Digitally She Does It Podcast

EPISODE 109: 5 steps to building an audience for your online course

• Karen Davies • Season 1 • Episode 109

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In this episode, I take you on a step-by-step journey to building an engaged audience before you even launch your course!

Packed with actionable insights, this episode will help you attract the right people, nurture strong connections, and set the foundation for long-term success.

I break down the process into 5 simple yet powerful steps. We focus on gaining clarity around your ideal audience so you can attract the right people who genuinely need what you offer. 

I talk about how to create an irresistible lead magnet that captures attention and encourages people to take action. We also dive into setting up a seamless lead capture funnel that works efficiently to bring in new subscribers.

I walk you through the best strategies to effectively promote your freebie and drive traffic to your funnel and cover the importance of nurturing your email list, building trust, and fostering long-term relationships that lead to conversions.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to refine your current strategy, this episode will equip you with the tools and inspiration to grow your audience with confidence.

Tune in for tips, motivation, and valuable resources to take your online course business to the next level!


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Karen Davies [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to the Digitally She Does It show. This is episode 109. And in today's episode, I'm talking about how to build an audience for your online course. So, let's jump right in and let's get started. Welcome to the Digitally. She does it show. I am your host, Karen, and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business. If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, then this podcast is perfect for you.

Karen Davies [00:00:36]:
With my award winning approach to marketing, an expert knowledge in creating online courses, this show will leave you feeling inspired, energised, and ready to bring those big dreams to life. Join me each week for a dose of motivation and marketing know how, along with actionable step by step strategies to help you accelerate your businesses' growth. So let's dive in, and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes which drop every Wednesday. 

Hello, and welcome. Thank you for joining me today. I am your host, Karen, and I really do appreciate you hitting that play button to listen to today's episode. Today, I'm talking about audience building and how you can build an audience when so that when you're ready to sell your online course, you have people to sell to. But before I do, I just want to talk about the Digital Creators Hub, your one stop shop for getting started online.

Karen Davies [00:01:34]:
Now by accessing this hub, you're going to get access to resources, tools, and templates to help you get started with your online business. So if you're not in the hub, then I encourage you to go and get in the hub today. Head on over to my website, www.karen-davies.com, and go and access these tools and resources for free. Okay. So back to today's episode. And today, I am going to be diving into something that I think every course creator needs to focus on before they launch their online course, and that is building an audience. Now one of the biggest mistakes that I see people making is that they wait until their online course is ready before they start to grow their audience. But the truth is that if you do not have an engaged audience at the start, then you won't have students to sell to.

Karen Davies [00:02:32]:
So we need to be focusing on building an audience ahead of time so we can sell our online courses. In this episode, I'm going to walk you through how to build an audience for your online course even if you are starting from scratch. I will share five very simple steps that you can take today so that you can start growing and engage list of subscribers who are going to be excited about learning from you. And if you want to go even deeper, then head on over to my membership, which is sell your brilliance online because I teach list building strategies to help you grow and nurture an audience that's ready to buy. I dive into more training, and I give you the tools and the resources that you need to make this happen. So that's inside my membership. 

You can go and learn how to build an online course, but also go and learn what you need to do in order to get those sales as well. If this is something you're interested in, then head on over to www.karen-davies.com/membership, and you'll be able to sign up from there.

Karen Davies [00:03:53]:
So back to today's episode. And today, I really wanna, like I say, share with you five very simple steps to get you started with building your audience. So the steps that I'm gonna be sharing are really simple, but it's gonna help you to get clarity around exactly who your audience are, what they need from you so that you can build your audience with confidence and with clarity as well, because we need to understand what it's for in order to be able to be successful at what we're trying to achieve. So the first step is about clarity. Get clear on exactly who you want to attract. So when we are building email lists, we really want to be focusing in on attracting the right people for who we want to work with. This is where you don't focus on going broad. You keep it narrow.

Karen Davies [00:04:53]:
Now in order to be able to achieve that, you first need to understand exactly who it is that you want to attract. Because by knowing who that person is, you can create really tailored content that's going to engage them. So first and foremost, you need to ask yourself, who is my ideal student? What are their biggest struggles and goals? And where do they hang out? Because by understanding where they hang out, you will be able to connect with them. The more specific you are, the easier it's going to be to create the content, and you'll be able to create a lead magnet or a freebie that's going to attract them to your list because you'll be able to align who they are and their goals to what it is you're going to be teaching them. So, for example, say you're teaching a course on time management for busy moms, then your audience they're not just going to be women or entrepreneurs. It's going to be moms who feel overwhelmed and need simple systems to reclaim their time. So you're getting very specific, very narrow on who it is you're trying to attract so that that thing that you're creating is aligned to what they want. So what I would encourage you to do is just write a sentence statement about exactly who your ideal student is.

