Teaching Mastery Academy for Digital Course Creators

Why Digital Marketers Confuse Course Creation with Teaching (And Why They’re Not the Same Thing)

• Francesca Hudson: Teaching Mastery Academy • Season 1 • Episode 24

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What if the secret to transformative online courses isn't in flashy marketing tactics but in mastering the art of teaching? 

In this episode of the Teaching Mastery Academy podcast, we unravel the myth that successful digital marketers automatically translate into effective educators.

Through the story of Jake, a marketer who faced unexpected hurdles despite his financial success, we expose the gap between selling and teaching. 

We promise to equip you with strategies to navigate this gap, transforming your courses into engaging learning experiences that truly resonate with students.

We explore the elements of effective course design aimed at maximizing student engagement and success. 

Discover how to shift from information overload to a structured learning journey filled with action-oriented modules. 

Learn to avoid common pitfalls like neglecting diverse learning styles and overwhelming content. 

We'll guide you on how to simplify your course structure, incorporate various teaching methods, and continuously improve through feedback. 

By thinking like educators, you can create courses that not only sell but also deliver genuine results in a world where AI alternatives are on the rise. 

Listen in and prepare to elevate your teaching approach to new heights.

Think of your course (or your course idea,) like a luxury car. People won’t pay top dollar unless it’s high quality, delivers an incredible experience, and meets their needs perfectly. Teaching Mastery Academy teaches course creators like you how to ‘build’ that luxury-level course—one that students trust, complete, and rave about, justifying premium pricing every time. Ready to take your expertise and ensure your digital course stands out from the crowd? Premium courses (and premium returns) start with the core teaching fundamentals that all the best course creators instinctively do, but now I'm showing you how! Join the VIP waitlist for Teaching Mastery Academy now! Click here to learn more.

Speaker 1:

Hello, welcome, francesca, here. I'd like to very warmly welcome you to Teaching Mastery Academy. If you're joining us for the first time and if you're tuning in again, welcome back. Today we are tackling a huge misconception in the online course world, and the reason why I wanted to create an episode about this topic today is because this particular misconception is right online. If you jump onto threads or one of the Reddit platforms, you will find that the confusion that exists around this topic is huge in the course creation world. So I really wanted to address this misconception today, because there is so much confusion around it and there are so many different takes on this industry that we are all in as coaches and teachers and digital marketers. So I think you can guess the direction I'm going in today with this podcast episode. So here's the problem. So many digital marketers think that because they know how to sell, they also know how to teach. But let's be real Course creation and teaching are two completely different skill sets. Now, I know that this is quite controversial for a lot of digital marketers out there and a lot of people in the course creation industry who have been earning a living, but and I say this kindly just because you know how to create demand for your product, it doesn't mean you know how to create a transformative learning experience. In other words, just because you know how to market something and get people to pay for it and sign up for it, it doesn't mean that they're going to finish the course, that you're creating the transformations that your students are expecting or craving. And just because you've mastered marketing psychology doesn't mean you understand learning psychology. They're two completely different things. The psychology that we use to sell our courses and the language that we use the language of sales is completely different to understanding how people learn and how people process information once they're taking your course. And just because you can get people to buy your course your course and just because you can get people to buy your course, it doesn't mean they'll actually finish it, enjoy it or get results. And that is why so many courses out there online have high refund rates. They have low student completion rates, meaning that the students will buy the course but they'll never finish it or they get bad reviews or no testimonials at all. But they'll never finish it or they get bad reviews or no testimonials at all. But don't worry, because by the end of this episode, if you know Teaching Mystery Academy podcast, you know that I have always got highly valuable, highly concentrated advice, help, support for you.

Speaker 1:

So by the end of today, you will know exactly how to fix this misconception, because we're going to talk about why digital marketers confuse course creation with teaching. We're going to talk about why digital marketers confuse course creation with teaching. We're going to talk about the biggest mistakes marketers make when creating courses. We're going to look at what actually makes a great online teacher. We look at how to bridge the gap between marketing and effective teaching. We're going to look at actionable strategies to make your course engaging, valuable and student-friendly. So, whether you're going to look at actionable strategies to make your course engaging, valuable and student friendly, so whether you're about to launch your first course or you've already got one out there, this episode is going to be so jam-packed with eye-opening insights for you that will completely change the way you think about course creation forever. So grab a notebook, because we're about to level up your teaching game.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's start with the big question why do so many digital marketers assume they know how to teach? Now, this is one of the biggest reasons why so many online courses fail to deliver actual results. The assumption is that because marketers know how to communicate well, they also know how to teach well. But I can see where the confusion happens, because marketing and teaching both involve communication, but they serve completely different purposes. So let's break this down. Let's look at marketing versus teaching. When you market a course, your goal is to grab attention, grab your audience's attention. It's to create desire amongst your audience and it's to persuade someone to take action Attention, desire, persuade. But when you teach, your goal is to help someone understand, retain and apply information. It's to create an engaging learning journey where your students actually experience transformation, and it's also to make sure your students walk away with real results, not just content consumption. And so the problem arises. And the problem is this many digital marketers really excel at selling a promise, but they fail to deliver an effective learning experience, and this disconnect is the reason why we see so many online courses collecting dust on students' hard drives.

