To scale your online course business, move beyond selling individual courses and create a platform that offers a diverse ecosystem of content, resources, and community engagement. This approach not only boosts customer retention but also opens new revenue streams through subscriptions, partnerships, and premium content. By collaborating with other course creators and automating key processes, you can build a sustainable, scalable business that fosters long-term growth while keeping customers engaged and loyal.
Key Points
- Evolving from Courses to a Platform: Transition from selling individual courses to building a comprehensive platform that offers recurring revenue through subscriptions, partnerships, and diversified content, much like Peloton and Netflix.
- Creating an Engaging Ecosystem: Build a community-driven ecosystem that keeps customers engaged and coming back for more through additional resources, expert contributions, and collaborative content, fostering long-term loyalty and growth.
- Automating Growth with Siren: Leverage automation tools like Siren to streamline operations, allowing your platform to scale efficiently while reducing daily management stress, letting you focus on big-picture strategies.
“The Marketing Hourglass” is a registered trademark of Duct Tape Marketing. All rights to this concept belong to John Jantsch and Duct Tape Marketing. This podcast references the term for educational purposes only, with full acknowledgment of the trademark holder.
Transcript
Today, we’re going to talk about a major shift that could supercharge your online course business.
While there’s plenty of money and satisfaction in selling online courses, a lot of course creators reach a point where they wonder, what’s next? Imagine this, you’ve built a successful course, and you’ve got plenty of students enrolled. Now you want to scale things up. How do you do it? If you’ve ever wondered about this next step, you’re going to want to stick around because I’m going to talk about how to go from simply scaling your online courses to creating a full-blown online course platform.
In this episode, I’m going to show you how businesses like Peloton, Netflix, and Profit First have done it and how you can apply similar strategies to your business and unlock new opportunities for growth and revenue. Let’s get started.
So it’s clear that the e-learning business isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it just keeps on growing. This is great news for course creators, but what a lot of people fail to realize is that there are so many opportunities for extending and expanding your course income, and this can take your business to a whole new level. Here’s the key though. It’s not just about selling more courses.
It’s about building an ecosystem that keeps customers engaged and coming back for more. This is where the marketing hourglass comes into play. The marketing hourglass is all about the right path that your customers take starting from when they first hear about you to when they become loyal advocates.
I want you to think about an hourglass shape for a second. If you visualize the top part and you’re thinking within the context of marketing, this top half is all about getting noticed, sparking interest, and driving sales conversions.
But the bottom of the marketing hourglass is all about what happens after the purchase. That means keeping your current customers engaged and getting them to buy again, use your product more, and tell others about it. This is where the magic happens. Building loyalty that leads to repeat businesses and turning your customers into advocates who spread the word for you.
By giving them more value, whether it’s through additional content, a vibrant community, or even exclusive resources, you’re not just making another sale, you’re creating lasting relationships that fuel the long-term growth of your business. Keep this concept in mind because now we’re going to get into the business model stuff.
When you first started selling courses, your focus was probably on creating great content and then marketing that content in order to get sales. This model works really well, and you can certainly build a solid business by focusing on one-off sales of individual courses.
Now we’re talking about creating a full-blown education platform where multiple creators can contribute. So what does that even look like? Let’s take Peloton as an example. They didn’t just stop at selling bikes. Instead, they created a platform that offers live and recorded fitness classes, allowing users to access expert instruction, track their progress, and connect with the community.
What’s really interesting about Peloton’s approach is how they outsource their content to different trainers. By bringing in various experts, they not only expand the range of content, which helps attract new customers — in other words, the top of the marketing glass — they also keep things fresh and engaging for current users as well.
Trainers rotate their content regularly, ensuring there’s always something new and motivating for subscribers.
This move transformed Peloton from a company that sold fitness equipment to a dynamic platform that offers both physical products and educational content supporting that product. Peloton found a way to blend physical products with valuable resources, giving customers a reason to keep coming back. You can apply the same approach to your course business by expanding your offerings to provide not just courses, but a whole ecosystem of educational resources with contributions from other experts.
You can elevate your brand and create a recurring revenue model that grows over time while keeping your audience engaged and happy at the same time. This approach gives you the ability to grow your online course business way past what you might be able to do as a single course creator. And the benefits can be absolutely game-changing.
Think about it. You’re diversifying your portfolio, expanding the value of your existing courses with complementary content, and essentially building that ecosystem to support a whole niche community.
This can make your brand a go-to resource, which is the secret sauce to long-term growth. But in order to achieve this, you’re going to need to pinpoint what it is that your customers need once they’ve finished your initial course. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few questions to ask: What is the next challenge someone has once they finish your course? What is going to help them continue on their journey? This could include things like advanced techniques, additional coaching, or deeper dives into specific topics. Or maybe they just need more resources in order to apply what they’ve learned. Another thing to think about is any gap in knowledge or skills that your students might still be facing after your course.
This can help you identify additional topics or advanced content that can provide value and keep them engaged. Profit First is another great example of this kind of thinking. What started as a book on financial management for entrepreneurs evolved into a platform that certifies Profit First professionals.
