As you consider shifting your business model online, it’s incredibly important to develop marketing systems. Systems aren’t the most exciting part of building an online course model. But they are absolutely essential if you want to be successful in a digital world.
Entrepreneurs of all kinds have so much value to share with the world. And when you take the time to strategically shift your current business model online through courses, you’re able to help more people and create the business (and life) you’ve always wanted.
Systems help you make the shift effectively and sustain a business without feeling overwhelmed.
Why Are Marketing Systems Important?
Marketing systems are basically a secret weapon in your business. Once you figure out what marketing systems you need and take the time to implement them, you’ll experience less stress, more flexibility, and better results.
Here are three HUGE reasons why you should implement marketing systems in your business.
Systems Are Key To Scaling
Systems are absolutely key when you’re getting ready to scale your business, especially when you’re scaling your offline business model online.
In fact, systems have to come before you scale. You need to have a solid infrastructure already in place for your business, marketing, team, and customers. Those systems help you grow at even higher levels.
The thought of setting up marketing systems can be daunting. But you shouldn’t let fear hold you back from getting started. Later in this post, I’ll break down all of the different types of marketing systems you should create (along with why and how to do just that).
Marketing Systems Make Building Your Business Easier
As you build your business and shift to create online courses, marketing systems make the process so much easier. Years ago, these systems didn’t exist—but now, there are so many tools to make building your business accessible, easy, and scalable.
Of course, there is a cost to these tools, and a learning curve to start using them. But they’re going to make your business so much easier to grow and scale, especially when shifting to an online business model.
Systems Help You Connect Every Aspect Of Your Business
In your traditional offline business model, we don’t have to think about connectedness…but online, you 100% do!
In your online business, you’ll need to make sure that everything connects. For example, your landing pages, email marketing, webinars, lead magnets, and social media posts all need to be connected. And the right systems let you integrate everything seamlessly!
Marketing Systems For Each Area Of Your Online Course Business
Now that you know why marketing systems are important, let’s talk about some of the essential systems you should put in place.
Related: The Marketing Systems and Tools You Need For Your Online Business
Email Marketing Systems
One of the first key marketing systems you’ll need to set up is email marketing. Whether you’ve already chosen an email platform or you need to pick the perfect one, it’s a super important place to start.
There are lots of different email platforms out there, so you’ll need to find the perfect one for your business needs. Remember—with any online business tool, the specific platform you use isn’t going to make or break your launches or success. It’s more about having a system in place that makes your life easier!
Some options include:
While a lot of people use MailChimp (and it’s a decent option), ActiveCampaign is truly a great email marketing platform and it’s the one that I prefer and recommend!
Kajabi is another option, especially if you’re looking for an all-in-one platform that will meet all of your needs. Kajabi lets you create seamlessly integrated marketing systems all under one umbrella. You’ll be able to build websites, landing pages, email marketing automations, and more.
Landing Page Systems
If you aren’t already familiar with landing pages, they are pages on your website that allow people to fill out their information, like names, email addresses, or phone numbers. Sales pages are also considered landing pages—that one clear CTA is to make a purchase.
A landing page is distinct from your website as a whole because it has one specific call to action. Whether that’s to fill out contact information or make a purchase, it’s specific and clear what you want your visitor to do. On your website as a whole, you’ll have multiple CTAs, like your about page, offerings, videos, blog posts, or podcasts.
You’ll need to connect your landing page with your email marketing platform. That way, when someone fills out a contact form, you’ll be able to use marketing systems to send a series of follow-up emails welcoming that new lead.
That’s right! With marketing systems, once you go through the initial work of setting them up, you’ll be able to run those components on autopilot. This will save you valuable time so that YOU can focus on what truly matters in your business.
Lead Magnet Systems
One type of landing page you’ll create (that also majorly helps grow your email list) is for a lead magnet. Lead magnets allow you to collect emails by offering a free download of some kind, like a checklist, PDF resource, guide, webinar, or eBook.
Once a person reaches your landing page and downloads your lead magnet, you can set up email marketing systems to automatically nurture that lead.
Later, if someone actually purchases your course, you’ll trigger a whole other set of emails, and even automatically get their course account set up and running.
As you systemize your marketing, you’ll need to start setting tags for where your leads come from. Did they find you on Google? Have they participated in multiple free webinars you’ve run?
Knowing these key pieces of information allows you to tailor your marketing, know where people are at in your sales funnels, and strategically build out marketing systems that truly work.
These types of integrated marketing systems take time to set up initially, but then save you so much time as you grow your business.
Day-To-Day Online Business Systems
You can create systems for running the day-to-day in your business, too. These types of marketing systems are often focused on project management. Asana is an amazing tool (with both a free and paid version) for managing every area of your business.
To communicate with your team, create documents and spreadsheets, and store your files, try Google’s business tools. Google Docs, Google Sheets, Gmail, and Google Forms are all incredibly helpful as you move your offline business to an online course model. These tools all allow you to share with others and collaborate effortlessly—plus, they’re free!
Once your landing page and email marketing systems are set up, you’re going to generate leads that convert. And then you’ll need a simple way to accept payments. Stripe and Paypal are both great, user-friendly options.
Communication Systems
Another thing to keep in mind is team communication. Slack is a great tool that integrates with lots of other programs, including Asana and Google’s suite of products.
If you need to record your screen for your course, or for training your team members, Loom and Vidyard both work really well.
Course Delivery Systems
We’ve talked about lots of marketing systems you’ll want to create in your business. But how do you actually deliver your course in an easy, effective way? You’re going to need a course membership website.
There are lots of options, like:
If you’ve already chosen a platform, that’s great! Focus on launching, growing your business, and implementing those key marketing systems. But if you’re feeling stuck at the thought of using a super technical platform (or choosing the right one), don’t let that hold you back.
You can even run a course through video recordings and Google Slides or Zoom calls. You don’t
Shifting to an online business model opens you up to so much freedom, opportunity, and flexibility. You’ll be able to skyrocket your business growth and revenue, especially if you take advantage of the power of marketing systems.
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