HOW TO CREATE AND DISTRIBUTE AN E-COURSE

Dear Friends,

I was so surprised at all the requests I received to become my *one* new client!

Thank all of you for writing your passionate pitches. As I was overwhelmed with many talented people ready to take the next step in their already successful careers, I need some extra time to carefully consider each response.

What struck me was not only the number or people who responded, but what they said. At least 3 people said they didn't know that they could be a client.

What does this mean?

Three things:

1. People don't know what you can do for them until you spell it out EXACTLY. Even once you spell it out you must repeat it.
    
2. Many see only one aspect of what you do (teach classes, send out a newsletter etc.). Remind them of the numerous ways you can help them.
    
3. Others are not "ready to buy" at the time you make an offer. You must continue to keep in contact with them until they are.
    

For the record, I do media coaching and strategic planning -- creating a marketing and publicity plan. I do *not* do media placements (calling the media to set appointments). Read more at http://prsecrets.com/strategies.html.

I will soon have an extensive list of publicists available on the prsecrets.com website who I can refer to you with confidence.

If you would like to be considered as a resource, please send me an email with the word "publicist listing" in the subject line. Tell me what you specialize in, how many years you've been a publicist, your fees, 5 of your clients, 10 publications or shows you've gotten placements in recently, and one line that sums up your philosophy. I will respond to your email by the end of next week.

Now back to my first point. In this issue we'll explore some different ways of keeping in touch with your potential customers or clients, so when they're ready to buy, they think of you. One way is to create and distribute an e-course.

Today I also want to tell you about some great newsletters I subscribe to that will help you continue your publicity and marketing campaign on a daily basis.

Read on for this month's tips.

Warmly,

Susan

HOW TO CREATE AND DISTRIBUTE AN E-COURSE by Tom Antion

E-courses are credibility tools and they are also great sales tools. You can easily create a course in your field of expertise and either sell it as a product or give it away as a give-before-you-get sales tool.

If it's a free course, you give good information, but you don't give all the information. It's designed to be helpful to people and not a blatant sales pitch, but if you gave them everything, there would be no reason to buy anything from you. If you are selling the course, make it very comprehensive and don't hold back. You want the recipients to really feel like they are getting value.

E-courses are even easier to create than E Books. You don't have to do any fancy formatting or heading tags or conversions or anything. You just create it in Ezine plain text Ezine Fashion.

For a sample of my 7 day Mini Course minicourse@aweber.com a blank email is fine. If you are connected to the Internet right now, go ahead and click on the email link above and send it. You'll get the first part of the course back within a few minutes. Then each day for seven days you will get the next section of the course. AOL users beware. I had about 100 complaints that parts of the course were never delivered. EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS SOMEONE WITH AN AOL ADDRESS!

Here's a checklist to create the course:

1. Pick your topic.
    
2. Gather your material into related sections. Each section will be one lesson in the course. Five sections means five days to the course. If your material is complicated you could do one lesson per week, but on a free course I would recommend against it because it will take you too long to get a return.
    
3. Write a welcome and introduction to the course along with a list of all the upcoming lessons.
    
4. Don't skimp on any of the lessons. People can unsubscribe from this and either ask for their money back or just disappear from your list and then you won't have a chance to sell them anything.
    
5. If it's a free course, you should weave subtle hints into the course that make people want to know more. You'll see examples of this in my mini course. My goal was to show you that you don't even know what you don't know about Internet marketing and that not knowing these things will hurt you and your family and give you warts or whatever the consequences are. This is just one technique to make people want to buy.
    
6. Once the course is written, set up an account with one of the Sequential Autoresponder companies listed above to distribute the course for you. Each company will have its own set of instructions for setup, but basically you'll cut and paste your email after it's created into their system so they can send them out upon request.
   
   NOTE: Don't forget to put hard returns at the end of each line (at about 65 characters) of your course, or use an inexpensive program like Text Pad to do it for you. If you don't, you will likely have a lousy looking E-course.
    
