If you browse the internet a lot, you must have noticed the growing number of advertisements on facebook about online courses and free events. There are already 3 in Japanese only, apart from the Suki Desu VIP area that is under development. We live in the computer age where most people spend most of their time on social networks and on the internet, it is normal to imagine the growing number of proposals and online courses that appear.
I personally am happy with that, because I also work in this area, but I am scared because things are moving forward in a way that I think is wrong! Digital marketing is dying like traditional marketing! Online courses are getting more and more outdated and many appear only with the aim of making money. That's why I'm writing this article on my personal blog, to discuss this subject a little.
I had the idea to write this article on my personal blog after having a discussion in Facebook groups about online Japanese courses, and also after seeing an advertisement for the course by the viral Whindersson Nunes. This subject is quite delicate because we live in an environment with thousands of online courses, and most of them deal with the topic of making money online, which makes many reluctant. Just for the English language, there are thousands.
Many of these courses are not reliable, sometimes they promise absurd things in marketing, but when taking the course, the person feels disappointed! This is harmful for people and also for other courses that end up having their name tarnished for being an online course or for doing similar strong marketing.
Table of Content
Is it safe or not to take an online course?
I can assure you that some online courses are far superior to any type of face-to-face course. For an online course to sell it needs to present some kind of attraction or exclusivity, even more so in this internet market full of competitors. If you set up a course anyway, you won't be able to make a profit, because online course platforms end up offering a guarantee to the consumer.
In my opinion, the obligation of any producer of an online course or something similar is to dedicate themselves as much as possible to delivering the promised content and even more than that. While face-to-face teachers need to spend their entire day teaching multiple students, an online teacher only needs to find a way to create classes once, this was to allow for much richer content, unfortunately some teachers don't dedicate themselves to that.
The biggest critics of online courses are those who can easily absorb the subject matter covered in the course. Self-taught individuals are the ones who criticize online courses the most, because they can easily navigate international websites and study alone using just texts and their own methodologies. Most of those who buy online courses do so because they do not find it easy to learn on their own, do not know English, do not have computer experience, and need a mentor or guidance. I myself learn everything on my own and would never pay 7,000 reais for a marketing course like that famous fórmula de lançamento that is responsible for the marketing that online courses have done today. I want to talk exactly about it now!
The problem with online courses
One thing I noticed when going to Japan is the incredible variety of foods, flavors and stuff. Japan is a capitalist country, which makes people always try to innovate and do something different. Unfortunately in Brazil most people want to follow the same formula and do the same as others. In fact, people always want to do the best, but they don't end up innovating at all.
If you are connected to the digital world, you must know Erico Rocha and his launch formula. I have nothing to criticize about him; he really teaches people who know nothing about the internet to enter the online course market. Erico Rocha is a mentor to Luiz Rafael, the creator of the Online Japanese Program, which is my great partner and a course I trust very much. The big problem is that most of those entering the online course market are using the same formula presented by Erico Rocha.
You may have noticed English week, French workshop and other free events. The launch formula is marketing that they learned how to promote and sell the course. And indeed it works at first, but the result of this can be catastrophic. There are very obvious things that we must do when promoting a course, we don't need any formula to know that.
The problem is not in the launch formula but in how people are applying it. What I've noticed is a bunch of courses that are the same, with the same proposal, at the same price, using the same teaching system, and always with tempting and absurd proposals. Smart people have already noticed this and even stay away from those famous email capture pages, webinars, and other things used to generate potential clients.
Most who make the launch formula are doing the same thing, wearing the same costume! At a costume party, doesn't the one who is different stand out? In my opinion, the more a person distances himself from the herd that is marketing today, the better it is for him. To sell online courses, a person needs to have charisma and deliver what people like, write a lot of articles, make a lot of videos and show confidence to customers. There is no such thing as a magic formula! This is just lagging the market! Of course, there are mental triggers, ways to generate contacts and make disclosures, but this is no secret!
Why do I talk about marketing when I do marketing myself?
Whindersson Nunes is using his charisma to try to teach people something I can't even believe he knows. Most people with skills and prominence on the internet are trying to find something to sell. This is necessary because it is increasingly difficult to support yourself just by creating free content. So much so that even I am developing a paid members area, because I want to be able to raise a family and live in Japan. It's just that I'm not going to deliver something bad to my clients, so much so that I hired someone with more experience in Japanese to help me in this area.
For me, it is perfectly normal to talk about how profitable the website is, what my projects are, and how I work with them. I have nothing to hide from anyone, do you really think people create websites without profit in mind? Sometimes working on a website is as tiring as working in a factory. This is because mental fatigue is greater than physical fatigue. I am not full of gray hair at 22 from being idle, as some imagine working online to be...
It's not just logging into the site's admin panel and writing an article a day in 2 hours. If you just write articles, you generate some money, but with visits I don't even make half the minimum wage a month. Anyone who thinks that working on the internet is easy and profitable as some online courses promise, don't fall for it! Working on the internet requires dedication! The only advantage is being able to set your own hours and sometimes earn more than this measly Brazilian salary. It's getting more and more difficult with this herd of competitors, and I'm not just talking about courses but websites.
It's almost impossible for me to find people who want to write for my site, but every week someone wants to create a site about anime and Japan. Some create just as a hobby, but due to the lack of experience with websites, they cannot receive readers. I would find it much more beneficial to write for a site as large as mine! xD Well, that's my opinion about this growing era of online courses that we're living in.
I think the courses will grow more and more! Customers will also sprout more and more! There is no way this market will die, it will just grow! But those who keep following the herd will end up not standing out and will just waste their time and push people away from online courses that are really good. I want people to know what I think and I'm doing! So much so that all the contents of the member area I'm creating is visible in the VIP content category. That's how I think! I hope you understand something... kkkkkk
What is your opinion about this online course market and the growing digital marketing today?