There is an untapped selling power in short online courses that any expert and small business owner can use to attract new clients, increase revenue fast and get more repeat clients, while reducing marketing expenses.

After years of exploring this area, I wanted to share with you a bit of what I learned.

Let’s start with the two most common misconceptions that experts and small business owners have.

 

Misconception 1

The first misconception is that it is difficult to create an online course and that it takes a lot of time.

I worked with business owners that managed to create remarkable online courses in 4 days, from conception to completion.

The truth is that if you know how to create an online course using a systematic approach, it shouldn’t be difficult to Miscreate not one, but at least three profit generating courses in no time.

 

Misconception 2

The second misconception is that the main reason for creating an online course is to sell it.

Although this is a good revenue source, this is just the bare minimum of what an online course can do for your business.

Showing you exactly how you can use online courses to grow your business, would need a lot more space than a simple blog post.

You can find more about it by reading the first pages for free of the book Grow your Business with Online Courses.

But for now, let’s just get a feeling of its power.

 

Why an online course is a powerful marketing tool

An online course can provide value to people. Once you create it, it costs you nothing to offer this value to them, and it takes none of your time.

Simply put, an online course allows you to help others without spending money or time.

We’ll see how that simple realization can be used.

 

Which courses can become powerful marketing tools?

Not all online courses are created equal.

You might create a very valuable high-end online course, but if it is not optimized for marketing purposes, it might not produce the growth we have seen in so many businesses that use this strategy.

While providing a proven system to help your viewers achieve a desirable transition is crucial, if you don’t make sure you have the course optimized for marketing, you are just throwing potential income away.

A course, when created correctly, should:
-Build your credibility
-Overcome prospects’ objections
-Educate about your services and products
-Raise desire for your solutions
-Provide the value it promised
-Motivate people to ask for your services
-Reminds them of their reasons to ask for your services

Now, let’s see a few examples of how an online course can be used to increase revenue.

 

Getting more clients

Imagine for a second that you are a consultant and you are talking with a potential client in an event.

The prospect just mentioned that he is trying to solve a specific problem.

Then you simply turn to him and say:

“You know what, I have the solution to that problem. In fact, we have systematized it and offer a glimpse of it in a short online resource. We sell it for 197$, but if it is interesting for you, just give me your email, and I will give you free access.”

The prospect leaves the event happy that he might have found a solution to his problem and that he got a 197$ course for free.

You leave happy the event, knowing that you have his contact information, have built good will and that your prospect is going to watch a 40-60 minutes course that is designed to provide value, while marketing your services.

Once you create your online course, you got yourself a powerful tool to attract new clients.

Expand this idea in the digital world, and you suddenly have a new powerful tool for your content marketing.

Blog posts, videos, social media posts, opt-in forms etc, they can all lead people to your online course.

Your course will then do the conversion for you.

But this is just a simple way to use an online course.

You can quickly increase the conversion for each of your services by merely adding free access to the course for anyone that decides to ask for your help.

Imagine the difference it makes when a person pays 50$ for your service and gets a 197$ bonus gift -your online course- for doing that.

Suddenly, instead of paying 50$ to get 50$ worth of services, your clients now pay 50$ and take 247$ worth of services.

It costs you nothing to add a client to your online course management platform.

Seeing it from their side, they just agreed to a great deal.

This improves conversions, builds goodwill, and leaves your clients with an online course that keeps marketing your services.

Make clients come back more often

An online course can be used to increase the times a client buys from you.

Imagine you are currently charging 100$ for a one-on-one session with you.

Many people come for the first session but don’t come for the second, even if they left really satisfied with your work.

At the end of the first session, you can just tell them:

“If you book and pay the second session today, you get free access to a 197$ online course on how to go from [where your client is] to [where your client wants to be]”

Would that increase the number of repeat clients? 

I have seen it happen again and again. 

This way, once you have the course created, it costs you nothing to get people to come for a second time.

Now, instead of offering them the course as a gift to come for the next session, you can simply give it as a gift for joining your first session.

Over-delivering takes people by surprise, and creates a stronger relationship with your clients.

On a deeper level, if you have created the course the right way, while they watch it, they will be reminded of the reasons they came to you in the first place.

This simple fact will increase the number of times clients come back for your services.

There are plenty of other ways to increase the number of times a client comes back.

For example, a simple automated email sequence with 5-10 follow up emails that add value and are related to the online course, can become a medium-term reminder of you and the value you offer to your clients.

Staying top of mind will increase the number of times your clients ask for your services.

If you are interested in exploring these or more ideas, just check the book Grow your Business with Online Courses.

 

Increase revenue per client

In a different scenario now, imagine that you are offering your services for 100$ per hour.

Now, when the client arrives, you can say:

“The standard services cost 100$ per hour. We also have a premium suite of online resources to help you increase your results in the areas of [insert areas that your clients want to improve]. We sell those for 197$ to the people who are not our clients, but for a simple addition of 10$, you can get access to it. This is a special offer for our clients only.”

Suddenly, you increased by 10% your income, without having to do any additional work or spend more time.

At the same time, you got paid to give access to a course that, while providing value, is also marketing your services.

Come to think about it, you just got paid to advertise to your clients…

What a refreshing change after spending money on Facebook and Google ads.

This was just a sneak peek of how a simple online course can be used to increase revenue.

 

Decrease marketing expenses

The use of all the above techniques can help you already get more clients, online or offline, increase repeat clients and revenue per client.
And all that, with no additional cost, once you have created the online courses.
This simple result, allows you to decrease the marketing expenses since now your online courses do all the heavy lifting for you.

 

Additional benefits

The benefits of using online courses in your marketing are multiple.

Here are just a few more ideas:

 

Free time

Providing access to an online course takes almost no time, while you give value to your clients.

If you ever felt that you are working too many hours and that you could use some extra free time, adding one or more online courses to the mix might be exactly what you were missing.

This way you can provide value to your clients without having to spend your own time.

Networking

Networking is an excellent source of new clients for many business owners.

The base of networking is building trust and providing value.

An online course can help you do both easily.

Every time you meet someone that can benefit from your course you simply give access to it.

Every time you want a way to show to people that you know what you are talking about, once again, you provide access to your online course.

Then, you let it do the work for you.

 

Qualify prospects

There are few things more annoying in business than having to work with the wrong type of clients that come with false expectations.

A well structured online course can do the screening for you, educate your prospects about your services and only attract the right kind of clients.

 

Build good faith

Offering value is the source of any meaningful relationship.

It costs you nothing to offer access to an online course, and if that course is seen by partners or prospects, and helps them, you managed to build good faith, while proving you know what you are talking about.

 

There is a system behind creating online courses to grow your business.

If you want to know more, I invite you to check the book Grow your Business with Online Courses.

You can even read the first pages for free, to see if it is for you.