Thank you for listening. In this episode, we’re talking about an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is your course that people see. All of the things under the waterline – the things that surround your course or are inputs for your course or program. Read about this or see a visual on my blog with details outlining each component. https://www.boostld.com/blog/your-course-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg In this episode we will cover may things surrounding your online course. Let’s talk about your course, the tip of the iceberg--what people see. This is the solution. You can jump straight to solution. You can create something that you sell right away and make fast. And there are a lot of online marketers that are telling you that you can launch a course in a day. This is a marketing ploy. Be careful. There are lots of things that you should consider if you want to make a quality learning experience **Ideal customer** When selling direct to consumer, have a clear picture of your customer avatar. This is the person who is buying and taking yoru course. Consider demographics, psychographics, skill, knowledge and mindset gaps. This information is useful for your marketing and for your learning content. It will impact your marketing It will impact your research Create a survey using google forms or typeform. Survey your ideal customer and ask them what are your goals. What would you like to be able to do differently? What kind of skills do you have? Where are they at with their skills. This will inform the gaps that you include in your training or course. Create training to support real needs. You’ll be way closer to your ideal customer’s target needs than if you jumped straight into solution. I always do research on the customer or learner before developing so you don’t waste time and money making something that’s not suitable. **Evaluation** How will you evaluate the learner’s capabilities and improvement, but also course in general. Plan this out as you’re going: knowledge checks, coaching or mentorship as part of your program or service. How will you identify a behavior or mindset change in your program? Evaluate whether learners are learning or not. This is helpful for future marketing to quantify improvement in skill, knowledge or mindset. For example, people saw a 40% improvement in X skill. Or, it took people on average 1 hour less time to edit their videos after taking my program. This program saves my learners time editing videos. It can help prospective buyers figure out if the course you’re offering will get them a good return on their investment. There are some stages to evaluate the learner. 1. Did they like it? 2. Do they know more? 3. Can they do something differently? Also you can evaluate your program to decide if it’s doing what you want it to do. If it's performing properly. I can also audit your program to find improvements. Schedule a call with me. **Program Support** How are you creating an experience to support learners as they’re going through your course? **Accountability** This should be baked into the course. Facebook groups aren't always the solution. How else you can practically bake accountability right in your course? For example, send a calendar invite to make it easy to set aside the time. **Tech Platform (LMS or EdTech)** Is it low tech like Notion or Email? Or are you using a platform like LearnDash, Kajabi or Thinkific? A lot of considerations and new platforms are popping up every day. If you need help wading through the sea of EdTech, I have experience to help you. I’ve done small and enterprise sized LMS set-ups. **Sales Funnels and Marketing Strategy** This funnel is important to drive traffic to your program. I can refer you to some great entrepreneurs who are amazing at teaching and supporting you in this space. You need a full marketing strategy to create content and bring awareness to your new program. I can help you