How to Save Time and Sell Your Digital Course Before Creating Content
How would you like to save a ton of time and sell your digital course before creating any content? Pre-selling your digital course is when you sell your course before creating any content and is often called a beta launch or founding member launch. It’s also a great way to validate your course idea and find out if there is any interest in your course topic before you spend any time creating the course videos, workbooks, and any extensive marketing materials.
In this post, we’ll cover the benefits of pre-selling your digital course and the exact steps to take for your pre-sell online course launch.
The Benefits of Pre-Selling a Course
The main benefit is selling before you spend the time creating all of the modules, lessons, and content. It's a big project when you’re creating a signature course versus a mini-course or a smaller course. It can be a little discouraging to spend so much time creating the perfect course to hear crickets when your cart opens.
Pre-selling your online course is also a great way to validate your course idea, and you can even have your first round of students help you create the content they need. Some course creators do the pre-selling round live using Zoom workshops, so they work with their students and deliver the best training, resources, and content they need. The insights, feedback, and testimonials you can receive from these initial students for a signature course can be invaluable!
Here are the six steps to complete to pre-sell your signature digital course:
Step 1: Determine Your Course Promised Transformation
Your first round of students will need to know and understand the course promised transformation. What are the results they will receive by signing up and completing your course material?
Step 2: Create Your Basic Course Outline
You’ll also need to have a general outline of your course or format for the live round. Nobody will sign up for a pre-sell offer if they don’t have enough details to make an informed decision. So while you don’t create the content yet, you need to have it planned and mapped out in a rough plan.
In addition, you need to inform your audience when and how the course material will be delivered. For example, will you hold a Zoom session every Monday at 1 pm ET? Or perhaps the content will be delivered in your online course by x date and time.
Step 3: Craft Your Messaging for Your Ideal Audience
Pre-selling is still similar to selling; people will be buying knowing that they won’t have access for a bit. This means you need to entice them even more to buy now, which is why nailing down your messaging and your ideal audience for your course is still crucial if you are doing a pre-sell launch.
Step 4: Create a Pre-Sell Launch Plan
Pre-selling a course is still a launch, requiring a launch plan. Usually, this is smaller, but it’s still a launch plan. You need to map out your content, email sequences, promo offers, and create excitement around your launch!
Step 5: Create Your Course Pre-Launch Goals
Make sure that you set some goals for your pre-launch. Will you be doing a live round so you only want a handful of students to sign up so you can focus more on their needs and learn from them while you work through the course together? If you do, make sure to add that into your marketing plan content -- ‘Only 20 spots available!’
Otherwise, let’s set some other goals around your launch:
How many pre-sell students would you like to have in your course?
What revenue will that result in for your pre-launch?
Step 6: Implement Your Pre-Selling Marketing Plan
Now it’s time to announce your course to the world! In this step, you will email your list to let them know about the pre-sell launch.
Remember to make sure you get testimonials, suggestions, and feedback from your first students to help with your first official course launch when it’s all ready to go. I like to get input weekly from my pre-sell students and implement changes as we go through the material.
Go here if you would like more information about pre-selling your course (also known as a beta launch).
Good luck in pre-selling your signature digital course!
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