What is Digital Engagement?

With the explosive growth of the personal development industry, an online coaching platform is a great way for people to add a side gig for extra income – or even start being their own boss entirely. 

Almost anything can be taught, and if you have a skill, there’s probably someone who would like to learn it. The key is to find the best coaching platform.

Not convinced? Here are some hard numbers:

The global personal development market is currently worth over $41 billion and projected to hit $71.42 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, online learning represents a third of that total.

There are literally millions of courses and coaching programs people can choose from, and an existing pool of students who want to learn everything from songwriting, and money management, to sports betting or even sewing. If you’re good at it, you can probably turn it into income – with a quality coaching platform.

There are countless options that provide tools for course building, marketing, sales, scheduling, and more.

5 Best Online Coaching Platforms (Ranked from 5-1)
 

5. Kajabi – Spread the Word

Kajabi is a well-known brand and coaching platform that pairs course-building with great marketing tools. Even without technical know-how, you can build course modules including text and video, and then utilize a marketing funnel that “includes email campaigns, welcome flows, and landing pages.” 

• Build standardized course modules 
• Excellent marketing tools
• Community-building elements could be stronger 

4. Thinkific – For WordPress Websites

Thinkific is another well-known brand in the online learning space, this time geared toward users who already have a WordPress website. Since WordPress powers about 40 percent of all websites, that is a lot of potential coaches. Its drag-and-drop course builder is simple for basic coaching platform functions, and it comes with some marketing and online payment options.

• Plug a coaching service into your existing WordPress website 

• Drag and drop course builder, with the ability to do more if you can code 
• Doesn’t have scheduling tools 

3. Satori – For One-on-One Teaching 

Some skills are not well suited for one-size-fits-all coursework – things like personal development, business coaching, or even physical fitness. With a coaching platform like Satori, you can set up and support one-on-one video appointments with automated scheduling tools, invoicing, and more. It’s kind of like having an administrative assistant, but it doesn’t help you build course modules.

• Great for automated scheduling of one-on-one video calls.
• Manages invoicing and other customer payments.
• Can’t build course modules. 

2. Nudge – For Keeping Students on Track 

Just like some coaching is best in a one-on-one setting, sometimes the initial meeting is just a start. Nudge is designed to keep students on track as they put your teaching to use. After setting up a video call, it features a “full suite of client tracking and coaching tools” to help you give attention where it’s most needed, which is great for fields like nutrition, mindfulness, and social development.

• Schedule group or one-on-one appointments, then track student progress via the app.
• Set up monthly step challenges.
• Simple messaging to encourage interaction.

1. Cause Machine – For A Custom Fit

One coaching platform is designed for total flexibility, and that’s Cause Machine. It’s a simple-but-powerful community-building platform that can be customized to match your needs – whatever they are, from creating traditional course modules, hosting live virtual events, and spreading your cause word far and wide. 

It’s not limited to one kind of website (you can even build your own, and host your coaching service there), and with Cause Machine, community is always a primary function. It can help coaches tailor their skills into a meaningful, scaleable service, maximizing reach and revenue – all with a custom design that stands apart from the templates found elsewhere. 

• Fully customizable coaching platform 
• Course builder with great marketing tools
• Community-building mindset, aimed at helping you make a difference

Get started with a free Cause Machine demo, which you can book here.

A successful community looks very different than it did years ago. Whether you’re an aspiring influencer, an artist, an entrepreneur or you run a non-profit, today’s success is often made online – and almost always goes hand in hand with a thriving digital community.

Why Start a Digital Community?

Just like building a community in the real world, a digital community is just a group of people with a shared identity. But this group is different. In a digital community, members can easily join or leave the group, meaning they only stay with the ones they like. It’s not as simple as being born into a neighborhood, and forever being part of that group. 

Digital communities are created by people with a shared goal or interest, who take that commonality and make it the center of a whole online ecosystem. They interact, build friendships, debate, celebrate, support and even shop, all while keeping the common core in mind. These digital communities are vital to modern businesses and organizations and should be skillfully cultivated.

A Digital Community Can Mean More Revenue

A thriving digital community can drive sales, strengthen name recognition and get people involved with a cause – but those people are more than just customers or fans. When healthy, members act almost like ambassadors, carrying a message out into the world, and helping brands achieve goals and grow bigger. 

It involves capturing attention and earning respect and trust. Communities can do this by making self-expression feel safe and making it worth while for community members to get involved. That involvement should be something that signals passion –  making a purchase, signing up for a volunteer opportunity, or even just sharing a post with the group. Hopefully, it will create enough goodwill and loyalty to keep the community members engaged over and over. 

Ultimately, all modern brands and missions need a digital community, but if creating one sounds scary, don’t worry. It’s not nearly as daunting as it seems. It should be noted that the most effective examples are not always the ones with the most followers – they’re the ones whose members feel most comfortable engaging.

