205: $50k Per Month From a Guitar Course (featuring Lauren Bateman)

On this episode of The Online Course Show, our guest Lauren Bateman discusses the power of long-form content and how it resonates with her audience of older adults who prefer a slower pace. While she recognizes the need for short-form content, she prioritizes creating in-depth videos that allow her to build relationships and sell her courses more effectively.

She shares that personal touches, such as clothing choices and background items, can help create connections and attract engagement. In terms of her courses, Lauren offers a variety of options for guitar learning, including the seven-level guitar system priced at $297, mini-courses on topics like fingerpicking and power chords, and genre-specific courses like blues. She also discusses the importance of using a CRM system to track customers and target promotions based on their course ownership, allowing for more specific and targeted marketing strategies as the number of courses increases. When it comes to gaining visibility for her videos, Lauren focuses on SEO and YouTube search. She pays attention to thumbnails and titles to attract clicks, conducts research on YouTube trends and competitors, and customizes her content to fit her ideal audience's needs, such as recommending products for people with arthritis. She also emphasizes the importance of promoting videos through her mailing list to generate traffic and increase the chances of YouTube recommending her content to potential viewers. In terms of monetization, Lauren mentions her affiliate deals with companies like Vidami Pedal and Zager Guitars, where she offers discount codes and receives a commission from purchase made by her students. She emphasizes that she only works with three companies that have left a good impression on her. Lauren discusses her course platform, Kajabi, and the various offers and revenue opportunities within her sales funnel. She also shares her experience with building and managing a thriving Facebook community, which eventually transitioned to using Kajabi's community feature for better management. The community offers activities like live sessions, Q&A sessions, and song circles, and is now available for a monthly or yearly fee.

Throughout the episode, Lauren reflects on her journey and lessons learned. She shares that failure is common when launching new products, but also highlights the impact of videos without a call to action, which gained millions of views and led to increased course sales. She encourages viewers to find their own path and emphasizes the importance of showing authenticity and personality in their content. To wrap up, Lauren recognizes her growth in including calls to action and sales scripts in her videos, and the recent success she's experienced with a video that gained over a million views and led to an increase in course sales. She uses her content to drive people to either a course or a free lead magnet, such as a Christmas-themed video that offered a free PDF of simple Christmas songs in exchange for an email address, leading to the promotion of a Christmas course. She also offers a free crash course as a preview to motivate potential customers to make a bigger purchase. Tune in to this episode of The Online Course Show to hear more insights from Lauren Bateman on sponsorship, content creation, course offerings, and monetization strategies for online courses in the guitar niche.