February 12, 2025 • 32 mins
What if the secret to transformative online courses isn't in flashy marketing tactics but in mastering the art of teaching?
In this episode of the Teaching Mastery Academy podcast, we unravel the myth that successful digital marketers automatically translate into effective educators.
Through the story of Jake, a marketer who faced unexpected hurdles despite his financial success, we expose the gap between selling and teaching.
We promise to equip you with strategies to navigate this gap, transforming your courses into engaging learning experiences that truly resonate with students.
We explore the elements of effective course design aimed at maximizing student engagement and success.
Discover how to shift from information overload to a structured learning journey filled with action-oriented modules.
Learn to avoid common pitfalls like neglecting diverse learning styles and overwhelming content.
We'll guide you on how to simplify your course structure, incorporate various teaching methods, and continuously improve through feedback.
By thinking like educators, you can create courses that not only sell but also deliver genuine results in a world where AI alternatives are on the rise.
Listen in and prepare to elevate your teaching approach to new heights.
Think of your course (or your course idea,) like a luxury car. People won’t pay top dollar unless it’s high quality, delivers an incredible experience, and meets their needs perfectly. Teaching Mastery Academy teaches course creators like you how to ‘build’ that luxury-level course—one that students trust, complete, and rave about, justifying premium pricing every time. Ready to take your expertise and ensure your digital course stands out from the crowd? Premium courses (and premium returns) start with the core teaching fundamentals that all the best course creators instinctively do, but now I'm showing you how! Join the VIP waitlist for Teaching Mastery Academy now! Click here to learn more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, welcome, francesca, here.
I'd like to very warmly welcomeyou to Teaching Mastery Academy
.
If you're joining us for thefirst time and if you're tuning
in again, welcome back.
Today we are tackling a hugemisconception in the online
course world, and the reason whyI wanted to create an episode
about this topic today isbecause this particular
(00:23):
misconception is right online.
If you jump onto threads or oneof the Reddit platforms, you
will find that the confusionthat exists around this topic is
huge in the course creationworld.
So I really wanted to addressthis misconception today,
(00:45):
because there is so muchconfusion around it and there
are so many different takes onthis industry that we are all in
as coaches and teachers anddigital marketers.
So I think you can guess thedirection I'm going in today
with this podcast episode.
So here's the problem.
So many digital marketers thinkthat because they know how to
(01:09):
sell, they also know how toteach.
But let's be real Coursecreation and teaching are two
completely different skill sets.
Now, I know that this is quitecontroversial for a lot of
digital marketers out there anda lot of people in the course
creation industry who have beenearning a living, but and I say
(01:31):
this kindly just because youknow how to create demand for
your product, it doesn't meanyou know how to create a
transformative learningexperience.
In other words, just becauseyou know how to market something
and get people to pay for itand sign up for it, it doesn't
mean that they're going tofinish the course, that you're
creating the transformationsthat your students are expecting
(01:54):
or craving.
And just because you'vemastered marketing psychology
doesn't mean you understandlearning psychology.
They're two completelydifferent things.
The psychology that we use tosell our courses and the
language that we use thelanguage of sales is completely
different to understanding howpeople learn and how people
(02:18):
process information once they'retaking your course.
And just because you can getpeople to buy your course your
course and just because you canget people to buy your course,
it doesn't mean they'll actuallyfinish it, enjoy it or get
results.
And that is why so many coursesout there online have high
refund rates.
They have low studentcompletion rates, meaning that
(02:38):
the students will buy the coursebut they'll never finish it or
they get bad reviews or notestimonials at all.
But they'll never finish it orthey get bad reviews or no
testimonials at all.
But don't worry, because by theend of this episode, if you
know Teaching Mystery Academypodcast, you know that I have
always got highly valuable,highly concentrated advice, help
, support for you.
So by the end of today, you willknow exactly how to fix this
(03:01):
misconception, because we'regoing to talk about why digital
marketers confuse coursecreation with teaching.
We're going to talk about whydigital marketers confuse course
creation with teaching.
We're going to talk about thebiggest mistakes marketers make
when creating courses.
We're going to look at whatactually makes a great online
teacher.
We look at how to bridge thegap between marketing and
effective teaching.
We're going to look atactionable strategies to make
(03:22):
your course engaging, valuableand student-friendly.
So, whether you're going tolook at actionable strategies to
make your course engaging,valuable and student friendly,
so whether you're about tolaunch your first course or
you've already got one out there, this episode is going to be so
jam-packed with eye-openinginsights for you that will
completely change the way youthink about course creation
forever.
So grab a notebook, becausewe're about to level up your
(03:42):
teaching game.
All right, let's start with thebig question why do so many
digital marketers assume theyknow how to teach?
Now, this is one of the biggestreasons why so many online
courses fail to deliver actualresults.
The assumption is that becausemarketers know how to
(04:05):
communicate well, they also knowhow to teach well.
But I can see where theconfusion happens, because
marketing and teaching bothinvolve communication, but they
serve completely differentpurposes.
So let's break this down.
Let's look at marketing versusteaching.
When you market a course, yourgoal is to grab attention, grab
(04:26):
your audience's attention.
It's to create desire amongstyour audience and it's to
persuade someone to take actionAttention, desire, persuade.
But when you teach, your goalis to help someone understand,
retain and apply information.
It's to create an engaginglearning journey where your
students actually experiencetransformation, and it's also to
(04:50):
make sure your students walkaway with real results, not just
content consumption.
And so the problem arises.
And the problem is this manydigital marketers really excel
at selling a promise, but theyfail to deliver an effective
learning experience, and thisdisconnect is the reason why we
see so many online coursescollecting dust on students'
(05:14):
hard drives.
Let me tell you about a client Iworked with.
We'll call him Jake, forprivacy's sake Now.
Jake was a brilliant digitalmarketer who had built a
six-figure coaching business,teaching, social media, growth
strategies.
He was incredible at runningFacebook ads.
He was incredible at writingpersuasive email sequences and
crafting offers that people justcouldn't resist.
(05:35):
So naturally, he decided toturn his expertise into an
online course.
So he spent months designingthe perfect funnel.
His sales page was amazing.
He hit every pain pointperfectly.
His launch was a massivesuccess.
