Using Content Marketing For Courses: Web And Mobile
This article contains advice on using content marketing to sell your courses once your eCommerce has been set up.
The goal of all content marketing should be to create information that helps to build interest and trust among those who read it. This is true whether it is a full blog post, a video, or a couple of short sentences on social media. It is a way for you to be seen as a leader in your field, and to get more people to buy your products and courses without using hard sell methods.
Content Marketing On The Web
When you begin content marketing on the web, you can’t jump into it without any type of plan. You need to make sure that you know the objectives of the content you are creating, and to create the right type of content, you need to know your audience. Who are you trying to reach with your online courses?
Before you write a single word of content, you should make sure that you have a solid idea of whom you are trying to reach. Then you can create the right type of content for the people you deem to be your ideal customers.
Ways To Use Content Marketing
After you define the goals of your business, you can start to think of all of the different ways that you can use content marketing. You can use it as a tool for prospecting new customers and to generate leads, which can in turn help you to increase your sales. In addition, you can use content to improve and grow your brand.
Content marketing can also be used to create supplemental products that you can provide to the users of your course. By giving them these additional resources, it adds value to the course, and it has the potential to get many more people to consider signing up.
The content that you create shouldn’t be a tool that you use for hard sales. Rather, it should be to inform people and to let them know more about what you are offering and why it is important.
For example, if you have an online course that teaches someone how to use Adobe Illustrator, you could have marketing content that provides a few tips, content that talks about the uses of the software, and the potential job opportunities that are available to those who know how to use it. You could also have content that talks about news and the latest features of the program.
This type of content will translate to any type of course you offer no matter the subject. You simply need to think about all of the things that your readers might want to know –not directly singing the praises of your product– and then provide it for them. That way you are seen as an authority on the subject matter and this builds trust.
When you are coming up with written content, you will find that it’s easier than you think to have a steady flow of material for your blog or website. Let’s look at a short list of the ways that you can come up with ideas for written marking content for the web.
- Answer all of the frequently asked questions that you get regularly from customers and potential customers and put it in a blog post, as well as a static page on your site that you update regularly.
- Write posts about big changes that are happening in the industry that your course covers.
- Profile an important person in your field.
- Talk about something happening in pop culture (movie, television show, big event, etc.), and then find a way to relate it to your particular field.
- Write about some of the tools that you use to make your job (whatever the course covers) easier.
These are just some of the different types of content that you can write to help grow your brand and market at the same time. However, you may come to a point where written content alone is simply not getting the job done. In those cases, you will want to branch out into other areas to offer even more content to your potential customers.
Beyond The Blog
While written blog posts are certainly a good way to keep fresh content on your site and to increase your rank in the search engines, there are other types of content that you might want to consider incorporating as well.
- Create video content to put on your site. People are more apt to stay on your site and watch videos than they are to read long walls of text. The written blog posts have their place, and they might still be the bulk of your content, but you can’t ignore the power of video.
- Podcasting is another option. Putting out a podcast, which is like your own radio show that you put out on the web, is similar to videos. You can allow people to download them from your site, or even have them up on sites such as iTunes. This will help you expand your reach with a different type of marketing.
- Infographics, which are an eye-catching illustrated method of getting your point across, are far more interesting than using long and boring lists of facts.
Now that we’ve covered the basics of content marketing for the web and some of the ways that you can improve your current campaign, it’s time to look at one of the other areas that is growing fast in importance, and that is mobile marketing.
Mobile Content Marketing
How far away is your phone right now? There’s a good chance that it is within arm’s reach, and you might even be reading this text on it. You love the access that your phone gives you to the rest of the world. Well, the people you want to reach to take your course feel the same way, and that is precisely why you need to make the most of mobile content marketing.
Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets are in hundreds of millions of hands around the world. That’s a vast audience that you can potentially reach, and when you follow a few simple tips, it is possible to increase your reach.
Consider All Mobile Platforms
You need to make sure that the content you offer is available on all mobile platforms and that it looks good and is legible in different platforms. Design your blog and other content with mobile in mind from the start. You will want to make sure that your website and blog are easily accessible and easy to read through these devices, and that might necessitate reworking your sites a bit.
A site that has a responsive design means that it will change depending on what type of device is being used to view it. This ensures that everyone will have a good experience when they come to your site. If they don’t, then they will leave the site, and they probably won’t return on their desktop or laptop. For you, this means that you may have lost someone who would have benefited from your course and who may have wanted to take it. So build a website with responsive design.
Mobile Apps
Those who are selling courses online may not feel that they are “big enough” or they do not need to have an app available for smartphones and tablets. This is not necessarily the case though. You might find that having a simple app can work out in your favor. The people who download the app are generally already customers or people who are on the verge of buying.
The app can help to improve brand awareness about your company for starters. It is on their phone or tablet’s screen, and they will think about you and your course every time they see it. If they are already taking the course, it is a fast and easy way for them to tell family and friends about it – they can just show them the app.
You can make it possible for customers to buy the course, and any other material you might be selling, right through the app as well. It can help you to build your email list, and you can use it to push content to the users. Let them know about a new blog post or video that you’ve put up, or give them a hint about a new upcoming course that you might be offering.
