11 ways to promote your upcoming course for free

I have been very busy over the last few months helping clients who have taken the step to deliver courses online. As anyone who has delivered a course (face to face or online) knows planning, promoting and delivering a course is a whole project in itself and there is a lot of admin, planning and marketing behind the scenes. I have recently supported creative clients from varied industries such as dog training/coaching/professional organising once they are past the stage of outlining their core content and supported them by :

• Writing descriptions of events and publishing as events on Facebook, Eventbrite, LinkedIN

• Giving advice on course planning steps and promotion

• Setting up automated on-boarding email sequences so clients once they purchase the course are guided as to how to complete

• Setting up a booking scheduler so that prospective clients can contact the course provider easily if they have more questions before they purchase the course

• Giving advice on how to make your course launch visible across social media platforms.

To launch a course with gusto you need a solid marketing strategy and as Ashleigh Watson from Copper Square Communications would recommend normally you need to plan a 6 week build up. There are lots of paid ways to promote your upcoming course but I’m sharing with you here 11 ways to promote your course for free:

*all of the below depends on you knowing and targeting your ideal client and which social media platform they are on and having built up a social media presence already

1.      Announce all on your social media platforms you have special news to share and that all will be revealed soon!

2.      Build anticipation and share details with your email subscribers (If you don’t have an email list already Mailchimp/ActiveCampaign/Mailerlite/Convertkit are all good email marketing platforms-read my ARTICLE on how to choose the right platform for you.

3.      Plan regular lives (on the platform where your ideal client is) Facebook/Instagram/ LinkedIn for the 6 weeks before course launch date outlining how the course will transform peoples lives and letting people have the chance to ask you questions about it.

4.      Create an event on your business Facebook page if you have a specific course start date. If it’s a course which participants can start any time, then create a link back to wherever people can book your course on the shop page of your business Facebook page.

5.      Create a LinkedIn event. If you have never done this before please refer to LinkedIn blog on how to do https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/linkedin-b2b-marketing/2020/how-to-set-up-your-linkedin-event-in-5-easy-steps

6.      Have a live interview with a past course participant (On Facebook or Instagram TV/your YouTube channel) asking them how they benefited from a previous course or a service you delivered. Streamyard is a very good tool for an interview style like this (with the free version you can publish to 1 social media platform and up to 20 hours per month of live streaming and paid up to 3 simultaneously)

7.      Blast testimonials from previous courses. If you have already delivered a course copy the feedback text of what was said and publish these as images on all your social media platforms. If you have a video testimonial all the better!

8.      Put links in your email signature as to how people can sign up to your course

9.      Make a list of every Facebook or business group that you are in and post your course details to them

10.  Get an article published online or in paper in any professional membership group you are part of or where your ideal target market is.

For example, if you are selling an organisational course to business owners you may want to target Business Eye/Sync NI. If you are offering a decluttering course teaching people how they never have to tidy again, female-centric groups such as Women in Business NI or Mum’s at Work Network might be good. I’m not saying by the way that there also aren’t lots of males out there to who never want to tidy again!

11.  Team up and cross promote your course.

If you collaborate already and have a good fit with another service provider who has similar audience to yours ask them to promote your course or even better offer to do a free taster session or mini workshop to their audience so they see the value.

As part of My Small Business Saturday inclusion I’m delivering 12 bite size videos (between 5th October and 5th December 2020) on tips to streamline your business to transform it before end of 2020. I’ve asked other Virtual Assistants I collaborate with from our VA heroes tribe to deliver some of these. In this way business owners get value but also see the value added and expertise Virtual Assistants can bring to their business. We will promote on each other’s platforms, so it is a win-win!

Access the playlist of the how-to series 'How to Work More Efficiently and Transform Your Business' on YouTube here.

If you are delivering a course already, please feel free to share any additional promo tips you use and of course to share a link to the course you are delivering! If you want to launch a course but feel overwhelmed by all the steps please reach out alison@virtuali.uk or book a discovery call with me HERE.

You can also download my 11 step guide to what to consider before launching a course HERE.