He made 100k in his first roundof sales.
Sounds like a dream, right.
Except a few weeks later it allstarted falling apart.
(05:58):
Here's what happened.
His refund requests startedrolling in.
His student engagement washorrible.
Almost nobody was completingthe course.
When he asked for testimonials,no one was raving about it, and
Jake came to me feelingconfused and frustrated.
He had done everything right ininverted commas, from a
(06:20):
marketing standpoint.
So he asked what am I doingwrong from a marketing
standpoint?
So he asked what am I doingwrong?
And when I looked inside hiscourse, the answer was
completely obvious.
He had structured his courselike a sales pitch, not a
learning experience.
So his lessons were too longand overwhelming.
(06:41):
He dumped everything on hisstudents all at once.
He focused too much on featureslike video lessons and
worksheets instead of actuallyconsidering how students would
absorb and apply the material,and Jake assumed that, because
he knew what his students needed, that meant they'd be able to
figure it all out on their own.
But knowing something isn't thesame as knowing how to teach it,
and this is where mostmarketers go wrong.
(07:02):
Marketing is all about creatingurgency, emotional connection
and a belief in a transformationright, but teaching, on the
other hand, is about guidingstudents through an actual
transformation.
Let's use an analogy so I cantell you what I mean.
Marketing is like gettingsomeone excited about running a
marathon.
(07:22):
You show them what's possible,you highlight the benefits and
you convince them to sign up.
Teaching is like coaching themthrough the training process so
they actually finish themarathon.
You don't just tell them to runand hope for the best.
You create a structuredtraining plan.
You help them avoid injury.
You help them keep motivated.
Them avoid injury.
(07:42):
You help them keep motivated.
Selling will get your studentsin the door, but teaching
ensures they actually succeed.
And here's the hard truth ifyour course isn't designed to
actually help students succeed,no amount of great marketing
will save it.
That's why so many high sellingcourses fade into obscurity.
(08:03):
The hype just doesn't last ifthe learning experience is poor,
and a lot of marketers assumethat as long as their course is
full of great content, studentswill automatically succeed, but
that's wrong.
Here's why content alone isn'tenough.
Too much content overwhelmsstudents.
If your course is just hours ofvideo and dozens of PDFs, your
(08:28):
students won't know where tostart.
They're not getting thatscaffolding, that guidance to
show them how to work throughthe material.
Remember, information doesn'tequal transformation.
Just because you're sharingvaluable insights, it doesn't
mean students will be able toapply them effectively.
They might as well just goonline and Google it or ask
ChatGPT, and without astructured learning path, your
(08:50):
students will get lost.
If there's no clear progression, there's no clear checkpoints
or accountability, your studentswill drop off.
Think about it this way Ifcontent alone was an app, nobody
would need online courses,because everything can already
be found for free on YouTube.
The value of your course isn'tjust in the content.
It's in the way you structureit, the way you teach it and how
(09:16):
you guide your students to theresults they need.
I worked with another client,rachel, who was a fitness coach,
and she had an incredibleonline coaching business helping
people transform their bodieswith custom meal plans and
workout routines, and shedecided to package her expertise
into a digital course.
She was thinking I'll just putall my knowledge into videos and
PDFs and people will love it.
And guess what?
Her launch was successful.
(09:38):
She sold 500 spots in the firstround, but within a few weeks
her inbox was flooded withfrustrated students.
I feel lost.
I don't know where to start, orthis is too much information.
I'm overwhelmed.
I tried, but I'm not seeingresults.
And Rachel was shocked she hadprovided so much value.
But that was actually theproblem.
(09:58):
She dumped all her knowledgeinto the course but didn't
structure it for real learning.
All her knowledge into thecourse, but didn't structure it
for real learning.
So I gave her a fix and wehelped her redesign the course
with a clear, step-by-stepframework so her students knew
exactly where to start.
We redesigned it with weeklyprogress tracking so her
(10:19):
students stayed on track, and wealso added some interactive
challenges in accountabilitycheck-ins to keep her students
engaged.
And the result?
Her student completion rateskyrocketed and the testimonials
started pouring in.
So the lesson learned was it'snot about how much information
that you share, it's about howwell you guide your students
(10:41):
through it.
Now, if you're a digitalmarketer creating an online
course, you need to ask yourselfam I structuring my course like
a sales page or like a reallearning experience?
Because great courses aren'tjust well marketed, they're well
taught, and if you want tocreate a course that sells and
delivers results, you have tothink like an educator, not just
(11:04):
a marketer, and that's whatwe're going to talk about.
Next the biggest mistakesmarketers make in course
creation and how to fix them.
Now that we understand whydigital marketers often confuse
course creation teaching let'slook into the biggest mistakes
that digital marketers make.
If you're one listening to thispodcast, this might be you when
building an online course, andthese mistakes are going to kill
(11:27):
your student engagement,they're going to increase the
refund rates and they're goingto make your courses less
impactful, but the good news isthey're all fixable.
If you've ever felt like yourstudents aren't finishing your
course, that they aren't gettingresults or they aren't giving
you rave testimonials, chancesare you're making one of these
common mistakes.
(11:47):
So let's go through them one byone, and I've got some real
world examples from TeachingMastery Academy for you and some
step-by-step fixes.
So the first mistake isthinking information equals
transformation.
Wrong, simply dumping knowledgeonto students does not create
meaningful change, and a lot ofmarketers assume if I just give
(12:08):
them the information they'llsucceed.
Or if I pack my course withenough content, people will see
the value.
But if that was true, nobodywould need courses at all.
They could just Googleeverything for free.
So you know, think about it.
There are literally thousandsof free resources on SEO,
business growth, social media,marketing, fitness, productivity
(12:29):
you name it.
So why do people pay forcourses?
Because they don't just wantinformation, they want clarity,
they need to know what to focuson and in what order.
They need structure.
They don't want a messy pile ofcontent.
They need a clear path tofollow and they want
accountability.
They need guidance to actuallytake action.
(12:53):
Imagine signing up for a courseon public speaking and instead
of a structured learning journey, you get 50 videos with no
logical order, a PDF with tonsof useful tips but no exercises
to apply them, and a worksheetthat says just practice and
you'll get better.
