The Thousand Solutions Blog

How do you create an Masterclass

Oct 19, 2023

If you have knowledge you want to share, a masterclass is an ideal approach to get in front of your intended audience and get people talking.

The most appealing aspect? Masterclasses can be as short or as long as you like, so you can share your expertise and deliver maximum impact in a half the time as an ordinary class.

Here at , we know a thing or two about masterclasses and we've helped countless creators produce, deliver and even sell their own masterclasses online.

This is our step-by-step guide to how to make a great masterclass, with insider advice as well as examples from the greatest masters of masterclass.

Skip ahead:

What is the format for a masterclass?

Masterclasses don't follow a strict format - a masterclass could be anything from a single event to an entire video course.

But typically masterclasses include three essential parts:

  • A clear understanding of the goal(s): Every masterclass needs to have an end or a learning purpose that participants will either master or finish by the end of the course.
  • An expert instructor: Masterclasses are typically given by a professional person with expertise, education, or training relevant to the topic of masterclass or industry.
  • Assessment or an activity: Many masterclasses also include activities or some type of test to help learners test and apply their skills. Successful learners could also earn a certificate when they've completed the masterclass.

  Are masterclasses just videos?

Yes as well as No. Masterclasses are educational content in which specific abilities are taught by a professional within the area. They are usually video-based, however they may also be live webinars, blogs podcasts and much more. Masterclasses that are the best also provide other resources as well as educational opportunities such as quizzes, assignments, Q&As, along with certifications and accreditations.

How to make your own masterclass with 7 easy steps

If you're considering hosting your own masterclass at home, there are seven steps you need to take to ensure the product you're offering is organized as well as marketable. It should also be useful to the people you intend to target.

Here's how to make a masterclass (click to skip ahead to further details):

  1. Select a subject: Find your area of expertise and choose an area for your masterclass which is appropriate and appealing for the audience you want to reach.
  2. Plan your masterclass: Carefully design your masterclass's format, content, and style - including writing an outline as well as a rough draft of the script.
  3. Design your masterclass: Record and edit your masterclass so that you produce a professional-looking product buyers will be keen to purchase.
  4. Find a hosting platform Pick a platform hosting your masterclass, where you can publish, promote your event, handle, and even sell your products all in the same place.
  5. Marketing and promoting your masterclass: Get the word out about the masterclass by using a variety of marketing channels - including the use of social media, email marketing and specific landing pages.
  6. Edit and review the masterclass: Collect student feedback and revisit your masterclass content to continuously make changes and improvements to your course.
  7. Grow your business: Keep creating digital products to expand your masterclass business, grow your reputation, and expand many income streams.

Are you ready to get started? This is what you should learn about creating the perfect masterclass. This includes suggestions along with examples and hyperlinks to extra resources to guide you step-by-step through the process.

How to create an online masterclass

Choose a topic

If you're planning to develop an educational program, first you need to get clear on the subject or area of interest will be. This process will look different depending on whether or not you have an existing brand or if you're starting your own business.

If you're beginning your company from ground zero, start by creating a list of everything you're good at, passionate about and competent to do - and make sure that the subject is one you are comfortable teaching to other people. It helps you focus about your specialization and the types of expertise you have to share with all of the world.

If you're running an established firm, you already have an understanding of your area of expertise or focus is. this can be helpful to give you the possibility of generating fresh ideas and possibilities if you'd like.

The next step is to validate your idea. Here's how:

Auditor research

It's not enough to just come up with the topic, and then begin developing a masterclass from the beginning. The first step is to do audience research to make certain that there is a demand for your masterclass and a specific group of people who would be willing to attend and even pay to attend it.

  • Audience research might include:Customer surveys
  • Interviews
  • Groups of focus
Conducting research on competitor

Alongside talking to your target audience In addition, you could find your market by doing competitor studies. Competitor research involves looking at the top competitions providing their customers in order to determine what you could do differently - and more effectively - in order to win over customers.

Here are some easy steps to help you with competitor research:

  • Try a Google Search: easiest method of starting your competitor research is to search for your idea of a masterclass on a search engine like Google. Check out which companies pop up first, and then see what they're offering what's similar to what you're proposing? What is their strategy different? What are they not doing?
  • Look at their website: When you've got your top contenders list go deeper in the research you've done and examine their landing pages. What topics are they talking about? Who do they want to reach? What are their main messages?
  • Check social media: As well as looking at their presence on the internet, you should check the social media pages of their followers and what kind of posts they're connecting with. Look through the profiles of your competitors' comment and followers. Also, take a look at the other brands they're collaborating with.
  • Read customer reviews Reviews and testimonials from customers are also an excellent source of insights into your current competitors and their products. Examine the most frequent complaints, compliments, and what kind of items they are purchasing.