Speaker 1:

Let me tell you about a client I worked with. We'll call him Jake, for privacy's sake Now. Jake was a brilliant digital marketer who had built a six-figure coaching business, teaching, social media, growth strategies. He was incredible at running Facebook ads. He was incredible at writing persuasive email sequences and crafting offers that people just couldn't resist. So naturally, he decided to turn his expertise into an online course. So he spent months designing the perfect funnel. His sales page was amazing. He hit every pain point perfectly. His launch was a massive success. He made 100k in his first round of sales. Sounds like a dream, right.

Speaker 1:

Except a few weeks later it all started falling apart. Here's what happened. His refund requests started rolling in. His student engagement was horrible. Almost nobody was completing the course. When he asked for testimonials, no one was raving about it, and Jake came to me feeling confused and frustrated. He had done everything right in inverted commas, from a marketing standpoint. So he asked what am I doing wrong from a marketing standpoint? So he asked what am I doing wrong? And when I looked inside his course, the answer was completely obvious. He had structured his course like a sales pitch, not a learning experience. So his lessons were too long and overwhelming. He dumped everything on his students all at once. He focused too much on features like video lessons and worksheets instead of actually considering how students would absorb and apply the material, and Jake assumed that, because he knew what his students needed, that meant they'd be able to figure it all out on their own.

Speaker 1:

But knowing something isn't the same as knowing how to teach it, and this is where most marketers go wrong. Marketing is all about creating urgency, emotional connection and a belief in a transformation right, but teaching, on the other hand, is about guiding students through an actual transformation. Let's use an analogy so I can tell you what I mean. Marketing is like getting someone excited about running a marathon. You show them what's possible, you highlight the benefits and you convince them to sign up. Teaching is like coaching them through the training process so they actually finish the marathon. You don't just tell them to run and hope for the best. You create a structured training plan. You help them avoid injury. You help them keep motivated. Them avoid injury. You help them keep motivated.

Speaker 1:

Selling will get your students in the door, but teaching ensures they actually succeed. And here's the hard truth if your course isn't designed to actually help students succeed, no amount of great marketing will save it. That's why so many high selling courses fade into obscurity. The hype just doesn't last if the learning experience is poor, and a lot of marketers assume that as long as their course is full of great content, students will automatically succeed, but that's wrong. Here's why content alone isn't enough. Too much content overwhelms students. If your course is just hours of video and dozens of PDFs, your students won't know where to start. They're not getting that scaffolding, that guidance to show them how to work through the material. Remember, information doesn't equal transformation. Just because you're sharing valuable insights, it doesn't mean students will be able to apply them effectively. They might as well just go online and Google it or ask ChatGPT, and without a structured learning path, your students will get lost. If there's no clear progression, there's no clear checkpoints or accountability, your students will drop off. Think about it this way If content alone was an app, nobody would need online courses, because everything can already be found for free on YouTube. The value of your course isn't just in the content. It's in the way you structure it, the way you teach it and how you guide your students to the results they need.

Speaker 1:

