This article was updated on February 9th, 2018.
Now that you’ve finished creating your online training courses, you might think you can just get it online and watch the trainees pile in.
With so much emphasis put on actually creating the course, many people forget to actually develop a marketing strategy for that course.
If you don’t promote it, no one will be able to find it. If they can’t find, they can’t take the course and learn everything you’ve put together for them to learn.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you get the word out about your training course:
1. Determine who your ideal student is.
As with all forms of marketing, your first step should be to determine who exactly you are actually going to be marketing this training to.
Who is going to be helped the most by what you have to say? Who needs it? Who could benefit from it? What are their pain points and issues?
Create an avatar of your ideal student—this is the person who represents your target audience. Write down who they are, their demographic, their stage in life, what they need, and why they need it. Measure every marketing technique you consider against this avatar and whether or not it will work for them.
2. Determine what makes your course unique.
Right now, you might be thinking that there is nothing particularly unique about your course—there are other courses like it, but yours is just better. And that’s fine. All you need to know is your unique selling proposition, what makes your course a better choice than those that are like it.
You can do this by researching the online courses similar to yours and making note of the differences between those courses and yours. What makes your course not just better, but different from the ones that your competitors have developed?
3. Use keyword research to develop a great title.
The title of your course will affect how many students you get. A great title will attract more students, a boring title will send them packing.
Keyword research can help you determine what relevant search terms your audience is looking for.
For example, if your course is about how to edit videos in Sony Vegas, your audience is probably using search phrases like “how to edit videos in Sony Vegas.” Knowing what your audience is searching can tell you how to most effectively title your course so they can find it.
Don’t forget to include long tail keyword search terms for voice search. Long tail keywords contain more than one word and lend themselves to much more specific search results, like “personal injury attorney Sarasota.” There isn’t an official cut off as to how many words are needed to be considered long tail keywords, but most people agree that anything with three or more words qualifies as a long tail keyword.
Answer questions with these search terms, like “where can I learn about project management,” as people are going to searching with their voices and not typing into Google the way we commonly do today.
4. Write about your course on your blog.
Your blog is a great platform to start promoting your course. The individuals who read your blog are already interested in what you have to say and will be much, much likelier to try out your course. They already know that you have valuable information to offer them and are going to be interested in learning what a full course can offer them.
Each person who reads your blog can become a student for your course, if you actually use your blog to promote it. Don’t just write about your course, either! Add it to your sidebar and your about page, too, so those who come looking for even more information can find your course easily.
5. Make a YouTube video.
Sure, many people go to YouTube to watch cat videos, but lots of them also go to YouTube to search for how to do something. Your course is teaching its students how to do something, and is therefore a great addition to YouTube.
Of course, you don’t want to give everything away on your YouTube channel, but this is still a good way to give a short introduction to your course and prove to viewers why they should want to sign up for the full-length course.
You can also produce videos that are related, but perhaps don’t entirely overlap, with the content you present in your course, building yourself up as expert in the field who people are more likely to trust and want to learn from.
6. Add the course page to your website.
Don’t forget to market your course on your website! Most people will already come to that website because they are looking for the information that you have to offer. Make sure that your course is always easy to find by adding a page about it your main website navigation.
Even if that page eventually directs them to a different website where your course is hosted, this is a great way to divert traffic to that course.
7. Add your course to your email signature.
If you want to constantly and consistently keep your course in the mind of the people on your email list, add it to your signature with a short call to action.
For example, after your name, just add one line like, “Want to learn even more about what I have to offer? Click here to take my all-inclusive course about
There are lots of other promotion methods to use, ranging from adding testimonials about the course to your sales page, starting a podcast, participating in others’ podcasts, and offering a free sample of your course, so users can get a taste before actually signing up for the full course.
Look for any opportunity to generate buzz about your course and then take those opportunities!
Now it’s your turn. What tactics have you seen success with when promoting an online training course? Let us know in the comments, or tweet to us at @AgintoSolutions.