3 Steps to Building a Successful Digital Community

1. Know Your Role

First things first, and you need to get real about what you want from this digital community. Consider why you are starting it, the needs of the brand, and who you are serving. That last one is a biggie – you have to have an ideal member in mind and prepare your messaging for them. What do they like? What are they against? Only by knowing your users can you find something in common with them, which is your core community bond.

• Imagine your ideal member, and try to be as realistic as possible.
• Find something in common, and be prepared to highlight that.
• This will begin to generate a shared identity.

2. Give Ownership to Members

Here’s a secret: Just because you built the community, that doesn’t mean it’s yours. A true digital community belongs to the people, and people value a community most when they connect, engage, and feel encouraged to share. Whether in an open forum, live event, or even a digital community around learning through online courses. Always listen to the community members and consider their suggestions; this will give them a sense of ownership. And when you do start sharing content, be human, and be vulnerable in what you express (this isn’t the place for corporate business-speak).

• Listen to your community and give members a sense of ownership.
• Focus on solutions (not problems), and be human (not HR).
• Offer something of value.

3. Share the Wins

This may come as a surprise, but there is evidence that a digital community is at its most active when celebrating success, even if it’s a small win. According to a study by The Visual Capitalist shared by Rolling Stone’s Culture Council, even the world’s biggest influencers see peaks in interaction when they announce milestones like new albums, endorsements, or personal achievements – you can do this, too. Is a longtime team member getting married? Have you reached a sales goal or some other marker of progress? Share it with your community, because they just won, too. That’s the point of community to begin with. In the immortal words of Billy Dee Williams, “Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with.”

• Share your goals and achievements.
• Celebrate them like family.
• Ride the wave with follow-up posts.

It’s true that creating a digital community takes time and effort – but the end results can be game-changing. These three steps are not the end all be all, but they should be easy and straightforward enough to get you started on the road to real success. Want help building your next successful community? Learn how Cause Machine can help.
 

Remember the age-old adage "The customer is always right?" Well, it's still true.

If you want your business to survive in a challenging, competitive environment, the customer experience is essential. You need a clear vision and strategy for solving customer needs and leaving them satisfied, so they will come back and engage again. 

Enter The Customer Journey Map.

In one 2022 report about customer journey mapping from Hanover Research, 94 percent of businesses using customer journey maps said they help develop new products and services to match customer needs. Seventy-nine percent said customer journey maps helped make them more customer-centric. And 91 percent said maps drove sales. 

But only 47 percent of companies use them.

It's no longer enough to present your product or service and "wing it" on the customer experience end. You have to anticipate what potential clients will do, how they think, and what they will feel about each step of interacting with your business. That's what a customer journey map can do.

What is a Customer Journey Map?

A customer journey map is a diagram that shows the process your customers go through when interacting with your business. It's a flow chart – a visual representation of a customer's experience with your brand. It could track an experience with your website, visiting a physical store, ordering a service, or any other interaction, and you can make one for each type of transaction. About 55 percent of companies using customer journey maps have between three and five versions.

Importantly, a customer journey map is data-driven. It should include "touchpoints" where a customer does something, plus the team members involved, the feelings customers experience, and whatever action you want them to take.

They often look like detailed timelines. Customer Journeys can ultimately help you refine the product or service you offer to better serve the customer and your overall community. You are ultimately leading to more revenue and better community engagement.

5 Steps to Building a Customer Journey Map
 

1. Set Your Goals

First, imagine a fictitious (but realistic) ideal customer. Imagine them interacting with your business as realistically as possible. Think about what you want this person to come away with after interacting with your business. Determine what the big picture and fundamental goals of your customer experience should be.

2. Conduct Market Research

Next, build up some data. You could interview actual customers and look through online reviews to see what the people using your business are really like. Talk with your team members as well. Find out how easy or hard it is to interact with your business and what customers are likely to do and feel about it.

3. Define Customer Touchpoints

Touchpoints are the moments customers interact with your business and how they experience your brand. The number and scope of touchpoints will depend on the business. A car repair garage is different from a coffee shop, after all. 

A customer might need to find you through a web search – how hard is it to reach your website? They might walk up to the counter and look over your menu – what kind of feelings does that elicit?

List every interaction from the initial idea to interact with your business, through finding you, making a purchase, using the product or service, and the resulting impact. Include information in each touchpoint, like what the customer does, how they feel, and any challenges they face.

4. Map Current States

Now organize your info on a graphic flow chart. Start with a timeline, placing touchpoints in order along it with employees/teams involved in each one. There's no "right" way to make it look, just as long as each step of a customer experience is accounted for. You should include how the customer feels and be as truthful as possible.

