Launch your first course this weekend - No LMS needed...

Up your email marketing game...

Create an email course to use as a lead magnet or an income stream

Most people love to be led. Hand-held and guided along a proven path.

It's a common human trait. And when it comes to sharing helpful content, a 'course' is one of the most popular delivery formats.

There's also a higher perceived value with a course than some other media options, like downloadable PDFs or podcasts.

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Should a course be a 'lead magnet' or a 'paid product'?

I've used them for both purposes, and they work equally well.

The most appealing aspect of any course is not the learning, but the outcome - in other words, the promise that accompanies it.

After all, we don't study Spanish because we want to 'learn' - we do it to be able to converse in another language.

My recommendation if you use a course for a 'lead magnet' is to make it so good that people would be willing to pay for it. Don't compromise the quality of your course because it's being used as a free lead magnet.

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Course delivery options

Typically, most people use an LMS (Learning Management System) to deliver courses to their subscribers or customers. Popular options include Thinkific, Teachable, and LearnDash.

As great as these platforms are, they come at a cost - on average, around $50-$100/m.

If you want to deliver the same course content, even the identical lessons, but for 'free', then consider creating an email course - drip-feeding modules/lessons to your students from your email marketing platform (e.g. Kit).

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How to create an email course

Like everything I do, I use a sequence of steps to create my email courses.

1. Determine the 'promise' or outcome provided by the course.
2. Break the outcome down into manageable 'chunks' for students.
3. List easily digestible 'lessons' for each 'chunk'.
4. Create the content, including any companion documents (e.g. PDFs).
5. Organise the content into a drip-fed sequence.
6. Place the content into email sequences in your email marketing platform and schedule for delivery upon request (or purchase, if you're selling it).

If you want a detailed explanation of how to do this using Kit, check out this article here.

You can design, create, and launch your first course over this coming weekend - so, go for it! 👊

Introducing a Kit feature...

Give your subscribers the power of choice with 'Topics of Interest'

Most email marketers, with every email they send, give their subscribers a simple choice to make; to either stay or leave their email list.

In other words, if they don't want all the emails they get from you, then they need to hit that 'unsubscribe' button.

But it doesn't have to be that way - you can give your subscribers options by introducing 'Topics of Interest' (TsOI).

Essentially, if you share content about different 'topics' then you may want to create a TOI in Kit to make it optional for your subscribers.

Let's take the simple example above; I have shown two options for my subscribers - 'Email With Kit' (an evergreen email sequence that shares tips on how to use Kit as your email marketing platform), and 'The Hub - Weekly Newsletter' (which is this email you;re reading).

So, if any of my subscribers want to receive my weekly newsletter but don't use Kit as their email marketing platform, they can opt out of the 'Email With Kit' sequence.

How to create a Topic of Interest in Kit

Navigate to menu option 'Grow' > 'Subscribers'

On the right-hand side of the screen, click on the button 'Manage Subscriber Preferences';

Once inside the TsOI form, you can create up to 10 Topics of Interest, each of which need an associated 'tag' that gets applied whenever a subscriber opts in to a TOI and is removed if they opt out.

How can subscribers choose their TsOI?

This is done via the 'Preferences' page that is natively built into Kit.

You'll find most of the email templates include a link to 'Update Preferences' (or similar wording), however, you can create a link yourself by using the shortcode shown below;

(btw, if you scroll to the bottom of this email, you'll see how I've embedded mine in my email footer section)

You can choose to put this shortcode under a piece of text or a button, whichever you prefer. When clicked, the subscriber is taken to a Preferences page where they can opt in (or out) of any TOI;

It's worth noting that if a subscriber has previously purchased a product from you, they'll be challenged for a OTP (One Time Passcode) sent via email by Kit - this is because they will be able to access payment details via the Stripe portal.

Tech you might find helpful...

Schedule your social content using automation

I'm only active on one social platform, however, I know many others tend to a list of platforms, posting content across them regularly.

If you want to get organised and remove the stress from meeting deadlines, I recommend leveraging technology to do it for you - I choose Publer as my preferred option.

It's a powerful platform that offers many more features than I use, but even the basics can help transform how you show up where your prospects hang out.

Operating a freemium plan, you can get started for zero cost and move to a paid plan if you want to use any premium features like 'post recycling' - prices start at about $8/m.

Check out Publer

Ask me your questions...

What is the difference between a 'tag' and a 'segment'?

This is a question I was asked recently - for a complete guide, including 'custom fields', check out this video;

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Answering questions on email, Kit, or solo biz is my favourite thing to do - hit the button below and ask yours now...

Ask my question