Are you looking for a new, creative way to generate leads? Have you thought about offering a course, but don’t know where to start? An online course is a great way to attract new clients and create some extra revenue.

In today’s episode, we cover:

• How an online course can help your agency grow.
• 3 Ways to keep your course from becoming a distraction.
• How to create a unique course different from everything else.

Today I had the opportunity to talk to Chase Chappell, the owner of Chase Chappell Marketing. He began his career developing his own Facebook influencer page and quickly discovered he could do social media for other agencies. After going door-to-door to find leads, he leveraged the power of social media. After finding success Chase realized he could help more people by teaching his own processes in an online course. Find out how developing a course can attract more clients and help grow your agency.

How an Online Course Can Help Your Agency Grow

Creating an online course is a lot of work. So why spend your time developing a new course when you can put your time and focus on other projects? What will you really get out of it? For Chase, the benefits were bigger than he initially realized.

• Referrals. When Chase started his online course, he immediately discovered the course was generating a lot of referrals. When you provide value and have a genuine interest in helping others, they’re likely to refer your agency to others.
• Conversions. Chase started his course to teach agencies his process. But the agencies that took his course came back to him just a few months later asking him to do the work instead.
• Authenticity. Ads will only get you so far. When a client sees your ads and sees you have a course to back up what you are doing, you’re more likely to develop trust.

3 Ways to Keep Your Course from Becoming a Distraction

Not every agency has what it takes to support a course. If that was the case everyone would create a course to attract new clients. When you choose to develop a course you want to make sure you have the resources to support it. The last thing you want to do is put all your focus on the course and neglect the agency.

1. Evaluate your team. When Chase developed his course, he already had an outside agency onboard to manage client relations. Because he knew he had a team that could focus on the agency work, he was able to devote some of his focus to the course.
2. Watch your client load.  If you’re going to focus your attention on developing a course, it’s probably not a good idea to bring on a bunch of new clients at the same time. Make sure you don’t overextend your agency — work on growing one piece of business at a time.
3. Have a process in place. Chase’s course focuses on processes his agency uses every day as part of the agency’s training program. When you develop a course around existing processes and procedures, it will be easier to put together and less likely to distract you from your agency work.

How to Create a Unique Course Different from Everything Else

If you’re on Facebook, you know how saturated the digital course market is. It seems like everybody wants to teach you something about something. In many cases, these courses are simply marketing ploys or click-bait to get a prospect to sign-on with an agency. Online courses are a dime a dozen and most quickly fade into obscurity. So can you make sure your course stands out and continues to attract new clients?

• Know your target audience. The reason so many courses (and agencies) fail is because they don’t know their target audience. If you create a course for everyone, you’re going to have a hard time attracting the right clients. Know your audience and market your course directly to them.
• Provide value: The number one way to stand out is finding a gap or need in the market. Be unique. If you just regurgitate what everyone else is saying, potential clients have no incentive to stick around. Chase’s course shares the same strategies his agency uses on a day to day basis. This proprietary process has proven success stories to back it up.

An online course is a great way to attract new clients and increase authority. But it’s not for everyone. Do your research, evaluate your resources, and make sure you’re prepared before you take the jump.

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