This article was updated on February 9th, 2018.
Now that you’ve finished creating your online training courses, you might think you can just get it online and watch the trainees pile in.
With so much emphasis put on actually creating the course, many people forget to actually develop a marketing strategy for that course.
If you don’t promote it, no one will be able to find it. If they can’t find, they can’t take the course and learn everything you’ve put together for them to learn.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you get the word out about your training course:
1. Determine who your ideal student is.
As with all forms of marketing, your first step should be to determine who exactly you are actually going to be marketing this training to.
Who is going to be helped the most by what you have to say? Who needs it? Who could benefit from it? What are their pain points and issues?
Create an avatar of your ideal student—this is the person who represents your target audience. Write down who they are, their demographic, their stage in life, what they need, and why they need it. Measure every marketing technique you consider against this avatar and whether or not it will work for them.
2. Determine what makes your course unique.
Right now, you might be thinking that there is nothing particularly unique about your course—there are other courses like it, but yours is just better. And that’s fine. All you need to know is your unique selling proposition, what makes your course a better choice than those that are like it.
You can do this by researching the online courses similar to yours and making note of the differences between those courses and yours. What makes your course not just better, but different from the ones that your competitors have developed?
3. Use keyword research to develop a great title.
The title of your course will affect how many students you get. A great title will attract more students, a boring title will send them packing.
Keyword research can help you determine what relevant search terms your audience is looking for.
For example, if your course is about how to edit videos in Sony Vegas, your audience is probably using search phrases like “how to edit videos in Sony Vegas.” Knowing what your audience is searching can tell you how to most effectively title your course so they can find it.
Don’t forget to include long tail keyword search terms for voice search. Long tail keywords contain more than one word and lend themselves to much more specific search results, like “personal injury attorney Sarasota.” There isn’t an official cut off as to how many words are needed to be considered long tail keywords, but most people agree that anything with three or more words qualifies as a long tail keyword.
Answer questions with these search terms, like “where can I learn about project management,” as people are going to searching with their voices and not typing into Google the way we commonly do today.
4. Write about your course on your blog.
Your blog is a great platform to start promoting your course. The individuals who read your blog are already interested in what you have to say and will be much, much likelier to try out your course. They already know that you have valuable information to offer them and are going to be interested in learning what a full course can offer them.
Each person who reads your blog can become a student for your course, if you actually use your blog to promote it. Don’t just write about your course, either! Add it to your sidebar and your about page, too, so those who come looking for even more information can find your course easily.
5. Make a YouTube video.
Sure, many people go to YouTube to watch cat videos, but lots of them also go to YouTube to search for how to do something. Your course is teaching its students how to do something, and is therefore a great addition to YouTube.
Of course, you don’t want to give everything away on your YouTube channel, but this is still a good way to give a short introduction to your course and prove to viewers why they should want to sign up for the full-length course.
You can also produce videos that are related, but perhaps don’t entirely overlap, with the content you present in your course, building yourself up as expert in the field who people are more likely to trust and want to learn from.
6. Add the course page to your website.
Don’t forget to market your course on your website! Most people will already come to that website because they are looking for the information that you have to offer. Make sure that your course is always easy to find by adding a page about it your main website navigation.
Even if that page eventually directs them to a different website where your course is hosted, this is a great way to divert traffic to that course.
7. Add your course to your email signature.
If you want to constantly and consistently keep your course in the mind of the people on your email list, add it to your signature with a short call to action.
For example, after your name, just add one line like, “Want to learn even more about what I have to offer? Click here to take my all-inclusive course about
There are lots of other promotion methods to use, ranging from adding testimonials about the course to your sales page, starting a podcast, participating in others’ podcasts, and offering a free sample of your course, so users can get a taste before actually signing up for the full course.
Look for any opportunity to generate buzz about your course and then take those opportunities!
Now it’s your turn. What tactics have you seen success with when promoting an online training course? Let us know in the comments, or tweet to us at @AgintoSolutions.