I worked with another client, rachel, who was a fitness coach, and she had an incredible online coaching business helping people transform their bodies with custom meal plans and workout routines, and she decided to package her expertise into a digital course. She was thinking I'll just put all my knowledge into videos and PDFs and people will love it. And guess what? Her launch was successful. She sold 500 spots in the first round, but within a few weeks her inbox was flooded with frustrated students. I feel lost. I don't know where to start, or this is too much information. I'm overwhelmed. I tried, but I'm not seeing results. And Rachel was shocked she had provided so much value. But that was actually the problem. She dumped all her knowledge into the course but didn't structure it for real learning. All her knowledge into the course, but didn't structure it for real learning. So I gave her a fix and we helped her redesign the course with a clear, step-by-step framework so her students knew exactly where to start. We redesigned it with weekly progress tracking so her students stayed on track, and we also added some interactive challenges in accountability check-ins to keep her students engaged. And the result? Her student completion rate skyrocketed and the testimonials started pouring in. So the lesson learned was it's not about how much information that you share, it's about how well you guide your students through it.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you're a digital marketer creating an online course, you need to ask yourself am I structuring my course like a sales page or like a real learning experience? Because great courses aren't just well marketed, they're well taught, and if you want to create a course that sells and delivers results, you have to think like an educator, not just a marketer, and that's what we're going to talk about. Next the biggest mistakes marketers make in course creation and how to fix them. Now that we understand why digital marketers often confuse course creation teaching let's look into the biggest mistakes that digital marketers make. If you're one listening to this podcast, this might be you when building an online course, and these mistakes are going to kill your student engagement, they're going to increase the refund rates and they're going to make your courses less impactful, but the good news is they're all fixable.

Speaker 1:

If you've ever felt like your students aren't finishing your course, that they aren't getting results or they aren't giving you rave testimonials, chances are you're making one of these common mistakes. So let's go through them one by one, and I've got some real world examples from Teaching Mastery Academy for you and some step-by-step fixes. So the first mistake is thinking information equals transformation. Wrong, simply dumping knowledge onto students does not create meaningful change, and a lot of marketers assume if I just give them the information they'll succeed. Or if I pack my course with enough content, people will see the value.

Speaker 1:

But if that was true, nobody would need courses at all. They could just Google everything for free. So you know, think about it. There are literally thousands of free resources on SEO, business growth, social media, marketing, fitness, productivity you name it. So why do people pay for courses? Because they don't just want information, they want clarity, they need to know what to focus on and in what order. They need structure. They don't want a messy pile of content. They need a clear path to follow and they want accountability. They need guidance to actually take action.

Speaker 1:

Imagine signing up for a course on public speaking and instead of a structured learning journey, you get 50 videos with no logical order, a PDF with tons of useful tips but no exercises to apply them, and a worksheet that says just practice and you'll get better. Would that actually help you become a better public speaker? Probably not, and I've got an example to show you what I mean. I once worked with a course creator called Tom who created a digital marketing course. He knew everything about lead gen, paid ads, seo, social media strategy. He put all his knowledge into his course, thinking it would make his students unstoppable marketers. He had 80 plus lessons. He had hours of bonus content. He had a 10-hour deep dive into technical SEO and it sold well. But guess what? The completion rates were abysmal. Less than 10% of his students finished. People felt overwhelmed and they dropped off early and nobody was getting results because they were stuck in information overload.

Speaker 1:

And in order to fix it, we need to shift from information dumping to a learning journey, because if you want your students to actually succeed, your course needs to be structured in a step-by-step learning path, not just a library of content. We need to be focused on results, so every module should help your students achieve something tangible, and we need to have it designed for action, so your students need a balance of learning and doing so in order to fix it. If your story sounds very similar to Tom's, you need to ask yourself what is the fastest, simplest way I can guide my students to success Now? The second mistake is overloading your students with too much information at once. Remember, dumping information is not teaching.

Speaker 1:

Many course creators try to pack everything that they know into a single course, but when your students feel overwhelmed, they will shut down. Too many videos, too many worksheets, too many advanced concepts introduced too soon in your course. I once worked with a course creator called Sarah, who built a branding course for school business owners, and she was really passionate about her topic, so she wanted to give her students everything that they could possibly need and her course from memory. Her course included 40 plus video lessons, dozens of pdfs and templates, hours of bonus content on color psychology, social media, branding and copywriting. She really did put everything into this course, because her goal was to make sure that her students had everything that they needed, but the problem it was too much and her students started quitting halfway through. They said they felt overwhelmed and they didn't know where to start and, instead of making progress, they actually got stuck in information paralysis.

Speaker 1:

So we need to look. We need to fix it. We need to focus on quick wins and simplification, because people learn best when they can see progress quickly. We need to break down lessons into smaller, digestible sections, for example, we need to use milestone wins. So these are small achievements that will keep your students motivated, and we need to give our students permission not to do everything at once. Instead of overwhelming students, we need to focus on guiding them step by step. So an example for a fix. So here's a bad course design. First, here are 50 video lessons on everything about branding. Good luck, okay, so that's a bad course design. A better course design would be start with module one by the end you'll have your brand color palette set, then move to module two to craft your messaging, and so on. We want to keep it simple, friends. Keep it simple. Now.