7. Now, promote the course to your distribution list, put it in your handouts, mention it at your programs, and put a notice about it on your website. Generally, tell people about it anyway you can. I put it out to a list of about 11,000 and got over a 10% response in the first three days. Those 1200 or so people spent about $7000.00 with me after taking their "Free" course.
    

Excerpt from "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing for Speakers"

NOTE: The site below is where I learned virtually all of my electronic marketing techniques: http://www.marketingtips.com/

Want to really take advantage of your E-mail marketing... WITHOUT BEING A SPAMMER? GO TO http://www.marketingtips.com/

Get your own associate program and have other websites selling tons of your products and services. http://www.marketingtips.com/

Tom's Top Ten Marketing Resources page http://www.antion.com/marketingtools.htm

SUSAN'S NOTE: Tom Antion is an aggressive marketer and speaker who consistently makes over 20k per month on the net. His newsletter, "Great Speaking," is an education in both speaking and marketing. Subscribe at: http://www.antion.com/ezinesubscribe.htm

In the last issue we discussed using a model as a way to learn more efficiently. Take Tom's free course and see how it's done. You'll learn a lot.

Former reporter (22 years!) Joan Stewart has a fantastic newsletter. Joan scours the net for the best, most up-to-date news on what producers and editors (on and off the net) are seeking, and much more. I subscribe to her hard copy newsletter (paid) as well as her online (free) e-zine. I'm impressed with her high integrity and entrepreneurial zeal. To subscribe to The Publicity Hound Tips of the Week, visit http://www.PublicityHound.com and receive free by autoresponder the handy list "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."

Here are Joan's tips regarding publicizing her booklets:

"I send my booklets to editors and invite them to choose 10 tips from each booklet to reprint. I've gotten dozens and dozens of articles printed this way. Too many authors make the mistake of promoting their book or booklet, when it's a lot easier to get publicity if you simply offer the free information, then cross your fingers that the editor includes the ordering information."

Joan Stewart a.k.a. "The Publicity Hound"
3930 Highway O
Saukville, WI 53080
Phone: 262-284-7451
Fax: 262-284-1737
http://www.PublicityHound.com

Speaker, trainer, consultant, and expert in media relations and employee recruitment/retention.

One of her bestsellers, "How to Write and Market Profitable Special Reports," (#20) is a step-by-step guide to getting yours done ASAP. If you've been procrastinating, this clear 5 page report will get you going. Buy it now on her website ($7).

Publicist Annie Jennings, http://www.anniejennings.com, publishes an ezine newsletter called, "Annie Jennings PR Crash Course In Publicity." You can sign up at no charge. While many of the features are free others are, "Pay for Placement." This newsletter has a great feature called "Media Alert" where she emails notice of media opportunities, many of which are free. Subscribe by emailing. Put "subscribe ezine" in the subject line and the body of the email.

Carol Adrienne, author of the new paperback, "Find Your Purpose, Change Your Life," is now offering a limited number of one hour and 15 minute in-person or telephone consultations.

Carol travels quite a bit and doesn't offer this very often. She's helped thousands of people find their purpose. If you want a jump-start on the following, Carol is the one to give it.... I highly recommend her.

You'll get:

• A complete review of current and coming events for two years.

• Suggestions on how to transform blocks.

• How to time moves and new ventures.

Fee is $200 and includes a cassette recording, tarot reading and in-depth discussion of your numerological life blueprint. Carol encourages specific questions. Order a thirty-page complete Life Chart with your appointment for only $30 plus shipping (Save $10 from regular price).

For information or to schedule appointment, email Carol or call 510.527.2213. For Carol's workshop calendar visit http://www.spiralpath.com.

BONUS! Mention my newsletter and Carol will send you a free copy of "Carol's 7 Secrets of Successful Relationships!"