While the online learning industry is booming, it can feel like you’re missing the mark when sales for your online courses slump. Don’t let these momentary dips stop your stride. A great way to sell more online courses is to rethink the presentation of your content, and an impactful option to do that is hosting virtual events to showcase your expertise.
If you’ve never hosted a virtual event before, don’t sweat it, we’ve got you covered with five ways to use virtual events to sell online courses.
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1. Host a quick live training course
A simple way to use virtual events to sell online courses is creating a live training course on a specific topic that gives potential customers a taste of what they can expect. When conceptualizing what you might do for a live training course (or what some may call a micro-course), it can help to view the “training” aspect of the event loosely.
Instead of attempting to teach a whole course in one event, what is something you can show off about your content in a quick, digestible fashion that will entice people to want to learn more from you?
Consider making the event an hour or less, narrow your subject down to one or two key ideas with concrete, actionable examples to showcase. And make it interactive! Consider offering a free subscription to one lucky viewer who views your live training event or signs up for your mailing list.
Other formats could be a workshop teaching people one important insight that they can use to develop their skills in a particular area, or even an interview with another course creator who has a larger following.
One of our own Mighty Pro customers, The Self-Care Space, a holistic therapy and wellness network for women used virtual events to funnel members into their online community. Within their network, they offer online courses and join a community of others that value their mental well-being. By leveraging virtual events like short micro-courses, interviews, and more they were able to launch their network and make $30k instantly.
2. Host a virtual workshop with a guest speaker
Similar to creating a micro-course for enticing people to buy your online courses, another option is holding a virtual workshop with a guest speaker.
Think of the workshop as a chance for you to showcase your expertise in a more dynamic, informal fashion. This is a chance for attendees to understand what kind of teacher you are and how you set yourself apart from other online course creators.
A simple but effective way to use a virtual workshop is by inviting a few of your past students to come on and talk through what they’ve learned from your course in a panel format. Then, work with attendees to answer hard-hitting questions they might have.
This is a great way to show social proof that your courses have been effective in helping others, and it’s also a chance to expand your reach for those who may be interested.
3. Run a challenge
Another great way to increase your sales for your online courses is to create a week-long challenge event.
In this case, you could take a portion of your online course, most likely an introductory section, and build out a few short lessons (if you don’t already have them) to offer each day for customers to tune in and watch.
The “challenge” aspect also presents an opportunity for you to create a social media presence around it. Utilize hashtags on social media, consider offering people a templated banner they can use to show that they are participating or something else that’s creative and fun.
Part of this model is showcasing your online content in a way that feels exclusive, that the participants are part of a special club, and people who aren’t are missing out.
4. Use an accelerator event
Accelerator programs are a tried and tested way of onboarding new people into your content offerings and they are great for selling online courses.
Here at Mighty Pro, we think that accelerators are perfect for getting people up to speed on a topic quickly to engage with your other offerings. For instance, you could be a personal finance online course creator for people with a moderate understanding of your topic. But what if you offered an accelerator program that was a personal finance boot camp for people just starting out?
You could tailor this accelerator to be perfectly in line with your other courses and in turn set up a clear funnel for people to continue buying your content because it’s familiar. This will create more member retention and increase sales of your online course.
We use the Community Design™ Accelerator program to provide new online community creators with the tools and information they need to confidently build and launch an online community successfully. It also is a great opportunity for new customers to become acquainted with our platform.
Accelerators are a great on-ramp for any creator looking to get more eyes on the content.
5. Host a small virtual conference
Our final way to sell online courses with virtual events is by hosting a small virtual conference. This is a different approach than a micro-course and workshop that is more focused on building out your email lists and positioning yourself as a leader in your field that other online course creators trust enough to collaborate with.
Virtual conferences are a great option because you can offer a variety of types of programming pertaining to your topic, and then funnel people to your online courses after the conference is over if they want to learn more.
Sadie Roberston Huff the successful creator of LO Sister a private paid membership for young women to grow in their faith has found immense attracting new people to her business through hosting virtual conferences with important figures relevant to their audience. Conferences are great because you can lean on the followings of your guests for drawing in new people.
They told us a bit about their approach to virtual conferences, “Building new workshops has been a key strategy in us releasing new content that allows us to really encourage new members to join the app every six to eight weeks.” They went on to tell us that they sold 1,100 tickets to their virtual conference in 48 hours.
These five ways are a great starting point for any online course creator who is trying to sell online courses. The key takeaway is that you already have a large swath of content to repurpose in creative ways that will sell your courses. Leveraging a live format that builds a sense of urgency is great for pushing prospective customers to finally invest in your courses.
Ready to launch?
If you're ready to launch your branded, virtual events and online courses, come build with Mighty! Our powerful cultural software platform mixes live events and courses with community, content, and commerce. And our flexible Spaces mix in live streaming, live events, discussions, messaging and chat, and more!
Sell high-ticket events and courses in 135 different currencies and get your own branded app in the App Store and Google Play Store.
Schedule a call with us and we’ll show you what you can do!