Karen Davies [00:06:24]:
And this is usually in the format of I help, whoever that is, to achieve, and then you put in the result, and then you put by, which is the how. If you can do that, that will help you to really get clear on exactly who it is that you're looking to attract. So I help, blank, to achieve blank by blank. That's the formula. And then once you know who you're talking to, it will become so much easier to start attracting the right people. My second step is about creating a lead magnet that converts. Now a lead magnet is just a free piece of resource or a template or a tool that attracts your ideal person. And this lead magnet is something that you're going to create because you know they're going to want it.

Karen Davies [00:07:24]:
So in step one, we looked at who your ideal person is and how you can help them. Step two is about creating a free resource that's going to attract them to your world. And we wanna bring them into our world because we want them to know who we are, what we do, how we help, and how we can serve them as well. So we want to create a lead magnet, a free resource that attracts people so that they can sign up and give us their email address in exchange of the free resource. Now your freebie should solve a small but important problem. So what you could do, and here are some examples, You could create a checklist. So I could create a checklist for launching your first online course. You could create a template, which can be a plug and play template, that somebody can use that's going to help them with a problem.

Karen Davies [00:08:27]:
So, for example, if somebody was wanting to launch their first online course, I could create a template that, could help them with that launch. So it could be an email template that would help them. Or you could create something like a mini training. For example, how to choose the right course topic in twenty minutes, and that could be a free lead magnet that would attract people that are interested in creating online courses. So what could you create in your business that's going to attract the right people? Keep it simple. Keep it specific, and keep it actionable as well. Your freebie should give them a very, very, very quick win. So you want to be able to put a time frame around it.

Karen Davies [00:09:14]:
So what I would encourage you to do is brainstorm three ideas on what freebies you could create, and then you could post it on social media and ask your current audience which freebie they love the most. By doing this, not only are you brainstorming your ideas, but you're also getting confident we're talking about them online, and then you will get a response back from your audience as well. So you're you're you're engaging with your audience. And, also, they may be the audience that, of course, signs up for your freebie, which is going to start building your email list. You want to build your email list. This is what you're building in order to be able to present your offer to. So once your online course is ready to go, you have a list there that's ready, that you're ready to use to sell your online course. So we need to be very actionable in what we're doing.

Karen Davies [00:10:12]:
So it's it is about taking action and doing the work. Step three is about setting up a very simple lead capture funnel. So once you have your lead magnet and you know what it is that you're going to be offering your audience, then you can, create, a simple funnel, which is going to bring people into your world, and and it's gonna help you deliver your freebie as well. So a very simple three step funnel looks like a landing page, a thank you page, and a welcome email. It's that simple. It doesn't have to be anything overly complicated. So once they sign up to your landing page, they will fill in an opt in form. This is where they're gonna give you your a name and their address, email address.

Karen Davies [00:11:10]:
And then once they've done that, then they will be presented with a thank you page, which will guide them to the next step. So this could be to join a Facebook group. It could be to sign up to a membership. It could be to visit your blog. It could even be to go and watch some further training. You decide what that looks like, but your thank you page is a really important page because that's where you're going to signpost people after they've signed up to join your email list. And then this the third step in this process is about the welcome email. As soon as they have signed up to receive your freebie, you want to be sending them a welcome email with the freebie, and you want to be introducing yourself as well.

Karen Davies [00:11:56]:
Also, you want to let them know what to expect from you. So this is where you get to start building a rapport with them and building that relationship. Now you can set this up really easily on tools like Systeme, ConvertKit, MailerLite, or Mailchimp. There are lots of email marketing platforms out there. I am a huge fan of Systeme. I am talking about it so much at the moment because Systeme is designed to build an online business. It is absolutely fantastic, and it's very low cost. And and when you're starting out, it's free.

Karen Davies [00:12:36]:
So there's not a huge financial investment that you need to make in order to make this work. It's very easy to set up so you can do what you need to do very quickly and easily. So if you haven't checked out Systeme, then I would encourage you to do that. It's Systeme it's systemwithane.io. So go and check it out. I highly encourage you to, look into this platform. But if you already have a freebie, so you have your lead magnet and you're looking to improve your thank you page, you could do this simply by adding your next step, which is often the call to action because maybe your thank you page doesn't currently have that. So where do you want to take them on the next step of that journey and put in the call to action because that is often overlooked.

