How to Sell a Video course
"Build it and people will be there," ,"..." said no video course creator ever . Even if you've completed the laborious task of putting the course together, does not mean that people will flood your store with orders.
If you want buyers to take your course, it is essential to don your "salesperson" costume and become proficient with pricing strategies as well as marketing. In this article, we go through the hooks and tricks of selling your video course -- so you can earn big dollars for all the hard work you put into it! We'll cover:
Skip ahead:
- Strategies for creating an effective video course
- Making money from your course on video
- Track your sales results
Tips for creating the perfect video training course
Check to see if there's a interest in your course
A video course will simply be a waste of resources if nobody needs it or will purchase it. It's similar to cooking a meal which nobody wants to eat.
Ryan Turner, founder of Ecommerce Intelligence, says, "my ideal advice is to really want to be sure that there is a need and a demand for your course and that the people will be willing to pay for it. It's easy to get passionate about one very specific thing that you really love and develop a course. You may then realize that there are people who aren't to pay for the information. ."
Two ways can be used to generate demand for your class.
Build an audience
Begin to build an audience as early as possible so that you can have a list of people who you will be able to reach out to once the course is launched. And there are several methods to achieve this:
- Create content that is related to your class through social media platforms
- Hosting events
- Go on industry podcasts
- Organize one-on-one mentorships and consults
- Send a first newsletter
If you're planning to start an online course on fitness and health; begin by sharing bite-sized videos about the subject on YouTube like.
Lily Ugbaja, content strategist and co-founder of findingbalance.mom She believes sharing content for free could be an opportunity for novice creators. "For me, doing things that are free such as offering free consultation as well as free training and putting videos up on Youtube and other things really helped increase my reach. Make videos, because your first attempt is bound to suck. Repeating it with no expectation of getting paid yet, lets you become yourself and teach naturally."
With the constant release of videos, viewers begin to recognize, appreciate and believe in your knowledge. According to Lily, "you learn to create videos that are actually effective and that people will find useful. Learn to market because even free things have to be sold. It helps you to be successful. It helps you gain an audience, in order that when you're launching, you already have a target audience you can launch to. It's not like you're singing to crickets. ."
Anna Davidson, veteran ecommerce coach, has a similar opinion. "Build your social network, regardless of whether you're on Titok, Instagram, facebook or telegram. Offer value, free content and to let your followers know you're an expert in the field you're working in. Also, buying your course is a logical choice for the students."
Explore other course creators within your field
In the event that other artists have launched and sold video courses within your field, that means there's a market for your product. Search marketplaces such as Udemy and Coursera to determine if there are already courses covering the topic you wish to target. Focus on information like:
- How much are they selling these courses for?
- The number of sales that they've had from the day the course was launched
- The reviews as
You might want to consider enrolling in one of the current courses to gain an idea of the kind of content they deliver as well as what the general public is looking for from courses that are video in your niche.
Invest in the right video production equipment
Crappy equipment can ruin your video and the overall user experience. Your course might have great content, but if, for instance, the lighting is poor, people will abandon it -- they're trying to learn, not watch watch a Batman movie.
A good camera doesn't have to be the highest-priced one. You can shoot engaging videos even on a tight budget. If you've got $1,000 to put into video creation equipment:
- You can get a lapel mic or lavalier mic for $40
- Ring lighting kit at $45 $50.
- You can buy a camera for $700. $700
- You can get a backdrop for your video at $16
Cut the dust
Most first-time video course creators make their videos overloaded with content and information that turns off the students.
"I took months making the original version of my course because I wanted to make it the best one out there," says Ryan. "And I'm sure that it's the top one that was available. Still, I had too much in it that was not absolutely necessary. It could have been a turnoff for some, such as"Oh, Man, I had to see this course It has about six video clips, which are all about an hour long or something ."
Your course should focus on one aspect. Think about my primary goal for people to get from this course and make sure to include only content pertinent to that outcome. Any other thing is fluff. As you collect the feedback of learners, create modules and tweak the course material to be more responsive to students' requirements.