Speaker 1:

My third mistake is ignoring how different people learn. Oh, this one is so important. Not everyone learns the same way, and most digital marketers who aren't trained teachers don't think about learning styles when designing a course. They assume everybody learns best through videos, so they create a video heavy course and call it a day. But here's the reality. Some students are visual learners they need graphics, charts and slides to understand concepts. Some students are auditory learners they need to hear things explained out loud. And some students are kinesthetic learners, so they need hands-on activities, exercises and real-world applications.

Speaker 1:

When you only teach in one format, you leave people behind. So we can fix it, and the way that we can fix it is to mix up your teaching methods. You want to make sure that you're using visual elements like diagrams, screenshots and videos. You want to include auditory learning, so you could offer an audio version of the lessons or explain concepts with storytelling, or you could provide hands-on learning so you could add interactive assignments, action steps and real-world applications. Think about your audience. How do they learn best? Make sure that your course accommodates different styles. You know your niche. You will know the types of students that you have in your niche, because if you're a course creator, you need to move beyond just selling and start thinking like an educator. I would encourage you to go back to your course and ask yourself are your students getting results or are they just consuming content? Because this is how you create courses that aren't just bought, but actually completed and raved about All right.

Speaker 1:

Now that we've covered why digital marketers often struggle with teaching and the biggest mistakes that they make when creating the courses, let's talk about the most important part how do we fix this? Now? I've already given you some little quick fixes along the way in this podcast episode, but we really want to look at the bigger picture here, which is how do we stop treating courses like sales pages and start designing them for real learning and student success? Because, remember, ai is here and it's only going to get bigger, and if your course is not going to deliver on the transformations. Your students are just going to go to AI. They're going to stop purchasing your courses. They're going to stop turning to you as the go-to coach. They've got chat GPT now. So you really have to improve on the quality of your teaching. But the good news, you don't need to be a trained teacher to do this well, you just need to think like an educator and apply some proven learning principles.

Speaker 1:

So let's break this down into three actionable steps that will instantly improve the way that your course delivers results. And step one is to structure your course like a learning journey. So one of the biggest differences between marketing and teaching is how the information is presented, because marketing is designed to grab attention and persuade quickly, but teaching is designed to guide someone step by step towards mastery. There's a lot more time and investment put into the teaching side of it, and this is where a lot of courses go wrong, because they feel like information dumps rather than structured learning experiences. So instead of just throwing them in a pile of videos and pdfs at your students, you need to design a structured journey. Here's how to do it you want to break your lessons into bite-sized actionable steps, like we talked about, because what doesn't work is a two-hour video lesson on everything you need to know about SEO, but what does work are five shorter videos on how Google ranks content, the basics of keyword research, on-page SEO essentials, off-page SEO and backlinks, seo mistakes to avoid. Can you see how I've broken down everything into really small, micro bite-sized pieces? Because shorter, digestible lessons will prevent overwhelm with your students and they'll help your students stay engaged.

Speaker 1:

Now you also need to ensure that each module builds on the last one. So most online courses lack progression and many course creators dump a ton of information into their course without thinking about how students actually learn, and if you don't create a logical, step-by-step flow, your students will feel lost and disengaged. So think of it like this you wouldn't ask a beginner to write a novel before they know basic grammar right, and the same applies to courses. So in order to fix it, we need to structure your course like a staircase. Think of it like a staircase. Each module should help your students climb towards the transformation that they want. So, for example, let's take the topic of a personal finance course. So ad structure looks like this Investing 101, managing debt, how to budget, understanding credit scores.

Speaker 1:

A better structure would be understanding credit scores. That comes into how to budget your money. That flows into managing and eliminating debt. That comes into how to budget your money. That flows into managing and eliminating debt. That flows into investing for beginners. Each module prepares them for the next step. So think of your course like a roadmap. If your students follow the steps in order in other words, your modules and the lessons within your modules will they reach the transformation that you've promised? Yes or no? Think about it that way.

Speaker 1:

Another huge difference between marketing and teaching is engagement, and so marketing engages people emotionally right, we're tapping into people's subconscious Whereas teaching engages people intellectually and experientially. If you want your students to finish your course and get results, you need to keep them actively engaged. You want to add reflection questions to help your students internalize what they're learning, and here's something that most course creators miss Learning happens in the reflection process, not in the consumption process. Think about it Just watching a video or reading a lesson doesn't mean the student absorbed or applied the knowledge. That's why you need reflection points built into your course. So, for example, a leadership course A bad design would be a video lesson on how to have difficult conversations at work.