Assess your competition based on these key aspects:

  1. Product: What are their masterclasses include? What materials are they offering? Which features are beneficial or bad?
  2. Pricing: What is the price their masterclasses cost? Does their pricing vary for different customers? Do they provide bundles and discounts?
  3. Promotion: What tactics are they using today to engage their customers? Which social media platforms do they use? What kind of content do they post?
  4. The location: Where are they based? What is their location for customers?
  5. Positioning: What is their unique selling proposition? What is their strategy for positioning themselves? What are their core messages? What is their intended audience?
  6. Reputation: What is the public talking about their products and services? What are the issues that customers face?

Throughout your competitor research, you're aiming to have the ability to answer these queries:

  • Who are my top competitors?
  • What are their strengths and weaknesses?
  • What is the potential opportunities and risks in this marketplace?
  • What is the traits of my ideal customer versus my competitors' ideal clients?

You can keep track of your research with a spreadsheet. It will assist to analyze the research results and utilize it to develop an original program for your masterclass.

You should ask yourself: "What do I excel at when compared with my competitors and what am I looking to focus in?"

Plan your masterclass

If you've done the necessary research, you'll have a clear idea of the subject of your masterclass and its specialization - which includes who your target audience is and how you will make your product stand out from the other items that are available.

The next step is time to organize your class.

The choice of your style

Depending on your masterclass topic as well as the audience you intend to reach, it is necessary to pick a specific format for the masterclass. In this case, for example, the masterclass you choose to give could include:

  • Video tutorials
  • Audio
  • Live or recorded webinars
  • Blog posts or ebooks
  • Slideshows

Select the presentation (or combination) you think is most efficient for presenting your content for your target audience. Ensure that you keep the masterclass interesting and engaging to your clients. Which audience are you targeting likely to be most interested in?

Creating an outline

Concentrate your masterclass on writing an elaborate outline based around your primary learning objectives and goals. Your outline should include:

  • What topics you'll cover
  • What is the length of your masterclass will last?
  • What activities you'll add
  • Other tools and resources do you plan to provide?
  • What types of assessments or certifications learners must pass?

By breaking your masterclass down into specific themes, exercises and exams, you will be able to make your presentation according to a predetermined format. This will help you make sure that it contains all you would like to include and keep the promises you made to your learners.

Writing a script or a plan

Once you've got an outline of your course, begin making a thorough plan or script for your masterclass. In order to ensure that your presentation is easy to follow and natural make sure you avoid using a script word-for-word Instead, write down what you'd like to convey and the key points you'll cover to make sure you don't get anything wrong.

Make your own masterclass

Now it's time to create the content to your masterclass, based on your outline and plan.

The specific steps on creating masterclasses will be determined by the kind of masterclass that you're planning to make and the format you choose and design.

The majority of masterclasses are recorded video tutorials. They usually consist of talking-head style videos with an instructor or expert in front of the camera, aided by diagrams, visual instructions, and animated videos to help explain key concepts.

In order to create this type of masterclass, you'll require some basic equipment, including:

  • A video camera equipment or a recording device
  • Lighting equipment
  • Equipment for audio recording
  • Software for editing

This type of masterclass relies on the energy of the teacher or instructor and how engaged they can be, how clear they are able to communicate the subject matter, as well as how they convey their personality when they're on camera. Don't forget to smile!

It's an excellent idea to have multiple takes of your masterclass in order to assist to cut and edit your content to create the best source for your viewers.

If you need more assistance with how to create a masterclass in various formats, refer to these tutorials:

It is also important to develop additional resources and assessment in this phase. These are some sources to aid you in making masterclass material to add value to the audience you are teaching:

And when editing your masterclass, check out these guides to the most effective software as well as top techniques to make your editing flawless:

Find a hosting platform

If you've developed an outstanding masterclass you're happy with and are ready to promote, you'll need to choose a platform for hosting to allow you to share your expertise directly to the people you want to reach.

Here are three suggestions to help you select the right hosting platform for you:

Be aware of the structure of your payments

Understanding the kind of payment system you're likely to be using before time can help ensure that the platform is compatible and will accept the payment method you choose.

This might include:

  • Memberships, subscriptions or subscriptions
  • One-time payments with limited access time to the content
  • One-time payments with lifetime access to the content
  • Access for free for lead generation

If you intend to make masterclasses on specific topics, using the subscription or membership model will allow you to earn recurring income from your products. Customers pay a monthly or annual subscription cost to gain access to your content.

If you are only looking to make just one or two masterclasses this moment, it's more suitable to charge a one-time fee for customers to gain access to your educational materials. You can either grant customers limited time access to the masterclass or make it more expensive and offer an unlimited access to your content so that they are able to revisit your material as well as your expertise at any time they'd like to.

Some platforms do not allow for subscription-style payments, for example, so be sure your chosen platform offers the ability to charge customers using the type of payment model that you would like to use.

Consider your marketing strategy

In addition to thinking about your business model, it's also important to think about your marketing plan in selecting a web hosting service. Why? Because different hosting platforms include features designed to help you market and promote your masterclass or other digital products.