Would that actually help youbecome a better public speaker?
Probably not, and I've got anexample to show you what I mean.
I once worked with a coursecreator called Tom who created a
(13:15):
digital marketing course.
He knew everything about leadgen, paid ads, seo, social media
strategy.
He put all his knowledge intohis course, thinking it would
make his students unstoppablemarketers.
He had 80 plus lessons.
He had hours of bonus content.
He had a 10-hour deep dive intotechnical SEO and it sold well.
(13:37):
But guess what?
The completion rates wereabysmal.
Less than 10% of his studentsfinished.
People felt overwhelmed andthey dropped off early and
nobody was getting resultsbecause they were stuck in
information overload.
And in order to fix it, we needto shift from information
dumping to a learning journey,because if you want your
(13:59):
students to actually succeed,your course needs to be
structured in a step-by-steplearning path, not just a
library of content.
We need to be focused onresults, so every module should
help your students achievesomething tangible, and we need
to have it designed for action,so your students need a balance
of learning and doing so inorder to fix it.
(14:20):
If your story sounds verysimilar to Tom's, you need to
ask yourself what is the fastest, simplest way I can guide my
students to success Now?
The second mistake isoverloading your students with
too much information at once.
Remember, dumping informationis not teaching.
Many course creators try to packeverything that they know into
(14:42):
a single course, but when yourstudents feel overwhelmed, they
will shut down.
Too many videos, too manyworksheets, too many advanced
concepts introduced too soon inyour course.
I once worked with a coursecreator called Sarah, who built
a branding course for schoolbusiness owners, and she was
really passionate about hertopic, so she wanted to give her
students everything that theycould possibly need and her
(15:05):
course from memory.
Her course included 40 plusvideo lessons, dozens of pdfs
and templates, hours of bonuscontent on color psychology,
social media, branding andcopywriting.
She really did put everythinginto this course, because her
goal was to make sure that herstudents had everything that
they needed, but the problem itwas too much and her students
(15:29):
started quitting halfway through.
They said they felt overwhelmedand they didn't know where to
start and, instead of makingprogress, they actually got
stuck in information paralysis.
So we need to look.
We need to fix it.
We need to focus on quick winsand simplification, because
people learn best when they cansee progress quickly.
We need to break down lessonsinto smaller, digestible
(15:53):
sections, for example, we needto use milestone wins.
So these are small achievementsthat will keep your students
motivated, and we need to giveour students permission not to
do everything at once.
Instead of overwhelmingstudents, we need to focus on
guiding them step by step.
So an example for a fix.
So here's a bad course design.
(16:14):
First, here are 50 videolessons on everything about
branding.
Good luck, okay, so that's abad course design.
A better course design would bestart with module one by the
end you'll have your brand colorpalette set, then move to
module two to craft yourmessaging, and so on.
We want to keep it simple,friends.
(16:34):
Keep it simple.
Now.
My third mistake is ignoring howdifferent people learn.
Oh, this one is so important.
Not everyone learns the sameway, and most digital marketers
who aren't trained teachersdon't think about learning
styles when designing a course.
They assume everybody learnsbest through videos, so they
(16:55):
create a video heavy course andcall it a day.
But here's the reality.
Some students are visuallearners they need graphics,
charts and slides to understandconcepts.
Some students are auditorylearners they need to hear
things explained out loud.
And some students arekinesthetic learners, so they
need hands-on activities,exercises and real-world
(17:17):
applications.
When you only teach in oneformat, you leave people behind.
So we can fix it, and the waythat we can fix it is to mix up
your teaching methods.
You want to make sure thatyou're using visual elements
like diagrams, screenshots andvideos.
You want to include auditorylearning, so you could offer an
audio version of the lessons orexplain concepts with
(17:39):
storytelling, or you couldprovide hands-on learning so you
could add interactiveassignments, action steps and
real-world applications.
Think about your audience.
How do they learn best?
Make sure that your courseaccommodates different styles.
You know your niche.
You will know the types ofstudents that you have in your
niche, because if you're acourse creator, you need to move
(18:01):
beyond just selling and startthinking like an educator.
I would encourage you to goback to your course and ask
yourself are your studentsgetting results or are they just
consuming content?
Because this is how you createcourses that aren't just bought,
but actually completed andraved about All right.
Now that we've covered whydigital marketers often struggle
with teaching and the biggestmistakes that they make when
(18:24):
creating the courses, let's talkabout the most important part
how do we fix this?
Now?
I've already given you somelittle quick fixes along the way
in this podcast episode, but wereally want to look at the
bigger picture here, which ishow do we stop treating courses
like sales pages and startdesigning them for real learning
and student success?
Because, remember, ai is hereand it's only going to get
(18:46):
bigger, and if your course isnot going to deliver on the
transformations.
Your students are just going togo to AI.
They're going to stoppurchasing your courses.
They're going to stop turningto you as the go-to coach.
They've got chat GPT now.
So you really have to improveon the quality of your teaching.
But the good news, you don'tneed to be a trained teacher to
do this well, you just need tothink like an educator and apply
(19:10):
some proven learning principles.
So let's break this down intothree actionable steps that will
instantly improve the way thatyour course delivers results.
And step one is to structureyour course like a learning
journey.
So one of the biggestdifferences between marketing
and teaching is how theinformation is presented,
because marketing is designed tograb attention and persuade
(19:34):
quickly, but teaching isdesigned to guide someone step
by step towards mastery.
There's a lot more time andinvestment put into the teaching
side of it, and this is where alot of courses go wrong,
because they feel likeinformation dumps rather than
structured learning experiences.
So instead of just throwingthem in a pile of videos and
pdfs at your students, you needto design a structured journey.
(19:56):
Here's how to do it you want tobreak your lessons into
bite-sized actionable steps,like we talked about, because
what doesn't work is a two-hourvideo lesson on everything you
need to know about SEO, but whatdoes work are five shorter
videos on how Google rankscontent, the basics of keyword
research, on-page SEO essentials, off-page SEO and backlinks,
(20:21):
seo mistakes to avoid.
Can you see how I've brokendown everything into really
small, micro bite-sized pieces?
Because shorter, digestiblelessons will prevent overwhelm
with your students and they'llhelp your students stay engaged.
