. Use exclusivity and urgency in your call to action. Be explicit letting your customers know it’s a pre-sale and there is a special discount price.

Here are a few examples:

• Don’t miss your chance to pre-order [your course]! Be one of the first to get in on this amazing training.
• Take advantage of our special, pre-order price and become a [outcome] when the course launches on [date].
• Pre-order today to lock in the early bird price to ensure you spot in [course name].
• Feature social proof with glowing testimonials. Even if you don’t have testimonials for this product, you can include ones that refer to you specifically.
• Add a countdown timer that gives customers a visual showing exactly how much time they have to get in before the price increases.
• Don’t forget to include your author bio! Use it to establish yourself as the authority and that you are a real person.

Step 6: Pre-launch offer. Promote the pre-sale to your targeted audience via email to get beta testers. As mentioned before, you want to promote your pre-sale to those who have shown interest in the course or training. Send a pre-sale email announcing your course and the exclusive opportunity for them to beta students.
Focus the email on generating excitement about your course. You’re trying to convert your subscribers.

Step 7: Collect feedback. After the initial pre-sell, get feedback from your beta students. Feedback increases the value of your course and helps you cater it to your audience. Gather information from within the course and the communities you’ve created for them. Make note of any questions that occur. You can also email those students that stood out during the course and ask for their input.

Finally, you can send a survey to collect feedback. Ask questions like:

• What areas of the course were vague or confusing?
• What do you want to see more of?
• What would you add to the course?

This would be a good time to collect testimonials as well.

Step 8: Launch your offer email. This email looks similar to the pre-launch email but needs to convey a sense of urgency. In this email, tell your readers about the deadline quickly approaching for signing up for your online course.

Use short, attention grabbing sentences with strong verbs to get your point heard. Your call to action should be as visible as you can make it in your email. Include frequently asked questions at the end that address any questions your prospects might have about investing in your course.

Step 9: Market your pre-sell package. Besides email-marketing, you should be pre-selling through other channels. Write a blog post about your pre-sale to convert people who haven’t signed up for your list. Post videos on YouTube or do live videos on social media about your course pre-sell to get it out to potential subscribers. Post about your pre-sale on social media platforms.

Step 10: Send a last-chance email. The final date for getting in on the pre-sell at the discounted rate is quickly approaching. Mention that the price rises significantly after the launch date and they need to jump in now to save big.

Step 11: Close the pre-sell offer. You want your pre-sell to be for a limited time. This creates a sense of urgency that converts potential consumers. Only the people who pre-ordered get in at the launch price. You close the offer to others until you’re ready to reopen it at the regular price. Or if you don’t want to close the offer entirely, you can raise the price after the deadline to let other customers in.

Step 12: Create the course content and launch! Write your course, record your videos, and add any other components needed. Create your slide decks cheat sheets, bonuses. It’s time to deliver your content.

So there you have it. These steps are a great way to pre-sell your courses even before you have them completely developed and ready to launch! If you want to learn more about how I can support you in creating your next digital course package, contact me today. It’s no obligation to you.

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Aletha McManama

Aletha is a "Digital Marketing Maven" who specializes in online marketing using WordPress, social media and email marketing to assist her clients in marketing their business. She is a WordPress pro that designs websites and blogs. Plus, she trains business owners to create and maintain their own WP site and blog.

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