Effective Course Promotion – Demand Capturing

Hello again,

Welcome to another edition of VarsityScape Insights.

Last week, we covered Owned Audience Management — how to build a thriving community that drives course enrollments. This week, we’ll talk about the fifth layer of our framework: Demand Capturing.

Demand Capturing

After building a community, what’s next?

It’s not enough to build an audience; you need to convert that initial interest into actual demand for your course. This means whetting their appetite and making them eager to enroll.

Demand Capturing involves turning your audience’s interest into course enrollments through targeted strategies like incentivizing referrals and engaging in community outreach.

While your audience might be interested, your promise of value makes them take action. If they are hesitant, you might need to revisit your approach to see what you can improve. This ensures that all your hard work pays off.

How to Capture Your Owned Audience’s Demand

1. Incentivize Referrals

Encourage your current students to refer others by offering incentives like discounts, free modules, or exclusive content. Cash prizes and textbooks can also be effective motivators.

This way, you’re using a fraction of your marketing budget to gain qualified leads who need your course. Referrals leverage your existing network to expand your reach organically.

Create a referral program that’s easy to understand and participate in. Platforms like Referral Candy can help track referrals. Clearly communicate the benefits to your students and provide them with tools to share your course.

Here are a few ways you can get referrals:

2. Community Outreach

Another approach to demand capturing is partnering with communities and organizations that align with your course’s topic.

For instance, if you’ve developed a content strategy course, you can:

Join a writing community on Slack or other platforms, collaborate with the owners, and present your course as a way to upgrade members’ skills and client base.

By doing so, you gain access to interested prospects and boost your credibility through the community owners. Increased trust leads to higher enrollments.

Speaking with thought leaders in your niche is also beneficial. Participate in their events, contribute guest content to their platforms, or collaborate on projects to gain exposure.

Implementing Demand Capturing Tactics

To capture demand effectively, integrate these strategies into your overall marketing plan:

1. Promotional Campaigns: Run targeted campaigns highlighting your referral program and community partnerships. Use email, social media, and your website to spread the word.
2. Clear CTAs: Ensure your calls to action are clear and compelling. Make it easy for your audience to take the next step, whether it’s signing up for a webinar, downloading a free resource, or enrolling in your course.
3. Track Performance: Monitor your demand-capturing efforts. Use analytics to track referrals, sign-ups, and conversions and adjust your strategies as needed.

Looking Ahead

In our final newsletter series for Effective Course Promotion, we’ll cover Demand Capture Measurement. We’ll explore how to track and measure the success of your promotional efforts to improve your strategy continuously.

Until next time,

We at VarsityScape are dedicated to helping you turn interest into action. Remember, capturing demand is about creating opportunities for your audience to engage with your course meaningfully.

P.S. If you’ve found these insights helpful, don’t forget to share this newsletter with your fellow course creators.