Now you also need to ensure thateach module builds on the last
one.
So most online courses lackprogression and many course
(20:45):
creators dump a ton ofinformation into their course
without thinking about howstudents actually learn, and if
you don't create a logical,step-by-step flow, your students
will feel lost and disengaged.
So think of it like this youwouldn't ask a beginner to write
a novel before they know basicgrammar right, and the same
applies to courses.
(21:06):
So in order to fix it, we needto structure your course like a
staircase.
Think of it like a staircase.
Each module should help yourstudents climb towards the
transformation that they want.
So, for example, let's take thetopic of a personal finance
course.
So ad structure looks like thisInvesting 101, managing debt,
(21:30):
how to budget, understandingcredit scores.
A better structure would beunderstanding credit scores.
That comes into how to budgetyour money.
That flows into managing andeliminating debt.
That comes into how to budgetyour money.
That flows into managing andeliminating debt.
That flows into investing forbeginners.
Each module prepares them forthe next step.
So think of your course like aroadmap.
(21:51):
If your students follow thesteps in order in other words,
your modules and the lessonswithin your modules will they
reach the transformation thatyou've promised?
Yes or no?
Think about it that way.
Another huge difference betweenmarketing and teaching is
engagement, and so marketingengages people emotionally right
, we're tapping into people'ssubconscious Whereas teaching
(22:13):
engages people intellectuallyand experientially.
If you want your students tofinish your course and get
results, you need to keep themactively engaged.
You want to add reflectionquestions to help your students
internalize what they'relearning, and here's something
that most course creators missLearning happens in the
reflection process, not in theconsumption process.
(22:36):
Think about it Just watching avideo or reading a lesson
doesn't mean the studentabsorbed or applied the
knowledge.
That's why you need reflectionpoints built into your course.
So, for example, a leadershipcourse A bad design would be a
video lesson on how to havedifficult conversations at work.
A better design would be at theend of the lesson, ask Think of
(22:59):
the last time you had adifficult conversation.
What went well, what didn't?
What is the one strategy fromthis lesson you apply that
you'll apply in your nextconversation?
Can you see, by adding thosetwo reflection questions, it
forces your students to connectthe content to their real life
experience and it deepens theirunderstanding and helps them
(23:20):
remember the lesson.
We also want to use interactiveelements like quizzes and
exercises, because passivelearning leads to passive
results.
One of the fastest ways to boostyour student engagement and
retention is to add interactiveelements.
So, for example, a social mediamarketing course.
Badly designed lesson would bea 10-minute video about
(23:41):
Instagram engagement strategies.
Better lesson would be a minichallenge where students have to
post a piece of content usingthe engagement strategies taught
.
Track their engagement.
Taught, track their engagementrates.
Share their insights in thecourse community.
Why does this work?
Well, your students immediatelyapply what they've learned,
which increases retention.
(24:02):
They get real world feedback,making the lesson more
meaningful, and it doesn't haveto be a challenge.
You could do other ways to addengagement to your course could
be a quiz, which is great forself-assessment, knowledge
checks, worksheets and templates.
You could do.
Other ways to add engagement toyour course could be a quiz,
which is great forself-assessment, knowledge
checks, worksheets and templatesyou could give your students
fill in the blank exercises tohelp them apply the concepts, or
community discussions so youcould encourage your students to
(24:26):
share insights, ask questionsand support each other, because
if your students aren'tinteracting with your course,
they aren't learning.
Now, if you want your course tobecome known for amazing results
, you need to obsess overstudent success.
Great teachers don't just teach.
They make sure studentsunderstand, apply and succeed.
And how do you do that?
(24:47):
You track progress, you collectfeedback and you make
improvements.
Most course creators nevercheck in on how many students
actually complete their course.
Is that you Smart coursecreators monitor engagement and
tweak their course to improvecompletion rates.
Here's how they do it they usecourse analytics.
If your platform offerscompletion tracking, you need to
(25:09):
check these three questionswhen do students drop off?
Which lessons have the highestengagement and do certain
modules get skipped?
You also need to add progresscheckpoints.
So at the midway point in yourcourse, you need to ask your
students how confident are youfeeling about what you've
learned so far?
And then, before the finalmodule, you need to ask what's
(25:31):
the biggest challenge you'vefaced while taking this course.
Now, why does this work?
Well, it helps you identify thesticking points where your
students are struggling, and itmeans you can also adjust your
course over time to improveresults.
And if you really want yourcourse to be the best in your
niche which I know you dobecause you're listening to this
podcast you need tocontinuously refine it based on
(25:54):
your student feedback.
And here's how You're going tocollect feedback at three stages
.
You're going to have pre-coursefeedback, and we talked about
this in episode 23 of thispodcast.
I believe I've got a wholepodcast on feedback, so jump
into episode 23 after this one,but anyway, I'll summarize it
again here.
So you're going to clickfeedback at three stages
(26:17):
Pre-course feedback, which isfind out what students hope to
get out of the course.
You're going to do mid-coursefeedback, which is ask how your
students are progressing and ifthey're feeling stuck.
And then you're going to dopost-course feedback, which is
you're going to ask yourstudents what worked, what
didn't and what they'd improve.
So, for example, a businesscoaching course.
(26:42):
A bad process would look likethis Launching a course and
never checking with students.
A better process would besending a survey after each
module to ask what's the mostvaluable thing you learned in
this module?
Was there anything unclear orconfusing?
Valuable thing you learned inthis module?
Was there anything unclear orconfusing?
Because a course should evolvebased on real student
experiences.
The more you improve it, themore powerful and profitable it
becomes.
(27:02):
If you want to create a trulygreat course, you need to
structure it like a journey, youneed to engage your students
with interactive elements andyou need to focus on student
success, not just sales.
So I encourage you to go backto your course and ask yourself
this second question Am I justdelivering content or am I
(27:24):
guiding transformation?
If you want expert help makingyour course more engaging,
effective and impactful, thenlet's work together.
Inside Teaching Mastery Academy, the waitlist is currently up.
You can join the VIP waitlist,which means you get additional
bonuses and you are the first tobe notified when the doors open
, because this is how you createcourses that your students love
(27:46):
, finish and recommend.
