Today we’ll fill in a missing puzzle piece when fleshing out your irresistible course topic. Learn how to choose the right problem or pain point to solve with your online course.

What specific outcome will your course deliver to students?

When your Target Audience sees your course, they should immediately feel like they will achieve their desired outcome by completing it.

Your course shouldn’t seem skippable.

Your course should feel *irresistible* because you’re promising to fix a CORE problem they’re already facing.

So how do you know if you're focusing on the right Core problem?

That's where a lil' research comes in.

What problems does your Target Course Audience need help with most?

Your audience is already voicing the problems they want help with in Facebook Groups, Amazon Reviews, Google search results, and YouTube videos.

The secret is to look for the right keywords or phrases that pinpoint which problems frustrate people enough that they'll be ready to invest in a solution.

You can do a simple exercise to research your target audience, even if you have no audience at all.

That's right - even if you have no email list, no social media following, nada, you can still do this exercise and get valuable insight into what will make your course irresistible.

5 Steps to Research Your Audience’s Core Problems to Create a Course

Step 1

Choose an online community where your target audience hangs out. We focused on audience size previously because you want an audience that's big enough for you to find data on them, but small enough that you find specific, relevant data on them.

Step 2

Search for "trigger" keywords in comments or posts that mention challenges, frustrations, concerns, and requests for help. Here’s a list of keywords to search for:

Annoyed
Biggest challenge
Challenge
Confused
Frustrate or Frustration
Discourag
Disappoint
Disagree
Hard to...
How can I...
How to...
Lost
Mistake
Please help
Problem
Recommend
Struggle or Struggling
Stuck
Time-suck
What should...
What would...
Tired of...

Step 3

Focus on high-engagement posts, meaning posts that have lots of comments OR a comment on that post that has received lots of replies. A large number of responses means that the topic really resonated with people. This is where the treasure lies - engaged responses give tons of insight into what your Ideal Client is thinking or feeling.

Step 4

Copy responses you find helpful and paste it in a spreadsheet.

Step 5

Collect at least 15 responses. Group your responses into themes that will help you pick an which outcome to focus on with your course.

Here’s an example of a problem to be solved

My target audience includes consultants, educators and coaches who want to launch an online course or coaching program.

I know my audience hangs out in Facebook Groups, so I search for Facebook Groups that have "online course" in the group name. I find a group called Thrive: A List Building Community for the Aspiring Course Creator.

Within the group, I search for posts that contain the words "frustrated."

*Tabli opens as a small window over your Chrome browser.*

In the list of search results, I see someone has posted this:

I can’t decide between all the course creator platforms, so I am frustrated and I am not sure where to invest!!

There are 69 comments for this post - so it sparked a conversation!

I copied the text of the original post and several other comments from those who want a comparison of all the different course platforms.

So if I put together a training for the newbie course creator, I’d make sure it helps students fix the problem of “too many options” by teaching them how to choose the right course creator platform for their needs.

Is this the best core problem to focus on?

Maybe - I’d have to do more research to see if there’s a topic that resonates with more people.

That’s why you should collect at least 15 responses to get a better gauge of what your audience needs help with the most.

You can do this exact same exercise in a Facebook Group that fits your particular audience and niche.

And remember, you don’t have to search for the trigger keywords just on Facebook. Do the same keyword searches on Amazon reviews for a book, or search comments on YouTube videos related to your niche.

Recap

The 5-step research exercise above helps you find the exact words your target audience is using to voice their biggest problems. You can use this insight to position and market your course as the solution to those problems.

The best part? You can do this exercise even if you have no audience at all.

You’re not required to personally call a dozen people to interview them about their wants and needs.

(Don’t get me wrong, talking to someone in person is SUPER insightful - but finding those people may seem like a barrier if you have no audience yet.)

Instead, all you need is the time and willingness to do the research.

Take Action

Search online communities (like Facebook Groups, Amazon Reviews or YouTube videos) and look for posts/comments that contain the "trigger" keywords. You’ll find people stating their challenges, frustrations, concerns, and requests for help.

When you see insightful responses that will help you brainstorm your topic later, copy the text and paste it into a spreadsheet.

Collect at least 15 responses total.

Let me know if you have questions during your research!
Klara

How To Choose the Right Problem to Solve with Your Online Course