"Most people overcomplicate things and believe they must develop a video course that covers every little particular. The reality is that the most effective programs are short and focus on improving one key aspect that moves the needle. If you're able to address another aspect, you can offer it for sale again." Bart van der Meer the founder of greenmatch.co.uk adds.
Make your course more efficient for bite-sized learning
Literally, no one wants to watch a 5-hour long video course at a stretch -- that's something Ryan Turner knows all too well.
"The initial version of my course was too lengthy. A few of the video clips in the course were over an hour , and you can tell, it was just too much information. It seems to me that for most people, it's tough to follow someone's screen share for an hour. It can be boring. Engagement isn't sustainable all that long."
Divide your content into 10-15 minutes long modules Don't create one module that's one hour long. Incorporate quizzes, or other interactive exercises after each section to help slow the pace of learning.
Selling your video course
You've done your research and created an engaging and relevant video. It's now the time to promote it!
Price your item
Pricing is essential. If you charge too little it will be difficult to make profits as well as your reputation may be damaged if customers feel that your product isn't worth the investment. However, charging too much may make potential buyers turn away and decrease your chance of making sales.
Unfortunately, course pricing is not a straight-line procedure. There are a few important things to think about when you are brainstorming ideas.
Your cost of production
In the beginning it is important that your cost should include all the expenses associated with creating the video course, so you won't lose money. Stella Chenjie Guan, founder, and chief executive officer of Path Unbound, shares her four steps for doing this:
- First, calculate your overhead. What are the costs you have for running your school? It includes the time you invest in creating the curriculum either by yourself or as part of a team. You should use a fee that is what you normally charge the services of a customer.
- Then, figure out the goals of your net profit. What is the amount of money you want to make from this?
- Incorporate your expenses into your goals for net profits.
- Think about the number of students you could draw in a reasonable amount. Divide that number and you'll be able to determine the price of your course. If, for instance, you've spent $2000 to create the courseand are hoping to generate $200,000 for your class per year, you could draw 300 students to sign up. Then your course should be ($2000+$200,000)/300=$673 per student.
The degree of authority that you've earned in your niche The level of authority you've built in your field
That's where establishing an audience can be beneficial. If you've established the trust of potential customers and you've established an affordable price for your program. Many creators are able to sell their high-priced courses within an hour due to their solid reputation over time, with outcomes to prove it.
"The credibility factor of trust is key," says Lily. "Like what is your reputation? Your level of trust in the industry determines how much you can charge, to a large extent."
The market average price
For you to make sure that you're not pricing yourself outside of the marketplace:
- Use educational platforms such as Udemy and Coursera for the approximate cost of online courses within your niche
- Take a survey and find out the price that consumers will pay for video courses in your field. "Sometimes classes that cost a lot can be deemed less important by certain audiences. Know how your audience perceives value and cost'" says Alaina Szlachta founder and Lead Learning Architect of By Design Development Solutions.
Let's say that the courses within your niche cost between $100 and $500. It doesn't be a good idea to ask for $2000 for your class unless you are able to provide unique value your audience can't access anywhere else, which leads us to the next point.
The worth of your class The value of your course
If the course offers exclusive benefits to learners -for example, access to a community for private use or one-on-one consulting -- then you can charge above the average market price for it.
"When I launched my course, the cost was $997. And the reason for that is that there was a huge amount of information within the course. However, I was looking for good support after. Therefore, I created the option of a private group for customers on Facebook that I used to interact with people in the course and give them assistance after purchasing. I allowed people to also book two one-on-one sessions with me in the course of the package. I wanted people to have the best possible possibility of success and to have access to me so that I could assist them in person. And obviously, if I'm doing that, I can't do that for 500 individuals. Yeah. Then I thought Okay, higher price less people, but provide them with an unforgettable experience." Ryan explains.