I'll link the waitlist in theshow notes for you.
So my final thoughts on thisepisode to clear up any
confusion between digitalmarketers and teachers in the
online course space Greatmarketing will sell your course
once.
Great teaching will turnstudents into raving fans who
refurn others.
If you want your course to notjust sell but actually work, you
(28:10):
need to combine smart marketingto keep people in the door, but
then you need great teaching tomake sure that they succeed.
And if you have a course rightnow, go through it and ask
yourself this final question amI just delivering information or
am I actually teaching?
That's it for Teaching Masterypodcast today.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
(28:31):
I hope you found this episodereally insightful and really
valuable, and there are sometakeaways that you can go and
apply to your course right away.
Until next time, keep teaching,keep succeeding.
You've got this Bye for now.
Hello, welcome, francesca, here.
I'd like to very warmly welcomeyou to Teaching Mastery Academy
.
If you're joining us for thefirst time and if you're tuning
in again, welcome back.
Today we are tackling a hugemisconception in the online
course world, and the reason whyI wanted to create an episode
about this topic today isbecause this particular
(00:23):
misconception is right online.
If you jump onto threads or oneof the Reddit platforms, you
will find that the confusionthat exists around this topic is
huge in the course creationworld.
So I really wanted to addressthis misconception today,
(00:45):
because there is so muchconfusion around it and there
are so many different takes onthis industry that we are all in
as coaches and teachers anddigital marketers.
So I think you can guess thedirection I'm going in today
with this podcast episode.
So here's the problem.
So many digital marketers thinkthat because they know how to
(01:09):
sell, they also know how toteach.
But let's be real Coursecreation and teaching are two
completely different skill sets.
Now, I know that this is quitecontroversial for a lot of
digital marketers out there anda lot of people in the course
creation industry who have beenearning a living, but and I say
(01:31):
this kindly just because youknow how to create demand for
your product, it doesn't meanyou know how to create a
transformative learningexperience.
In other words, just becauseyou know how to market something
and get people to pay for itand sign up for it, it doesn't
mean that they're going tofinish the course, that you're
creating the transformationsthat your students are expecting
(01:54):
or craving.
And just because you'vemastered marketing psychology
doesn't mean you understandlearning psychology.
They're two completelydifferent things.
The psychology that we use tosell our courses and the
language that we use thelanguage of sales is completely
different to understanding howpeople learn and how people
(02:18):
process information once they'retaking your course.
And just because you can getpeople to buy your course your
course and just because you canget people to buy your course,
it doesn't mean they'll actuallyfinish it, enjoy it or get
results.
And that is why so many coursesout there online have high
refund rates.
They have low studentcompletion rates, meaning that
(02:38):
the students will buy the coursebut they'll never finish it or
they get bad reviews or notestimonials at all.
But they'll never finish it orthey get bad reviews or no
testimonials at all.
But don't worry, because by theend of this episode, if you
know Teaching Mystery Academypodcast, you know that I have
always got highly valuable,highly concentrated advice, help
, support for you.
So by the end of today, you willknow exactly how to fix this
(03:01):
misconception, because we'regoing to talk about why digital
marketers confuse coursecreation with teaching.
We're going to talk about whydigital marketers confuse course
creation with teaching.
We're going to talk about thebiggest mistakes marketers make
when creating courses.
We're going to look at whatactually makes a great online
teacher.
We look at how to bridge thegap between marketing and
effective teaching.
We're going to look atactionable strategies to make
(03:22):
your course engaging, valuableand student-friendly.
So, whether you're going tolook at actionable strategies to
make your course engaging,valuable and student friendly,
so whether you're about tolaunch your first course or
you've already got one out there, this episode is going to be so
jam-packed with eye-openinginsights for you that will
completely change the way youthink about course creation
forever.
So grab a notebook, becausewe're about to level up your
(03:42):
teaching game.
All right, let's start with thebig question why do so many
digital marketers assume theyknow how to teach?
Now, this is one of the biggestreasons why so many online
courses fail to deliver actualresults.
The assumption is that becausemarketers know how to
(04:05):
communicate well, they also knowhow to teach well.
But I can see where theconfusion happens, because
marketing and teaching bothinvolve communication, but they
serve completely differentpurposes.
So let's break this down.
Let's look at marketing versusteaching.
When you market a course, yourgoal is to grab attention, grab
(04:26):
your audience's attention.
It's to create desire amongstyour audience and it's to
persuade someone to take actionAttention, desire, persuade.
But when you teach, your goalis to help someone understand,
retain and apply information.
It's to create an engaginglearning journey where your
students actually experiencetransformation, and it's also to
(04:50):
make sure your students walkaway with real results, not just
content consumption.
And so the problem arises.
And the problem is this manydigital marketers really excel
at selling a promise, but theyfail to deliver an effective
learning experience, and thisdisconnect is the reason why we
see so many online coursescollecting dust on students'
(05:14):
hard drives.
Let me tell you about a client Iworked with.
We'll call him Jake, forprivacy's sake Now.
Jake was a brilliant digitalmarketer who had built a
six-figure coaching business,teaching, social media, growth
strategies.
He was incredible at runningFacebook ads.
He was incredible at writingpersuasive email sequences and
crafting offers that people justcouldn't resist.
(05:35):
So naturally, he decided toturn his expertise into an
online course.
So he spent months designingthe perfect funnel.
His sales page was amazing.
He hit every pain pointperfectly.
His launch was a massivesuccess.
He made 100k in his first roundof sales.
Sounds like a dream, right.
Except a few weeks later it allstarted falling apart.
(05:58):
Here's what happened.
His refund requests startedrolling in.
His student engagement washorrible.
Almost nobody was completingthe course.
When he asked for testimonials,no one was raving about it, and
Jake came to me feelingconfused and frustrated.
He had done everything right ininverted commas, from a
(06:20):
marketing standpoint.
So he asked what am I doingwrong from a marketing
standpoint?
So he asked what am I doingwrong?
And when I looked inside hiscourse, the answer was
completely obvious.
He had structured his courselike a sales pitch, not a
learning experience.
So his lessons were too longand overwhelming.
(06:41):
He dumped everything on hisstudents all at once.