These trained experts coach others using the system. The extension of the Profit First brand opened up a brand-new revenue stream through partnerships and created an entire ecosystem of certified professionals who promote this method. So think about it. Could your business benefit from certification programs, expert partnerships, or even a network of professionals who teach and coach others using your system?
This can bring significant extra value to your customers while expanding your brand beyond your original content. Once you have identified opportunities for expanding your offerings, the next step is to explore how to diversify your revenue streams. The traditional model of selling individual courses can be profitable, but it does limit your income to how many courses you can sell at any given time. That’s where the shift to the platform model comes in. It opens doors to revenue streams that are not only more sustainable but also more scalable.
What do I mean by sustainable though? When you move to a platform model, you can do things like introduce memberships, subscriptions, or even premium content tiers. These recurring revenue streams create a stable, predictable income that allows you to rely less on one-off course sales. This means you’re not constantly chasing new customers. Instead, you’re nurturing a community of loyal users who continue to pay for ongoing access.
As for scalability, a platform allows you to bring in other course creators or experts, meaning your content offering can grow without being limited to how much personally you can create. With each new contributor, your platform expands, and with it, your ability to attract a wider audience.
Take Netflix, for example. They started as a DVD rental service but saw the potential in streaming content. Instead of relying solely on their own catalog, they partnered with creators and studios to offer a wide range of programming. This strategic move allowed them to scale quickly, growing their content library through partnerships, while also creating original content at the same time.
What’s particularly interesting is that Netflix likely earns or pays some form of royalty in these agreements with these studios and creators. While, of course, we don’t know the exact terms, it is clear that this partnership model is a huge part of what makes Netflix so popular. By collaborating with other content providers, they ensure a steady flow of new programming that keeps their audience satisfied, which brings us back to the bottom of the marketing hourglass. Netflix’s partnerships don’t just attract new viewers, which is the top of the hourglass. They also play a critical role in retention — or the bottom of the hourglass. The constant flow of fresh content keeps people engaged and subscribed while also attracting new people to become subscribers.
Customers feel like they’re always getting value, which reduces churn and keeps that subscription revenue rolling in. You can apply that same strategy to your platform by collaborating with other creators, ensuring that your audience always has new, engaging content. This makes your business not only scalable but also sustainable in the long run.
This really is a revenue-sharing model, where each course creator earns a percentage of the sales from their content. The beauty of this model is that every course creator has a vested interest in promoting the platform, which drives value for everyone involved, including you.
Another powerful approach is to introduce a tiered subscription model. Instead of charging customers for individual courses, offer them access to a variety of courses at different price points — basic, premium, or even all-inclusive packages. This creates recurring revenue for your business while providing ongoing value to your customers.
These customers would then get access to a wide range of content as a result. Subscription models also allow you to cater to different segments of your audience, from casual learners to those looking for in-depth, specialized training. You could also create a marketplace within your platform, where course creators sell additional resources, such as e-books, templates, or coaching sessions alongside their courses.
By offering more than just courses, you create multiple income streams, enhancing the value of your platform for both the creators and the users. Remember, the more comprehensive the learning experience, the more attractive your platform becomes, which leads to higher customer retention and more referrals.
But expanding your platform isn’t just about adding content. It’s about creating an ecosystem that encourages collaboration and community. Think about community as one of the key elements that sets successful platforms apart from simple content marketplaces.
When you think of Peloton, it’s not just about the fitness classes. It’s about the community of people who feel connected through those shared experiences. The same thing applies to your course platform. By fostering a sense of community, you can create a deeper connection between your customers and your brand, making your platform more than just a collection of courses.
It becomes a place where people come to learn, share, and grow. This sense of community can also be a major driver of value for the course creators who you partner with. By offering opportunities for them to connect and collaborate, you enhance the quality of the content on your platform while building loyalty among your creators at the same time.
For example, you can host collaborative events where different course creators teach or present to a shared audience, blending different styles and expertise in order to create a more comprehensive learning experience. And when you provide these kinds of opportunities, you’ll be amazed at how it drives growth and engagement across your platform. Just look at the Profit First platform, which I mentioned earlier.
Profit First launched a network of certified coaches and trainers who are experts in their method, driving revenue for both the platform and the certified professionals. These certified coaches are not just delivering the content, they’re living it and spreading it to new audiences. That network provides more value to their customers while creating new opportunities for growth and revenue.
So what about your business? Could you implement mentorship programs or exclusive networks to add value to your platform and create additional revenue streams?
That’s where Siren comes in. With the right tools, you can automate many of these processes, allowing your platform to grow without needing to manually manage every aspect of it.
Imagine being able to focus on strategy and big-picture decisions while Siren automates much of the day-to-day operations of your platform. From affiliate management to course sales, Siren helps streamline your business and maximize your revenue potential. And the best part is that it helps you do this without creating additional stress or pressure on your day-to-day workload.
To wrap things up, creating an online course platform is an exciting, scalable way to take your course business to the next level. Whether you’re selling physical products, digital content, or a combination of the two, creating a platform helps you build a community, diversify your income streams, and create long-lasting, sustainable growth.
By expanding your business beyond individual course sales and tapping into the power of community, collaboration, and partnerships, you open up a world of opportunities to scale and sustain your business long-term.
