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Where does one get the market data to figure out what people want? (What courses will sell?)

I’ve been asking for questions from folks so I could be sure I’ll doling out the info that’s interesting. This blog and the video version, are in response to one of those questions. The next question in this series is: Where does one get the market data to figure out what people want? In other words, how do I know what will sell? So first and foremost, I am not a marketer. I withdrew from my marketing class in college. I am a learning experience designer that happens to know a lot about marketing and the theory behind how we market to people (my PhD is in Rhetoric and Writing). So what is the market? The market is the people who are going to buy the things. What you want to figure out, or what this question is asking, is what the people that are going to buy the things and stuff want. So where do we find out what people who might buy the thing want? We go to the people. Which people? The people who have bought something similar to what you want to sell AND/OR the people know or engage ...
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How do I decide what type of course I need?

*Artwork by Blackbird Book & Page - @blackbirdbp on IG Recently I was asked, how do I decide what type of course I need? Let’s poke at that question a little bit. What the heck does “type of course” even mean?  When someone asks this question, they are often asking what type of content delivery they should use. So my “what do you mean type of course” is often responded to with “well like a video course or an audio course? Should I deliver this via email? “ And so the question often focuses on “what type of course” because people want to know what they need to go create, which is a legitimate question, but you don't know what you need to go create until you have a bunch of other pieces in place. You shouldn't be just saying, I'm going to go create a video course and then working out the details. You need to work out the details first.  Another way that this question of “course type” can kind of get misconstrued or asked, is in terms of how long the course should be. So s...
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How much support should I offer in my course?

 How much support should I offer in my course? by Dr. Catrina Mitchum This question popped up in a course creation group I’m in. I answered it there, but felt like comments on social media don’t give enough space to do the answer justice.  And so here we are.  TL/DR: It depends.  It depends on you, the course goals and content, and your learners. These are the key three that impact most of the choices that you’ll make in your course, and support is one of them.  Because it can be easy to burnout on support, I like to start with three lists across those three areas. You What kind of support are you willing to give? What kind of space do you have in your life to give support? You need to start with you for a few reasons.  If you don't have the time and energy to support the kind of course you want to create, then you have to rethink the kind of course that you want to create. It will help you actually set boundaries and design your course in a way that you fe...
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What’s in your Learning Baggage?

I’ve been referring to the experiences in learning that we carry with us as learning baggage. This can be the red pen on your paper in the first grade or being told you’re stupid because you read slow in the 4th grade. It can be the glowing recommendation from a teacher or the “aha!” moment in a class you were struggling in. It can be the time you practiced over and over and over to perfect that skateboard trick or draw those hands so they didn’t look like AI generated hands. These experiences can shape (for better or worse) how you experience future learning. Because expectations matter. And past experiences shape future expectations. How you anticipate things to play out impacts motivation and success.  This is why it’s important to understand learning baggage. Whether it’s your own or your potential learners (learners can be clients, students, employees - anyone that’s going to be learning something from you).  Knowing what color glasses are tinting your experience, or thei...
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Why is learner research better than market research for course creation?

Is anybody else tired of courses being the answer to get rich quick AND the focus being on selling first? I’ve done some venting on this before, but let me be clear: selling a course is not the same as building a course and I need all ya’ll to please stop lumping them together.  Marketing research typically comes from a place of understanding what will make someone buy. Knowing if someone is willing to buy what you’re laying down is totally necessary. However, if you don’t want your course business to fizzle out and die (as many get rich quick schemes do), then focusing on learning is going to be critical. Learning research comes from a place of understanding potential learners needs and experiences so you can help them succeed. That can then be used to sell, but the other way around isn’t true. Knowing what they’re willing to buy isn’t enough to help you understand them as learners.  Why is this important? It changes the questions. And the questions determine the answers. You...
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