How to Generate Leads for Online Courses [3-Step Process]

If you are making an online course to sell, then you need to know how to generate leads for online courses. After all, the point of an external course is to sell it, and you can’t do that without leads. Here, we will share a three-step process that lets you do just that.

Step 1: Create an Automated Sales Funnel

Start by creating an automated sales funnel. This will feature a lead magnet that leads can get in exchange for filling out a simple contact form with their email address (and any other relevant data you decide to ask for, such as preferences).

To make the automated sales funnel, you will also have to make multiple landing pages. At the very least, you need one for the email capture, one for delivering the lead magnet, and one for selling the online course. Technically, the last of these is a sales page. You will also have other pages, such as those with offers.

The other thing you need to build for your automated sales funnel is an email sequence. This is a crucial part of how to generate leads for online courses, as it lets you turn the email address into a learner. Ideally, your email sequence will include 5-10 emails that offer more value than sales. Give the leads more value, don’t push your product at first. Save that for later in the sequence.

Step 2: Build Out Digital Assets

Next, you are going to want to go ahead and build out digital assets. Of course, you already have one significant digital asset – the lead magnet. But you will also need other digital assets as a way to introduce people to your lead magnet and get their email addresses. We use videos on our YouTube channel and our blog posts for this.

There are a few crucial things to keep in mind when creating digital assets:

• They have to address your learners’ biggest challenge.
• Learners will enter the sales funnel once you promote your lead magnet.
• They must be on a searchable marketing channel.

The last of these three points brings us to the final step of how to generate leads for online courses.

Step 3: Choose the Marketing Channel for the Content

That last step is choosing the right marketing channel for your digital assets. Importantly, the channel must be searchable. Good examples include Google, YouTube, and TikTok, although not everyone realizes that TikTok is now a searchable marketing channel. Then, start posting your digital assets on your chosen channel.

Conclusion

The best way to generate leads will involve creating an automated sales funnel and bringing value to your potential learners. Potential learners will search online for something relevant to your course and find your content on a searchable marketing channel like YouTube, Google, or TikTok. They’ll want to view your content as it provides value and addresses their biggest challenges. You will mention your lead magnet within that content and take learners to your landing page. They’ll give you their email address in exchange for the lead magnet. You’ll continue to provide them value via an email sequence, and they will eventually buy your course.