This is the current state of the customer journey, and it should help show where things are working well and where they could be improved. If you have team members, make sure they share input on the steps of the process they are included in.

5. Map Future States

Using your customer journey map, we now know how good the customer experience is – and where it could be better. It's time to start taking action. Referring back to the goals you initially established, determine where and how you could make the customer experience better. 

Maybe the transition between one touchpoint and the next could be smoother or require less of the customer's time. Maybe that coffee shop menu could be bigger and easier to read. Maybe getting in contact with customer service about an issue after the purchase could be more pleasant and easier to access.

Remember, a customer journey map is just a tool. It's not about playing the blame game but working together to create the best customer experience possible.

Learn how Cause Machine can help take your vision of a better customer experience and make it a reality.

Schedule your free demo.
 

"Email marketing" sounds a bit old school considering it has been in widespread use for nearly 40 years. But when it comes to reaching customers, email marketing is still one of the most effective tools aspiring companies utilize.

Considering its importance, choosing an email marketing tool that serves your business needs is crucial. 

First, a little context for any doubters. 

According to recent research, email marketing has an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent – much higher than any other form of marketing. As of 2020, over 4 billion people use email worldwide, and by the end of 2024, 361 billion emails will be sent each and every day. That means consumers are comfortable with this form of communication, and many report being glad to hear from a business they like.

Actually, it’s more than that.

A full 60 percent of consumers have made a purchase as the result of a marketing email they received. In contrast, just 12.5 percent say the same of social media marketing. That may seem counterintuitive in the age of TikTok, but the numbers don’t lie, proving email marketing is still a vital part of the business world – especially if you have a small budget to work with.

If you’re a start-up business or one of the many digital creators aiming to monetize your work, you need to get this task right, and that means finding the best email marketing tool for the job. There is no shortage of services aimed at helping harness the power of “you’ve-got-mail,” but to grow a business effectively, you’ve got to know what to look for. 

Our Picks: The FOUR Best Email Marketing Tools. 

1. Mailchimp

When it comes to the best email marketing tools, this is one of the biggest names out there – and for good reason. Founded in 2001, it set the standard for the “all-in-one” email marketing category, and it’s still one of the best options for beginners or small operations. Its templates are clean, its drag-and-drop editing is intuitive, its automation will run effective email journeys and its analytics will help you decide what worked, and what didn’t.

All those features are bundled into multiple price tiers, and there’s a popular Free Plan for users with less than 1,000 email list subscribers. Not to mention, the Customer Journey automation tool serves your audience with timely content.

Key Features 

• Industry-standard email builder that's easy to use.
• Free plan if you have <1,000 email subscribers.
• Great variety of features to automate and nurture your audience.

2. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is another top choice; its email builder is drag-and-drop with dynamic features that can serve a variety of your email marketing and automation needs. ActiveCampaign also helps optimize your work by letting you A/B test up to four email/subject line variations at a time. And if someone puts an item in their cart, but leaves without buying, ActiveCampaign can help get them back to finish the deal.!

Key Features 

• Straightforward email builder with dynamic features for simple or complex email needs.
• Automation builder that allows for easy creation and deployment of timely content.
• Built-in A/B testing to get the most from each campaign.

3. HubSpot

HubSpot is much more than an email Marketing tool. In fact, they have developed quite complex software for all things CRM. The email marketing features offered by HubSpot are similar to numbers 1 and 2 on this list; however, where HubSpot is unique is its all-in-one CRM solution approach. Essentially it's like buying into an ecosystem where each tool (email marketing, website, CRM, etc.) is all running on the same system.

Key Features 

• Industry-best email marketing features and customizability.
• Great for growing companies needing an all-in-one solution.
• Wide variety of features for small businesses.

4. MailerLite

MailerLite is an easy-to-use email marketing tool – especially for beginners – but where it really excels is at selling subscriptions. Users can choose from three campaign styles, then personalize the messaging for different target customers to get the most out of your email effort. Much of the workflow is automated, and one of the best features is its free version.

If your email list is 1,000 subscribers or less, you can design your own custom email campaign and send as many emails as you want, making it great for smaller businesses or digital creators with a subscription model. Many in the growing digital economy are focused on e-learning and online classes – it's an industry projected to be worth about 645 billion by 2030 – and if that’s you, this might be a winner. 

Key Features 

• Targeted customization for different customer segments
• Automated workflow templates
• Free version for 1,000 subscribers or less

Email Marketing Serves One Purpose.

Email marketing is still an important part of today’s digital landscape, even if you’re not running a massive company. And it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With a sound email marketing strategy/platform in place, your business can realize more revenue, greater customer loyalty, and growth.

About Cause Machine

Starting with an engagement strategy is the secret to building a successful online platform. Our team will build a custom engagement strategy and outline the tech solutions needed to hit your goals. You’ll find powerful tools in Cause Machine to engage your community, increase revenue, and create business outcomes. Learn how it can work for you here. 

