… nobody cares that your course contains “5+ HOURS OF HD CONTENT!!!”
Seriously.
I was just looking at a course I really liked the look of.
It was about quantifying brand voice when you’re writing for other people.
Which, honestly, is one of the most annoying things about working with new clients.
Case in point:
One of my previous jobs was writing for a celebrity who’s famous for her foul mouth, radical feminism, and … uh … liberal standards of physical modesty.
Coming from a fairly conservative Christian guy who doesn’t say anything worse than ‘crap’ … this was odd. It felt weird to even write out the f-word.
But hey, I’m a professional. So I did a great job. As always.
(And now I chuckle to think of all those feminists fist-pumping the air at that sales page, totally unaware of who wrote the words they’re reading.)
Still, it wasn’t the easiest thing to do.
And thus, the brand voice course I was looking at.
It all looked good, until I got to this line:
“Over 5 hours of video training (slides, audio, and transcripts of every video are included)”
Yikes.
Over five hours? Like that’s supposed to be a good thing?
I was outta there faster than you can say “down with the patriarchy”.
Thus, the valuable lesson for course creators:
Boasting about your hours of video content is SO 2017.
Sure, back then, video courses were all the rage, and people assumed more hours = better.
But guess what?
That market is saturated now.
Every man and his dog has a video course these days.
And the LAST thing most people want is to sit down for hours to consume all your videos.
Which is why the vast majority of them never get around to it.
That’s bad for them, because they’re not getting the result you sold them.
And it’s bad for you, because they’re less likely to buy from you again.
So, here’s how you solve this:
Give people a quick, targeted solution to their pain.
Don’t sell them the whole enchilada. Instead, slowly force-feed them the ingredients one at a time, as individual products:
Cheese. Tomatoes. Salsa. Mince (wait … this is a taco, isn’t it? I don’t really do Mexican).
And each time, let them swallow before you give them another bite.
By the way, even if you’re a copywriter, not a course creator, you can use this tip, too. Simply give this advice to your next client. You’ll sound smart when you can challenge people’s dogma with a thoughtful opinion that could make them more sales.
And if you have a course you’re trying to build or sell, well, I have plenty of experience doing that — and if you’ve got a big list, it might be worth bringing me on to help.
Feel free to apply to work with me here.
Daniel