If you’re a current or aspiring digital product creator, you might find yourself asking this question. Should you grow an audience or launch a course first? That’s what we’re talking about in this episode!

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

By the way, since we are talking about online-based income this month, check out my Online Course Starter Kit! It goes in-depth on the process of launching effectively, priming your audience, and doing market research. All of these are super important concepts when launching to a small audience. This e-book would have saved me tons of time and energy if I had it when I began launching courses. Learn more about it here!

Grow VS. Launch

So, grow an audience or launch a course: What should you do first? My answer is… both! Take the audience that you currently have and get them onto your email list. At the same time, don’t focus on this task at the expense of getting your course out there. You’ll do both simultaneously. 

Lean into Your List

While working on your course, you’ll create freebies, establish your credibility, and point people to your list. Followers and vanity metrics will not equate to sales, but your email list subscribers will. Your email list will help you establish your conversion rate, which will be one to three percent of your total subscribers. Out of 100 subscribers, 1-3 will buy your course. Out of 200 subscribers, 2-6 will buy your course.

Don’t Delay 

While there are many strategies to try, you’re not guaranteed to see growth online. That’s why it’s important to not delay your course on account of growth. Instead, develop your course and grow your audience at the same time.

I talk about this more in the Online Course Starter Kit! You want the people in your audience to be very aware of your plans to launch. Talk about it for weeks leading up to it!

My First Launch

For reference, when I launched my first course, I had 5.5K Instagram followers, 2.5K email list subscribers, and 2,800 YouTube subscribers. I knew all along that I eventually planned to launch something, so I was intentional about growing these numbers. You do not need thousands of subscribers in order to launch a course. Do not let that hold you back. 

When my course launched, I generated $5,000 in a span of 10 days. I led up to the launch with lots of priming and sharing valuable content so that when my course launched, it just made sense to my audience.

Launching to a Small Audience

Here are three steps to launching with a small audience.

First, validate your course idea. Know that it’s something your audience wants.

Second, prime your audience. When you prime your audience well, you create a strong runway for your course. The stronger the runway, the stronger the launch will be. We try to prime for about a month before a launch. When priming, all of your content should be 100% focused on that topic and on giving free advice. 

Third, create an incentive for your launch period. Use a bonus, idea, or open/close cart. Communicate it clearly with your audience and do not be tempted to change it.

More about Launching

For more on launching, check out the Online Course Starter Kit! It’s broken up into four sections: Ideate, Create, Launch, and Market. The e-book will help you consider how to prime your audience, your launch week strategy, and your course structure among so many other things!

Next week on the podcast, we’ll talk about different ways to structure a launch! See you on Monday at 7 AM!