He focused too much on featureslike video lessons and
worksheets instead of actuallyconsidering how students would
absorb and apply the material,and Jake assumed that, because
he knew what his students needed, that meant they'd be able to
figure it all out on their own.
But knowing something isn't thesame as knowing how to teach it,
and this is where mostmarketers go wrong.
(07:02):
Marketing is all about creatingurgency, emotional connection
and a belief in a transformationright, but teaching, on the
other hand, is about guidingstudents through an actual
transformation.
Let's use an analogy so I cantell you what I mean.
Marketing is like gettingsomeone excited about running a
marathon.
(07:22):
You show them what's possible,you highlight the benefits and
you convince them to sign up.
Teaching is like coaching themthrough the training process so
they actually finish themarathon.
You don't just tell them to runand hope for the best.
You create a structuredtraining plan.
You help them avoid injury.
You help them keep motivated.
Them avoid injury.
(07:42):
You help them keep motivated.
Selling will get your studentsin the door, but teaching
ensures they actually succeed.
And here's the hard truth ifyour course isn't designed to
actually help students succeed,no amount of great marketing
will save it.
That's why so many high sellingcourses fade into obscurity.
(08:03):
The hype just doesn't last ifthe learning experience is poor,
and a lot of marketers assumethat as long as their course is
full of great content, studentswill automatically succeed, but
that's wrong.
Here's why content alone isn'tenough.
Too much content overwhelmsstudents.
If your course is just hours ofvideo and dozens of PDFs, your
(08:28):
students won't know where tostart.
They're not getting thatscaffolding, that guidance to
show them how to work throughthe material.
Remember, information doesn'tequal transformation.
Just because you're sharingvaluable insights, it doesn't
mean students will be able toapply them effectively.
They might as well just goonline and Google it or ask
ChatGPT, and without astructured learning path, your
(08:50):
students will get lost.
If there's no clear progression, there's no clear checkpoints
or accountability, your studentswill drop off.
Think about it this way Ifcontent alone was an app, nobody
would need online courses,because everything can already
be found for free on YouTube.
The value of your course isn'tjust in the content.
It's in the way you structureit, the way you teach it and how
(09:16):
you guide your students to theresults they need.
I worked with another client,rachel, who was a fitness coach,
and she had an incredibleonline coaching business helping
people transform their bodieswith custom meal plans and
workout routines, and shedecided to package her expertise
into a digital course.
She was thinking I'll just putall my knowledge into videos and
PDFs and people will love it.
And guess what?
Her launch was successful.
(09:38):
She sold 500 spots in the firstround, but within a few weeks
her inbox was flooded withfrustrated students.
I feel lost.
I don't know where to start, orthis is too much information.
I'm overwhelmed.
I tried, but I'm not seeingresults.
And Rachel was shocked she hadprovided so much value.
But that was actually theproblem.
(09:58):
She dumped all her knowledgeinto the course but didn't
structure it for real learning.
All her knowledge into thecourse, but didn't structure it
for real learning.
So I gave her a fix and wehelped her redesign the course
with a clear, step-by-stepframework so her students knew
exactly where to start.
We redesigned it with weeklyprogress tracking so her
(10:19):
students stayed on track, and wealso added some interactive
challenges in accountabilitycheck-ins to keep her students
engaged.
And the result?
Her student completion rateskyrocketed and the testimonials
started pouring in.
So the lesson learned was it'snot about how much information
that you share, it's about howwell you guide your students
(10:41):
through it.
Now, if you're a digitalmarketer creating an online
course, you need to ask yourselfam I structuring my course like
a sales page or like a reallearning experience?
Because great courses aren'tjust well marketed, they're well
taught, and if you want tocreate a course that sells and
delivers results, you have tothink like an educator, not just
(11:04):
a marketer, and that's whatwe're going to talk about.
Next the biggest mistakesmarketers make in course
creation and how to fix them.
Now that we understand whydigital marketers often confuse
course creation teaching let'slook into the biggest mistakes
that digital marketers make.
If you're one listening to thispodcast, this might be you when
building an online course, andthese mistakes are going to kill
(11:27):
your student engagement,they're going to increase the
refund rates and they're goingto make your courses less
impactful, but the good news isthey're all fixable.
If you've ever felt like yourstudents aren't finishing your
course, that they aren't gettingresults or they aren't giving
you rave testimonials, chancesare you're making one of these
common mistakes.
(11:47):
So let's go through them one byone, and I've got some real
world examples from TeachingMastery Academy for you and some
step-by-step fixes.
So the first mistake isthinking information equals
transformation.
Wrong, simply dumping knowledgeonto students does not create
meaningful change, and a lot ofmarketers assume if I just give
(12:08):
them the information they'llsucceed.
Or if I pack my course withenough content, people will see
the value.
But if that was true, nobodywould need courses at all.
They could just Googleeverything for free.
So you know, think about it.
There are literally thousandsof free resources on SEO,
business growth, social media,marketing, fitness, productivity
(12:29):
you name it.
So why do people pay forcourses?
Because they don't just wantinformation, they want clarity,
they need to know what to focuson and in what order.
They need structure.
They don't want a messy pile ofcontent.
They need a clear path tofollow and they want
accountability.
They need guidance to actuallytake action.
(12:53):
Imagine signing up for a courseon public speaking and instead
of a structured learning journey, you get 50 videos with no
logical order, a PDF with tonsof useful tips but no exercises
to apply them, and a worksheetthat says just practice and
you'll get better.
Would that actually help youbecome a better public speaker?
Probably not, and I've got anexample to show you what I mean.
I once worked with a coursecreator called Tom who created a
(13:15):
digital marketing course.
He knew everything about leadgen, paid ads, seo, social media
strategy.
He put all his knowledge intohis course, thinking it would
make his students unstoppablemarketers.
He had 80 plus lessons.
He had hours of bonus content.
He had a 10-hour deep dive intotechnical SEO and it sold well.
(13:37):
But guess what?
The completion rates wereabysmal.
Less than 10% of his studentsfinished.
People felt overwhelmed andthey dropped off early and
nobody was getting resultsbecause they were stuck in
information overload.