Karen Davies [00:13:31]:
Now the fourth step is about promoting your freebie consistently. So having a lead magnet is great, but you want to actively promote it over and over again. So you want to be sharing it on social media, creating posts and stories around it. We wanna put it in your email signature. If you have a blog, put it on the sidebar so that you always have your freebie visible so people can sign up to it. And even think about partnering up with other people so that they can promote your lead magnet as well. Collaborations are always great because it means that you can get yourself in front of other audiences and promote that way. If you like to do public speaking, public speaking is also a really great way to get those sign ups, because it's very visual, and you get to talk about your freebie, which will then, obviously, grow your email list as well.

Karen Davies [00:14:34]:
So there are lots of ways to promote your freebie. You just have to be consistent when doing so. The other thing to consider is using paid ads. This is going to help you grow faster. So you could run low cost Facebook ads to promote your freebie, or you can run Google ads or LinkedIn ads or YouTube ads or Pinterest ads. But ads are a really great tool to use in order to expand your audience. So think about doing that. The my top tip in with running ads, you have to know who your ideal person is.

Karen Davies [00:15:15]:
You have to be so narrow on exactly who you're looking to attract so that you're getting quality leads. So if you're thinking about running ads, it's a great strategy to integrate into growing your email list, but I would get very clear on exactly who your ideal person is. So think about how you can promote and get started with that if you have a freebie already. Now my fifth and final step is about nurturing your audience. You need to spend time nurturing them. Once people join your list, you need to have something in place that is going to nurture them so that they understand who you are, how you help, and what you can do to support them. So you you can consider sending weekly emails where you share tips, stories, and insights. You could offer very quick wins, so wins that help them to see small results very quickly, Or you can use it to soft sell, where you're not going in hard, you're going in software.

Karen Davies [00:16:27]:
You're casually mentioning your online course. And this might be at the end of an email where you're providing them with some value, but then you're mentioning your online course at the end of it. So I would encourage you, if you are already in the process of building an email list, you have a freebie, you're doing this, Make sure that what you're doing is you're nurturing your audience because this is what's going to lead to those conversions. If you can do this right, it will be really effective. And what you'll find is that you'll get conversions for your online course. Now I just wanna quickly recap because I know I've shared quite a lot in this episode already. So in order to really build your audience, you want to be building an email list. Your email list is going to sit at the core of your business activity because it's so important.

Karen Davies [00:17:28]:
This is where you're bringing cold leads into your business, and you're nurturing them so that you can convert them into paying customers. So the steps that I shared with you today are step one, you wanna get clear on exactly who your ideal person is so that you can attract them to your email list. Step two is about creating a specific and high value lead magnet that aligns with the challenges that your current audience is facing. So you need to create something really effective that they're going to want to gain access to. Step three is about setting up a very simple funnel to capture those emails. Step four is about promoting your freebie everywhere and being consistent with that. And then my fifth and final step is about nurturing and engaging your audience so they're excited to learn from you. You become that person that they want to hear from.

Karen Davies [00:18:34]:
Now remember, you do not need to wait until your course is ready to start growing your audience now. In fact, I would highly encourage you to get started ASAP because the more effort you spend in doing this, the better your results are going to be when you come to sell your online course. Now if you need help with building out a list, then inside my membership, sell your brilliance online, I teach this step by step. In fact, this month in my membership, I am launching the list accelerator challenge, which is five days of very actionable steps to take along with resources and templates to get this done so you can actually start growing your audience straight away. If you wanna find out more, then head on over to my website, www.karen-davies.com/membership. Now if you found this episode helpful and you feel like you wanna share it with others who you know will also want to be growing their email list and building an audience so that they can sell their online course, their program, their membership, whatever it is they've got to sell, then please do share this episode with them. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you found this episode of value.

Karen Davies [00:20:07]:
Of course, please do feel free to share it with others who you may think would also benefit from listening to today's episode. 

If today's discussion has sparked some inspiration and you're eager to dive into this further, then go to my website, www.karen-davies.com. You'll find free resources and, of course, my membership, which is there to help you kick start your online journey. I will be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great week. 

I hope you enjoyed this episode of the digitally she does it show. Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode. New episodes drop every week on resources mentioned in today's episode. New episodes drop every week on a Wednesday.

Karen Davies [00:20:52]:
So, why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode? Thank you for tuning in today and I will see you next time.