Speaker 1:

A better design would be at the end of the lesson, ask Think of the last time you had a difficult conversation. What went well, what didn't? What is the one strategy from this lesson you apply that you'll apply in your next conversation? Can you see, by adding those two reflection questions, it forces your students to connect the content to their real life experience and it deepens their understanding and helps them remember the lesson. We also want to use interactive elements like quizzes and exercises, because passive learning leads to passive results.

Speaker 1:

One of the fastest ways to boost your student engagement and retention is to add interactive elements. So, for example, a social media marketing course. Badly designed lesson would be a 10-minute video about Instagram engagement strategies. Better lesson would be a mini challenge where students have to post a piece of content using the engagement strategies taught. Track their engagement. Taught, track their engagement rates. Share their insights in the course community. Why does this work? Well, your students immediately apply what they've learned, which increases retention. They get real world feedback, making the lesson more meaningful, and it doesn't have to be a challenge. You could do other ways to add engagement to your course could be a quiz, which is great for self-assessment, knowledge checks, worksheets and templates. You could do. Other ways to add engagement to your course could be a quiz, which is great for self-assessment, knowledge checks, worksheets and templates you could give your students fill in the blank exercises to help them apply the concepts, or community discussions so you could encourage your students to share insights, ask questions and support each other, because if your students aren't interacting with your course, they aren't learning.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you want your course to become known for amazing results, you need to obsess over student success. Great teachers don't just teach. They make sure students understand, apply and succeed. And how do you do that? You track progress, you collect feedback and you make improvements. Most course creators never check in on how many students actually complete their course. Is that you Smart course creators monitor engagement and tweak their course to improve completion rates. Here's how they do it they use course analytics. If your platform offers completion tracking, you need to check these three questions when do students drop off? Which lessons have the highest engagement and do certain modules get skipped? You also need to add progress checkpoints. So at the midway point in your course, you need to ask your students how confident are you feeling about what you've learned so far? And then, before the final module, you need to ask what's the biggest challenge you've faced while taking this course. Now, why does this work? Well, it helps you identify the sticking points where your students are struggling, and it means you can also adjust your course over time to improve results.

Speaker 1:

And if you really want your course to be the best in your niche which I know you do because you're listening to this podcast you need to continuously refine it based on your student feedback. And here's how You're going to collect feedback at three stages. You're going to have pre-course feedback, and we talked about this in episode 23 of this podcast. I believe I've got a whole podcast on feedback, so jump into episode 23 after this one, but anyway, I'll summarize it again here. So you're going to click feedback at three stages Pre-course feedback, which is find out what students hope to get out of the course.

Speaker 1:

You're going to do mid-course feedback, which is ask how your students are progressing and if they're feeling stuck. And then you're going to do post-course feedback, which is you're going to ask your students what worked, what didn't and what they'd improve. So, for example, a business coaching course. A bad process would look like this Launching a course and never checking with students. A better process would be sending a survey after each module to ask what's the most valuable thing you learned in this module? Was there anything unclear or confusing? Valuable thing you learned in this module? Was there anything unclear or confusing? Because a course should evolve based on real student experiences.

Speaker 1:

The more you improve it, the more powerful and profitable it becomes. If you want to create a truly great course, you need to structure it like a journey, you need to engage your students with interactive elements and you need to focus on student success, not just sales. So I encourage you to go back to your course and ask yourself this second question Am I just delivering content or am I guiding transformation? If you want expert help making your course more engaging, effective and impactful, then let's work together. Inside Teaching Mastery Academy, the waitlist is currently up. You can join the VIP waitlist, which means you get additional bonuses and you are the first to be notified when the doors open, because this is how you create courses that your students love, finish and recommend. I'll link the waitlist in the show notes for you.

Speaker 1:

So my final thoughts on this episode to clear up any confusion between digital marketers and teachers in the online course space Great marketing will sell your course once. Great teaching will turn students into raving fans who refurn others. If you want your course to not just sell but actually work, you need to combine smart marketing to keep people in the door, but then you need great teaching to make sure that they succeed. And if you have a course right now, go through it and ask yourself this final question am I just delivering information or am I actually teaching? That's it for Teaching Mastery podcast today. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope you found this episode really insightful and really valuable, and there are some takeaways that you can go and apply to your course right away. Until next time, keep teaching, keep succeeding. You've got this Bye for now.

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Francesca Hudson

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