And in order to fix it, we needto shift from information
dumping to a learning journey,because if you want your
(13:59):
students to actually succeed,your course needs to be
structured in a step-by-steplearning path, not just a
library of content.
We need to be focused onresults, so every module should
help your students achievesomething tangible, and we need
to have it designed for action,so your students need a balance
of learning and doing so inorder to fix it.
(14:20):
If your story sounds verysimilar to Tom's, you need to
ask yourself what is the fastest, simplest way I can guide my
students to success Now?
The second mistake isoverloading your students with
too much information at once.
Remember, dumping informationis not teaching.
Many course creators try to packeverything that they know into
(14:42):
a single course, but when yourstudents feel overwhelmed, they
will shut down.
Too many videos, too manyworksheets, too many advanced
concepts introduced too soon inyour course.
I once worked with a coursecreator called Sarah, who built
a branding course for schoolbusiness owners, and she was
really passionate about hertopic, so she wanted to give her
students everything that theycould possibly need and her
(15:05):
course from memory.
Her course included 40 plusvideo lessons, dozens of pdfs
and templates, hours of bonuscontent on color psychology,
social media, branding andcopywriting.
She really did put everythinginto this course, because her
goal was to make sure that herstudents had everything that
they needed, but the problem itwas too much and her students
(15:29):
started quitting halfway through.
They said they felt overwhelmedand they didn't know where to
start and, instead of makingprogress, they actually got
stuck in information paralysis.
So we need to look.
We need to fix it.
We need to focus on quick winsand simplification, because
people learn best when they cansee progress quickly.
We need to break down lessonsinto smaller, digestible
(15:53):
sections, for example, we needto use milestone wins.
So these are small achievementsthat will keep your students
motivated, and we need to giveour students permission not to
do everything at once.
Instead of overwhelmingstudents, we need to focus on
guiding them step by step.
So an example for a fix.
So here's a bad course design.
(16:14):
First, here are 50 videolessons on everything about
branding.
Good luck, okay, so that's abad course design.
A better course design would bestart with module one by the
end you'll have your brand colorpalette set, then move to
module two to craft yourmessaging, and so on.
We want to keep it simple,friends.
(16:34):
Keep it simple.
Now.
My third mistake is ignoring howdifferent people learn.
Oh, this one is so important.
Not everyone learns the sameway, and most digital marketers
who aren't trained teachersdon't think about learning
styles when designing a course.
They assume everybody learnsbest through videos, so they
(16:55):
create a video heavy course andcall it a day.
But here's the reality.
Some students are visuallearners they need graphics,
charts and slides to understandconcepts.
Some students are auditorylearners they need to hear
things explained out loud.
And some students arekinesthetic learners, so they
need hands-on activities,exercises and real-world
(17:17):
applications.
When you only teach in oneformat, you leave people behind.
So we can fix it, and the waythat we can fix it is to mix up
your teaching methods.
You want to make sure thatyou're using visual elements
like diagrams, screenshots andvideos.
You want to include auditorylearning, so you could offer an
audio version of the lessons orexplain concepts with
(17:39):
storytelling, or you couldprovide hands-on learning so you
could add interactiveassignments, action steps and
real-world applications.
Think about your audience.
How do they learn best?
Make sure that your courseaccommodates different styles.
You know your niche.
You will know the types ofstudents that you have in your
niche, because if you're acourse creator, you need to move
(18:01):
beyond just selling and startthinking like an educator.
I would encourage you to goback to your course and ask
yourself are your studentsgetting results or are they just
consuming content?
Because this is how you createcourses that aren't just bought,
but actually completed andraved about All right.
Now that we've covered whydigital marketers often struggle
with teaching and the biggestmistakes that they make when
(18:24):
creating the courses, let's talkabout the most important part
how do we fix this?
Now?
I've already given you somelittle quick fixes along the way
in this podcast episode, but wereally want to look at the
bigger picture here, which ishow do we stop treating courses
like sales pages and startdesigning them for real learning
and student success?
Because, remember, ai is hereand it's only going to get
(18:46):
bigger, and if your course isnot going to deliver on the
transformations.
Your students are just going togo to AI.
They're going to stoppurchasing your courses.
They're going to stop turningto you as the go-to coach.
They've got chat GPT now.
So you really have to improveon the quality of your teaching.
But the good news, you don'tneed to be a trained teacher to
do this well, you just need tothink like an educator and apply
(19:10):
some proven learning principles.
So let's break this down intothree actionable steps that will
instantly improve the way thatyour course delivers results.
And step one is to structureyour course like a learning
journey.
So one of the biggestdifferences between marketing
and teaching is how theinformation is presented,
because marketing is designed tograb attention and persuade
(19:34):
quickly, but teaching isdesigned to guide someone step
by step towards mastery.
There's a lot more time andinvestment put into the teaching
side of it, and this is where alot of courses go wrong,
because they feel likeinformation dumps rather than
structured learning experiences.
So instead of just throwingthem in a pile of videos and
pdfs at your students, you needto design a structured journey.
(19:56):
Here's how to do it you want tobreak your lessons into
bite-sized actionable steps,like we talked about, because
what doesn't work is a two-hourvideo lesson on everything you
need to know about SEO, but whatdoes work are five shorter
videos on how Google rankscontent, the basics of keyword
research, on-page SEO essentials, off-page SEO and backlinks,
(20:21):
seo mistakes to avoid.
Can you see how I've brokendown everything into really
small, micro bite-sized pieces?
Because shorter, digestiblelessons will prevent overwhelm
with your students and they'llhelp your students stay engaged.
Now you also need to ensure thateach module builds on the last
one.
So most online courses lackprogression and many course
(20:45):
creators dump a ton ofinformation into their course
without thinking about howstudents actually learn, and if
you don't create a logical,step-by-step flow, your students
will feel lost and disengaged.
So think of it like this youwouldn't ask a beginner to write
a novel before they know basicgrammar right, and the same
applies to courses.
(21:06):
So in order to fix it, we needto structure your course like a
staircase.
Think of it like a staircase.
Each module should help yourstudents climb towards the
transformation that they want.
So, for example, let's take thetopic of a personal finance
course.
So ad structure looks like thisInvesting 101, managing debt,
(21:30):
how to budget, understandingcredit scores.
A better structure would beunderstanding credit scores.