By 2030, the online education industry is expected to be worth almost $200 billion*. But in this growing field, many entrepreneurs make a crucial (and understandable) mistake. They focus too much on the coursework itself.

It makes sense. Even with a great idea and the necessary expertise, educators know presentation is key – but it’s not enough. These days, knowing how to market online courses is integral, too. Each year, thousands of new online courses are created. In order to stand out from the pack, creators need to present their products well and capture attention. 

10 Methods on How to Market Online Courses
 

1. Know Your Audience

Even before you create your online course, there are some marketing rules you should keep in mind. The first is to know who you’re talking to. Imagine a person who is likely to take your course – this is your ideal user. Along each step of the way, you will make decisions with this ideal user in mind. From the way you write instructions to the color scheme and pricing, it should all be designed to appeal to them.

2. Identify Your Lane

The biggest question any brand faces is “Who am I?” so lock that answer down before moving forward. It should be crystal clear what problem your course solves or what need it fulfills. Make sure your course offers something of unique value with a unique voice, and remain laser focused on that identity. This goes hand in hand with knowing your audience. It may be tempting to try appealing to everyone, but you’ll end up appealing to no one.

3. Get Social

Now it’s time to start spreading the word, and the most powerful tool in your arsenal is social media. You should create accounts on major platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, but don’t count out the smaller/newer ones. Ramp up to your course’s launch date by teasing small bits of valuable content, and then after the course is live, maintain a consistent posting schedule with quality content that drives conversation and engagement. 

4. SEO Is King

SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” and it’s the mantra digital marketers live by. Almost all of the internet’s search traffic (about 90 percent) goes through Google, so you should try to work within Google’s algorithm to become the top result for a given search term. There are lots of best practices for this, but the biggies include researching keywords and using those keywords in context on your online course platform. This will help push it toward the top of Google’s search results.

5. Targeted Ads

Once you know what keywords you’re targeting, you can use Google ads to create an advertisement that will appear when someone searches for those keywords. These can be incredibly effective since they only show up for people who are already interested in the topic. You can also use Facebook to advertise, using that ideal user you came up with to target specific demographic features like age, occupation, and interest. Another idea is to buy some influence. Use a site like Fiverr to pay social media users for tweets promoting your course, just like big brands use celebrities to endorse their products.

6. Check the Reviews

In today’s digital marketplace, consumers are understandably wary of getting ripped off by a fake product, so they often look for user reviews when deciding whether or not to buy. You can use this to your advantage by asking students to leave reviews of your course. Feature those positive reviews and testimonials front and center so potential customers know they’re getting the real thing.

7. Podcasting

Podcasting has quickly become one of the fastest growing media segments, and it can be a great option when deciding how to market online courses. Set up a show that revolves around the topic you are teaching, and host a conversational discussion about that topic each week. You could also seek out other podcasts on the same topic and appear as a guest. But no matter what, make sure to include a shout out to your online course at the end. You’ll soon be building an audience who may also become students.

8. Create Mini Courses

Once your online course is live, you might want to add a few smaller follow up courses, diving deeper into a related topic or something students expressed interest in. These add value to your brand and can also be promoted in the same ways we’ve discussed above. Tease them on social media before they launch, create a targeted ad to hook potential students, and talk them up on your podcast. It’s a great way to keep your content fresh and keep people coming back for more.

9. Sales and Bundle Deals

Everyone likes a good sale, so be sure to consider them on a strategic basis. You could go the traditional route, offering new students a discount for signing up. Or, you could bundle services together. If you’ve got multiple standalone courses, why not sell them as a package deal (for a limited time? Or throw in access to those new mini courses you developed—anything to give people a little added value.

10. Live Events

Finally, it may seem counterintuitive for a digital business, but getting in front of real people can still be a useful tool in how to market online courses. Seek out local events that are related to your course’s topic, and ask if you can give a presentation. You could preview part of your course for the audience and slide in a pitch to check out the rest at the end of your time. You can even consider hosting virtual events to drive even more course sales. Make sure you choose the right event management software to make your life easy. Some platforms even have event management and online course features already built in.  

There's a ton of interest in the online course business: 

In today’s online learning market, there is still plenty of opportunity for an expert with a great idea to start a thriving business. But in order to reach your full potential – and to maximize your return on your effort – you need to stand out. If you use these tips on how to market online courses, you’ll be on your way.

About Cause Machine

Starting with an engagement strategy is the secret to building a successful online platform. Our team will build a custom engagement strategy and outline the tech solutions needed to hit your goals. You’ll find powerful tools in Cause Machine to engage your community, increase revenue, and create business outcomes. Learn how it can work for you here.