Best Marketing Strategies for Online Courses

Are you struggling to market your online courses and draw in students? You’re not alone. In fact, about 65% of brands are struggling to generate website traffic and fresh leads. 

With a strong digital marketing strategy, you can draw prospective students to your website. Then, you can use engaging content to pique their interest. With a compelling call-to-action, you can turn those visitors into students!

Here are 10 of the best marketing strategies to get you started. With these strategies, you can boost brand awareness and draw in traffic. Then, you can generate more sign-ups for your online courses.

Get ready to book more sign-ups than ever before with these 10 easy marketing strategies today!

1. Build Out Your Brand

If people don’t know who you are, they might not see a reason to sign up for your courses in the first place. Before you can use the best marketing strategies for small business brands, you need a brand. Your brand will help you stand out from other online courses.

It can also show potential participants the unique value you can offer.

It takes five to seven impressions before you start building brand awareness. Consistency and repetition can help you generate brand recognition. People will remember seeing your online courses and become more aware of your brand.

It only takes 10 seconds for someone to form an impression of your brand, though. Strong branding can ensure you make a positive first impression.

Otherwise, prospective students might turn toward other online courses instead of yours.

Use your brand to differentiate yourself online. Consider your brand’s:

• Personality
• Voice
• Tone
• Mission
• Vision
• Color palette
• Font style
• Imagery style
• Logo

As people continue seeing your brand, they’ll start to recognize your business. Make sure to keep your branding consistent across all marketing channels. Brand consistency can boost revenue by up to 23%.

2. Update Your Website

Where can people learn more about your online courses? Do you have a form where they can sign-up? Before you use the rest of these marketing strategies, take a look at your website.

In most cases, your website is the first time people will interact with your brand. If your website is slow or outdated, you could scare away participants. Instead, give your website a much-needed update.

First, make sure your website is fast. If your site lags, people could leave. Your bounce rate could start to rise as a result.

You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to determine what’s causing your site to slow down. You might need to update your theme or plugins.

Then, make sure your site is mobile-optimized. People expect mobile-optimized websites. If your site isn’t optimized for their screen, they could turn away.

Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to make sure you’re optimized.

Google also uses mobile-first indexing to determine page rankings. If your site isn’t optimized, your ranking could drop. A lower ranking could make it more difficult for people to find your online courses.

Make sure your branding is consistent across your site. Then, test your forms. Make sure your forms are short and easy to use. 

You can also utilize user experience (UX) design trends to improve your site with users in mind. Consider working with an experienced design team to get started.

3. Start With SEO

Almost 70% of all experiences online begin with a search engine like Google or Bing. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can rank higher on Google. A higher ranking will help you appear in front of more prospective students.

In fact, SEO drives 1,000% more traffic than organic social media.

Only 0.78% of Google searchers look at the second page, though. If you want to generate more traffic, you’ll need to boost your ranking.

Start by compiling keyword research. What keywords do your prospective students use to find your online course? You can optimize your website content with those keywords in mind.

Create fresh content for keywords with a high search volume and low competition. Keep up with the latest SEO trends to boost your ranking. As more people click on your website, your ranking will continue to rise.

Don’t forget to start link-building, too. Link-building is a major ranking factor.

You can generate backlinks from other websites by guest blogging.

4. Create Content

Content creation can benefit your SEO, email marketing, and social media efforts.

First, make sure you’re creating content that aligns with the user’s search intent. The consumer’s search intent indicates what they expect to find from a search. For example, someone might want to learn more about your classes.

Try creating different forms of content, including blog posts, videos, and eBooks. Interactive forms of content like polls and quizzes can boost your dwell time. A higher dwell time and clickthrough rate can improve your search engine ranking.

Create eye-catching graphics for your website as well. For example, you can create an infographic or animation. 

Use your content marketing strategy to showcase the value you can offer prospective students.

5. Pick Up PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can help you generate website traffic and brand awareness. You can create eye-catching visual ads for Google or social media. When someone clicks on your ad, they’ll land on your website.

Then, you can use a form to convert those visitors into students.

Try remarketing, too. Remarketing ads will appear in front of people who previously visited your website. Remarketing gives you a second chance to draw in potential students. 

6. Email Out

You can use email marketing to keep your subscribers up-to-date. Let people know about upcoming courses, industry news, or about discounts you’re offering.

Make sure to segment your email lists. Then, create a different campaign for each list. Segmenting your subscribers will help you create personalized content for each group.

You’ll have an easier time appealing to your target audience if the content is personalized based on their needs.

Keep your branding consistent on every email. Then, create a designated landing page for each email you send. You can use your landing pages to convert more students on your website.

Don’t forget to add a compelling call-to-action to your emails encouraging people to sign up for your courses. 

7. Stay Social

Boost your online presence and start communicating with your audience by using social media. Social media is a great way to boost brand awareness and engagement. It’s one of the best marketing strategies you can use online.

Reformat your website content for social media. Have a separate strategy for every social media platform you use. Keep your audience in mind for every platform and post, too.

For example, you’ll have an easier time connecting with business professionals over LinkedIn than on TikTok. Focus on informative, data-driven content for LinkedIn.

Then, create fun, engaging videos for TikTok and Snapchat.

As people start responding to your posts, make sure to respond back! Let people know you’re listening. Answer their questions as promptly as you can, too.

People will feel more comfortable with your brand over time. They might visit your website to learn more about the online courses you offer, too.

Use social media to keep people up-to-date regarding new courses, discounts, and specials. 

8. Keep Creating Videos

As you start creating content for your website, don’t forget to consider video content. Videos are engaging and easy to consume. They’re also one of the best marketing strategies for building brand awareness.

People will start associating your brand with a face and voice once you start creating videos.

You can create different videos for marketing your online courses, including:

• Testimonials
• Company culture
• How-tos/tutorials
• Q&A/interview style
• Whiteboard videos

Experiment with different formats to determine what content helps you generate engagement. 

Once you create your videos, consider adding a transcript for SEO. Google loves video content. You could appear on the top of a search page for a video snippet as a result. 

9. Request Referrals

Speak with some of your recent students over the years. Are they willing to refer your online courses to friends and family members?

Consider creating a referral program for your brand. You can offer a discount to anyone who refers your courses to at least five people.

Referral marketing can help you boost brand awareness. As a form of word-of-mouth marketing, it can also help boost brand trust. Prospective students will trust a friend’s personal recommendation.

10. Inspire Influencers

About 90% of marketers believe influencer marketing is effective. Meanwhile, 42% say it’s their top ROI-generating marketing strategy. Consider working with an influencer to spread the word about your online courses.

Who do your students already know and trust? What brands are they following online? You can learn from your students to find the right influencer in your industry.

Then, let the influencer try your online courses. They can post a video about their experience to help you reach new students. You can leverage the influencer’s existing brand trust to encourage people to trust you, too.

Courses On Sale

Looking to boost your course sales? Courses on Sale can market your course to thousands of interested buyers. Submit your course today to get started!