How to Target the Right Audience for Your Online Course

When it comes to creating an online course, one area that you can’t look away from is the area of your target audience.

This is true because you are creating an online course, not just for yourself, nor for the entire global citizens. There must be a set of persons with a distinct need your course is meant to provide solution for. Finding these specific set of persons is one of the hardest part of creating an online course.

In spite of how beautiful your story is, if you don’t find the right audience for, it won’t sell.

Just think of the traditional offline marketing. You might have a powerful product, but if you don’t take it to the right market, it won’t sell. Both offline and online marketers don’t joke with this aspect of their business- audience targeting.

The question now is: how do you target the right audience for your online course?

There are two ways to go about it.

•      Know your target audience and create a course for them
•      Create a course and look for the right audience

Let’s see how each of these work.

Option 1: Audience before Course Creation

You have the audience before your course is created

This particular option is usually appropriate for established brands. I mean those online course creators who already have an existing loyal audience.

What actually made them loyal audience/customers?

  Ø You have been offering a value that has been benefiting them all along

  Ø They have found in you a dependable partner in finding solutions to their lingering challenges

  Ø They have proven you as an expert in the field

I remember receiving a call some time ago, from one of those who have been part of my free training. At that time, I was having an ongoing online training (paid one). This were his exact words,

“Hello, Mr Chima, I want to join your ongoing training; I am very much aware that you guys have gone far in the training, but I still want to join because I believe in what you can give since I have benefited so much from your free training. It’s time to give back…”

Think about having a handful of persons who so trust your expertise this way to the point of confessing it openly! What do you do with such persons? You work more for them. They are your loyal customer base- the loyal audience.

Since they now believe in your product offer, always try to know what they want and create a course for them. By so doing, you won’t lose them as they seem to have reposed their faith in finding solutions from you.

Option 2: Course Creation before Audience

When you don't have a ready audience before creating a course

This option is more appropriate for startups.

Having conceived the idea of what you want to create as a course, go ahead and create it.

Now, you’re asking yourself:

i.                Who may need this course?   AND

ii.              Why?

In finding out who might need your course, three things come into play…

     a.     Common sense- Common sense tells you diabetes patients are in need of a workable solution to their health challenges

     b.    Informal observation- Just by listening and observing what a specific set of persons are always talking about as a challenge, could be a clue to finding the right audience for your course

     c.     Online search results- Just visit online search engines and Social media to know how many persons are searching for solutions in the areas related to the course you’ve created.

By the time, you’ve made a good research through any or all of the foregoing, you would discover that your target audience fall into market segmentation:

     1.    Gender- You have to really know if the course you’ve created is more suitable for men or women; or whether it can work for both gender.

Targeting Your Audience by Gender

     2.    Age Bracket- What age bracket would profit more from your online course? 18-24?; 25-32?; 33-40?; 41- 55; 56-64?; 65 and above?

Targeting Your Audience by Age Bracket

     3.    Interest- That you created a course that is supposedly related to single ladies does not mean every single lady would be interested. How to find the right husband in 30 days  is supposed to be a topic for single ladies; but be sure it might never be the interest of these ‘public’ ladies- the slay mamas!

Targeting Your Audience by Interest

     4.    Location- Some courses are meant for local consumption. If you’re creating a course on say, Effecting Technology the Easy Way in Today’s Classroom,  you might not be speaking to the guys from the West (UK, US for example). It might only profit those in Africa where tech-driven classroom is still at a snail speed. While thinking of location, you’re also looking at the income level and exposure of your supposed target audience.

Targeting Your Audience by Location

Having identified the segment of the market where your target audience could be found, the next is to meet them up there. This is part of what we are going to discuss in our subsequent lesson- how to meet them and attract them to your online course.

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