If Covid-19 has done one thing, it has pushed more of us online. It has forced businesses to change how they do things. Many businesses have had to adapt in order to survive. One of the biggest trends that I have seen emerging is online courses. Many people have been made redundant from their work or have been forced onto Jobseeker, which is Australia’s version of benefits from the government. Many of these people are using this time to upskill. They are thirsty for knowledge and some of them are looking to completely change careers. I thought that this trend would just be during lockdown but it has surpassed that and the hunger for education is stronger than ever. Online courses are popping up everywhere and this is why you must act now. If a competitor pushes out a course similar to what you offer before you then it will be difficult for you to beat it. You would have to pump a lot of cash into advertising in order to try to get above. They are already gaining followers, getting reviews and the algorithms will favour them as they are already popular with your target audience.
For you to come along second could look like you are copying their formula and that could put your potential customers off. Unless you have something drastically different to offer you need to get the ball rolling today. When my clients think of creating an online course they only think of the local catchment area. They don’t realise that this is online we are talking about. You have the potential to reach a global audience! That is a MASSIVE return on investment!
What if your business isn’t the type that could do an online course? There must be an element to your business that you can find that could work? You are an expert at what you do otherwise you wouldn’t be running your business. Find the hidden gems in what you do and flesh it out into a course. If you sell fridge freezers you could create a course on how to set up your own fridge freezer business and how to maintain your products. If you are worried that someone local may watch it, take all your tips and start their own business and take all your customers then you are doing something seriously wrong in your business to have that fear. The possibilities are endless. I saw an advert pop up on Instagram last week that was an online course for “how to do a backflip”! I mean come on, if they can drag out a whole course on doing one trick then you can surely find something from your business!
Start small. If you are overwhelmed by putting an entire course together then fear not. Create a smaller introductory course. Use it to whet the appetites of your audience. You offer this course at a discounted rate to pull them into your funnel. Even if they only pay $49 each, imagine that pumped out globally. You would be able to retire in no time and this is only the beginning. At the end of the small course, you can bring them into your advanced course or secret Facebook group. You could even set up a subscription package where each month you help them with their business struggles. It doesn’t just have to be the online course. You just use that to get you onto customer’s radars.
Once you have your course planned out it is time to film your content. Your customers will engage a lot more with a human rather than a huge text document or robotic voiceover. Find a professional video production company that can make your footage look great. You don’t want to come across as cheap or it will put people right off. To speed up the process use a teleprompter. This will ensure you stay on script and you will get more content shot in a day. It will also save costs in the editing suite as the editor won’t have to cut around pauses, mistakes and ums and ers.
There are various ways to host your online course. The simplest way is to record your series of videos. Bundle them up into a single folder and host it on something like Dropbox or Google Drive. When someone pays for your course you simply send them the link and they download and consume at their leisure. Don’t worry about them passing on the link. They won’t want anyone they know learning the good stuff and being a close competitor before they even get started. Another way is to host your content on specialist sites such as https://teachable.com/. This will give you a more professional look and I believe the customer feels like they are getting more value for money rather than just being sent a link. It will cost you a monthly amount dependant on the package you require but this way you can add documents, workbooks etc for your customers to work through.
The market is getting flooded with courses which is why I am stressing this so much that you need to get going. If you are one of the first in your niche then you have a much higher chance of your online course being a success. Stop beating around the bush and waiting for things to be just right. They will never be right. Nobody has ever said, do you know what everything is totally perfect I am going to do that thing now. Don’t be shy, you know your stuff and people are willing to pay for that knowledge, now, more than ever.
Thanks for reading!
Gareth Carr
Cinematographer & Photographer based in Sydney, Australia
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Exposed Wolf is a video production & photography company based in Sydney, Australia. With over 20 years of industry experience, they can help you with planning, shooting and editing your projects to give you months of powerful content to raise your business and brand.