If you have some specific strategy for marketing you are thinking of implementing - like email marketing, live webinars and other events, or specific landing pages - check if your hosting provider can accommodate your plan and has other features to aid you in implementing.

Review customer comments

In the event of choosing a hosting platform product for your company, existing customers usually know best.

Marketing and promoting your masterclass

After you've signed up for a hosting platform and have uploaded your masterclass materials and are ready to get started advertising and marketing your content in order to start getting your first sales coming in.

Here are some effective ways to market your masterclass:

Social media

If you're trying to market masterclasses by 2023, it's essential to have a social media presence.

Select the most effective social media platforms to promote your masterclass, based on the desired audience. For example, if you're selling a B2B-focused masterclass, consider promoting your product through LinkedIn. If your masterclass is on a lifestyle topic, Instagram and Pinterest are likely to be better for targeting your ideal customer.

If you're just getting started choose three social media platforms to start marketing your masterclass.

Develop content that is tailored to your target audience, including:

  • How-to posts
  • Tips and tricks
  • Behind-the-scenes
  • Interviews with experts from other fields
Email marketing

In addition to establishing an online following on social media to promote your masterclass, you could also use email marketing for additional advertising.

If you're not already doing so begin building your email list to aid in addressing the people you want to reach and create more connections with prospective customers.

Marketing via email can comprise:

  • Monthly newsletters
  • New product launches and updates
  • Round-ups and recommendations
  • Industry news
  • Mini how-to guide

The first principle for marketing via email is to ensure that each piece of information you produce is beneficial for your readers - no one likes spam emails, so make sure your email content has value every time it drops in your subscribers' inbox.

Pages for landing

Naturally, you'll require a place to lead your visitors to where to learn more about the masterclass. That's where landing pages can help.

landing pages or sales pages - tell your audience precisely what they must know to convert them from interested users to paying customers.

The top landing pages are:

  • An attention-grabbing headline
  • Enticing overview from your masterclass
  • A bit about the instructor you are working with
  • Highlights or key topics
  • Customer reviews
  • Call-To-Action (CTA) e.g. a sign-up button

Edit and review your masterclass

Now that you've designed, launched and begun selling your masterclass. Congrats! Now what happens following?

It's not over when you've finished your first launch. Most successful companies remain in the process of developing and improving their offerings to meet the needs of their intended audience and develop an even more impressive product.

To help you do that, start collecting customer feedback on your masterclass which includes:

  • Post-attendance surveys
  • 1:1 customer interviews
  • Follow-up emails

The more feedback you get from previous learners The more information you have, the easier it is to enhance your masterclass and adapt it for your specific customers to ensure better customer satisfaction as well as more frequent sales.

Feedback from customers can provide you with suggestions on the future digital offerings to develop in addition to revealing opportunities to reconvert your existing customers to HTML0 in the near future.

Increase your company's reach

For many Creator Educators, creating a masterclass is just the start. Masterclasses are a fantastic digital tool to make your name known as an expert within your field and build your reputation, all while creating revenue for your company.

It's important to expand on your success through the creation of several revenue streams. As an example, you might choose to launch a long-running online course that is linked to your masterclass, or even create the possibility of a community-based membership for existing clients.

Once you're ready to make the next step in expanding your company look through these resources to help you get started:

Top masterclass examples from Creator Educators

Look through these samples of the best masterclasses taught by successful Creator Educators to provide inspiration and develop ideas for your own masterclass.

George Pitts The Management of Money Management Masterclass

George Pitts was motivated to create his own personal finance business after having successfully gotten himself out of financial debt. Back in 2017, he was living from paycheck to paycheck and did not know how he could improve his financial circumstances. So he took a week off from work to study what he had to do to improve his credit score and financial issues.

A self-taught financial advisor, George became determined to aid others in the same way to achieve financial freedom. Since the beginning of his venture and teaching over 10,000 people through a variety of masterclasses as well as online learning programs, and generated a seven-figure income annually through the process.

Barclay XayLi: The Camera Confidence Masterclass

Expert and coach in content creation XayLi Barclay has a passion for helping entrepreneurs be the best version of themselves on the internet. This masterclass teaches creators to make their mark and make an impact through compelling visual content and videos.

Since she started her business, XayLi has created multiple masterclasses in order to share her knowledge to more students - including the Camera Confidence Masterclass that will let creators be more comfortable before the camera.

Find out more information details about the way she started her journey on this page.

Make Your own Masterclass

The first step in the process of make your own masterclass seem daunting - however If you just take by one step at a moment, you'll be able plan, prepare and present a masterclass that you're satisfied with. Your responsibility is to your viewers to develop that masterclass that's hiding in the back of your head. Don't let imposter syndrome keep you down!

Are you ready to plunge into the water? Start for no cost and design your own masterclass today.