That comes into how to budgetyour money.
That flows into managing andeliminating debt.
That comes into how to budgetyour money.
That flows into managing andeliminating debt.
That flows into investing forbeginners.
Each module prepares them forthe next step.
So think of your course like aroadmap.
(21:51):
If your students follow thesteps in order in other words,
your modules and the lessonswithin your modules will they
reach the transformation thatyou've promised?
Yes or no?
Think about it that way.
Another huge difference betweenmarketing and teaching is
engagement, and so marketingengages people emotionally right
, we're tapping into people'ssubconscious Whereas teaching
(22:13):
engages people intellectuallyand experientially.
If you want your students tofinish your course and get
results, you need to keep themactively engaged.
You want to add reflectionquestions to help your students
internalize what they'relearning, and here's something
that most course creators missLearning happens in the
reflection process, not in theconsumption process.
(22:36):
Think about it Just watching avideo or reading a lesson
doesn't mean the studentabsorbed or applied the
knowledge.
That's why you need reflectionpoints built into your course.
So, for example, a leadershipcourse A bad design would be a
video lesson on how to havedifficult conversations at work.
A better design would be at theend of the lesson, ask Think of
(22:59):
the last time you had adifficult conversation.
What went well, what didn't?
What is the one strategy fromthis lesson you apply that
you'll apply in your nextconversation?
Can you see, by adding thosetwo reflection questions, it
forces your students to connectthe content to their real life
experience and it deepens theirunderstanding and helps them
(23:20):
remember the lesson.
We also want to use interactiveelements like quizzes and
exercises, because passivelearning leads to passive
results.
One of the fastest ways to boostyour student engagement and
retention is to add interactiveelements.
So, for example, a social mediamarketing course.
Badly designed lesson would bea 10-minute video about
(23:41):
Instagram engagement strategies.
Better lesson would be a minichallenge where students have to
post a piece of content usingthe engagement strategies taught
.
Track their engagement.
Taught, track their engagementrates.
Share their insights in thecourse community.
Why does this work?
Well, your students immediatelyapply what they've learned,
which increases retention.
(24:02):
They get real world feedback,making the lesson more
meaningful, and it doesn't haveto be a challenge.
You could do other ways to addengagement to your course could
be a quiz, which is great forself-assessment, knowledge
checks, worksheets and templates.
You could do.
Other ways to add engagement toyour course could be a quiz,
which is great forself-assessment, knowledge
checks, worksheets and templatesyou could give your students
fill in the blank exercises tohelp them apply the concepts, or
community discussions so youcould encourage your students to
(24:26):
share insights, ask questionsand support each other, because
if your students aren'tinteracting with your course,
they aren't learning.
Now, if you want your course tobecome known for amazing results
, you need to obsess overstudent success.
Great teachers don't just teach.
They make sure studentsunderstand, apply and succeed.
And how do you do that?
(24:47):
You track progress, you collectfeedback and you make
improvements.
Most course creators nevercheck in on how many students
actually complete their course.
Is that you Smart coursecreators monitor engagement and
tweak their course to improvecompletion rates.
Here's how they do it they usecourse analytics.
If your platform offerscompletion tracking, you need to
(25:09):
check these three questionswhen do students drop off?
Which lessons have the highestengagement and do certain
modules get skipped?
You also need to add progresscheckpoints.
So at the midway point in yourcourse, you need to ask your
students how confident are youfeeling about what you've
learned so far?
And then, before the finalmodule, you need to ask what's
(25:31):
the biggest challenge you'vefaced while taking this course.
Now, why does this work?
Well, it helps you identify thesticking points where your
students are struggling, and itmeans you can also adjust your
course over time to improveresults.
And if you really want yourcourse to be the best in your
niche which I know you dobecause you're listening to this
podcast you need tocontinuously refine it based on
(25:54):
your student feedback.
And here's how You're going tocollect feedback at three stages
.
You're going to have pre-coursefeedback, and we talked about
this in episode 23 of thispodcast.
I believe I've got a wholepodcast on feedback, so jump
into episode 23 after this one,but anyway, I'll summarize it
again here.
So you're going to clickfeedback at three stages
(26:17):
Pre-course feedback, which isfind out what students hope to
get out of the course.
You're going to do mid-coursefeedback, which is ask how your
students are progressing and ifthey're feeling stuck.
And then you're going to dopost-course feedback, which is
you're going to ask yourstudents what worked, what
didn't and what they'd improve.
So, for example, a businesscoaching course.
(26:42):
A bad process would look likethis Launching a course and
never checking with students.
A better process would besending a survey after each
module to ask what's the mostvaluable thing you learned in
this module?
Was there anything unclear orconfusing?
Valuable thing you learned inthis module?
Was there anything unclear orconfusing?
Because a course should evolvebased on real student
experiences.
The more you improve it, themore powerful and profitable it
becomes.
(27:02):
If you want to create a trulygreat course, you need to
structure it like a journey, youneed to engage your students
with interactive elements andyou need to focus on student
success, not just sales.
So I encourage you to go backto your course and ask yourself
this second question Am I justdelivering content or am I
(27:24):
guiding transformation?
If you want expert help makingyour course more engaging,
effective and impactful, thenlet's work together.
Inside Teaching Mastery Academy, the waitlist is currently up.
You can join the VIP waitlist,which means you get additional
bonuses and you are the first tobe notified when the doors open
, because this is how you createcourses that your students love
(27:46):
, finish and recommend.
I'll link the waitlist in theshow notes for you.
So my final thoughts on thisepisode to clear up any
confusion between digitalmarketers and teachers in the
online course space Greatmarketing will sell your course
once.
Great teaching will turnstudents into raving fans who
refurn others.
If you want your course to notjust sell but actually work, you
(28:10):
need to combine smart marketingto keep people in the door, but
then you need great teaching tomake sure that they succeed.
And if you have a course rightnow, go through it and ask
yourself this final question amI just delivering information or
am I actually teaching?
That's it for Teaching Masterypodcast today.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
(28:31):
I hope you found this episodereally insightful and really
valuable, and there are sometakeaways that you can go and
apply to your course right away.
Until next time, keep teaching,keep succeeding.
You've got this Bye for now.
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