If you decide to set a higher price point for your course, you could still cater to the market with:
- allows people to make installment payments instead of only supporting single-time payments
- creating a lower price tier with limited options
Transfer your class to an online platform for hosting
The exact process of uploading your course depends on the platform. If you're on an educational platform like , add the videos directly to your course video library and make them accessible to your students.
Choosing a hosting platform is one of the most crucial decisions you will make as you prepare to sell your course. Different things matter to different designers, but it is important to be aware of three key aspects:
Security
The platform you host on should have security features like access control as well as data encryption to guard your intellectual property as well as reduce the possibility of your information being stolen or hacked.
Users Experience Experience with HTML0
The platform for hosting should be simple to use. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the web should be able to navigate the platform.
"The platform needs to provide an easy user experience" says Lily. "Features like single sign-on where someone has just one account in the platform, and they're allowed to access all programs they've purchased, even though it's not in the market. The interface also needs to be user-friendly that after someone has finished watching any of the video clips it should be possible to move on to the next one without any hassle -- it's just an easy click ."
Convenience
The top video hosting platforms are ones that act as one-stop shops that provide everything you'll need to launch your course -beginning with creating your video to building landing pages and mailing drips of emails to your target audience.
Ryan Turner says, "For me, the most important thing was an all-in-one platform to do everything in one go. Naturally, having an attractive place that's easy for students to actually go through the entire course is essential however, I needed a platform where I could manage all mail marketing required for the course, you know, build the landing page, and sign-up pages, and sign up forms so that I only required only one piece of software in order for all marketing, hosting and everything in the course. The idea was to create an entire website within one platform to run my class. It saved me much time instead of trying to tie all these different technology together, and using various tools to accomplish different tasks. This was the primary reason that I was looking for. ."
Create a landing page
- Include a clear and distinct instruction such as "sign up", "register", "take me to the course"
- Do you have social proof, such as the testimonials of beta-testers
- Explain how the course solves an issue for the prospective buyer
If you're tech-savvy, you can code an entirely new landing page by using web-based builders like Wix as well as WordPress. But first-time creators (and people who are looking to save time) are best off making use of an educational platform in order to create and publish page landing pages for courses from one place without writing a single word of code. , for example, has custom elements like countdown timers, call-to-action buttons, headers, and images -- that you can modify easily to make professional landing pages in minutes.
Related: What is the best way to make a landing page using HTML0? HTML3?
Marketing your course
A course may be only one piece of the puzzle. Another part is bringing the course sold. Be sure to spend as much time marketing the program as you spent in creating it.
You can use numerous marketing tactics and strategies to create interest and attract customers, and each one is likely to produce a unique result.
Promote the course in your own network
Make sure to share the news through your own channels like your personal email address and private community -- and other third-party channels such as social media as well as industry-specific communities to inform people that your course is live.
People in your circle already have faith in you to an extent, so a number could be early adopters and take your course. It is possible to offer discounts to get them to buy.
Run paid ads
Paid ads can help you reach people beyond your circle and result in more course purchases. As an example, Instagram ads can reach as high as 2 billion users!
Run ads on the platforms that your target audience engages with the most. As an example, LinkedIn is the best advertising platform when you're looking to target C-level executives because that's where most executives hang out. Ad platforms allow you to target specific audience profiles with your ads to increase the likelihood of them converting.
The course can be pre-sold
Source: Twitter
A plan to launch evergreen launches Plan for evergreen launches
"Most people are unaware that you can have an evergreen launch, that is, where the email marketing funnel is set up to ensure that you launch for each user on their own time, instead of doing cost launches every couple of months." Lily explains.
Track your sales results
It's not a one-time business. You must constantly adjust your overall sales strategy in accordance with the outcomes you've achieved.
Examine the data to examine the outcomes of your marketing campaigns. Are you reaching the right people? Do you have the correct advertising materials? These questions can help you identify the best areas to concentrate your efforts moving forward.
Happy Selling!