When stepping into the world of digital course co-production, one of the most common challenges you will face is collaborating with subject-matter experts who have deep knowledge in their field but little to no experience in marketing. These experts might be doctors, teachers, engineers, or professionals in any industry with valuable knowledge to share, but they often rely on co-producers to bring that expertise to the market.
If you are a co-producer, learning how to effectively work with non-marketing experts can be the key to a successful partnership and a profitable digital course. This article will guide you through practical strategies to build strong relationships, align expectations, and leverage each person’s strengths to create courses that not only educate but also sell.
Understanding the Expert’s Perspective
The first step to working with non-marketing experts is to understand where they are coming from. These professionals often:
- Value accuracy and credibility above all.
- May not be familiar with sales tactics, audience segmentation, or funnels.
- Sometimes view marketing as “secondary” to the quality of the content.
As a co-producer, your role is to bridge this gap. While the expert focuses on the content, you should help them understand that the best course in the world won’t succeed if it doesn’t reach the right audience. Instead of overwhelming them with marketing jargon, show them how your efforts will ensure their expertise impacts more lives.
Building Trust From Day One
Working with experts who lack marketing experience requires trust. They need to feel confident that you are not only handling the promotional side effectively but also respecting their reputation and knowledge.
Here are some ways to build trust:
- Show proof of past results. If you have case studies, share them.
- Be transparent. Explain what marketing strategies you will use and why.
- Respect their authority. Always acknowledge that they are the subject-matter leader.
- Be patient. Avoid pressuring them into quick decisions they don’t understand.
A strong trust foundation will make the collaboration smoother and help you avoid conflicts later.
Communicating in Simple, Practical Terms
Experts who are not marketers often get lost in technical terms like “lead magnets,” “CTR,” or “A/B testing.” Instead of overwhelming them, simplify your explanations.
For example:
- Instead of saying “We need to build an email list for conversion optimization,” say “We’ll collect emails from interested students so we can let them know when the course opens.”
- Instead of saying “We’ll build a funnel with a tripwire offer,” say “We’ll guide people step by step, starting with a small offer before introducing the main course.”
Clear communication reduces misunderstandings and helps your partner feel more comfortable contributing to marketing-related decisions.
Defining Clear Roles and Responsibilities
A common source of frustration in co-production is unclear responsibilities. From the start, define who will do what.
- Expert’s role: Content creation, recording lessons, validating materials, ensuring accuracy.
- Co-producer’s role: Market research, strategy, platform setup, promotion, sales tracking.
This division ensures that the expert doesn’t feel pressured to “learn marketing overnight,” while you are not stuck correcting content accuracy. Formalizing these roles in writing can help avoid conflicts later.
Educating Without Overloading
While your expert partner doesn’t need to become a marketer, a little education can go a long way. Share basic concepts like why a course needs a strong title, why testimonials matter, or how pricing psychology works.
However, keep these lessons brief and relevant. Don’t expect them to master Facebook Ads or SEO. Instead, frame it as “Here’s why this matters for your course’s success.” This empowers them to support your strategies without feeling overwhelmed.
Finding the Balance Between Content and Marketing
Experts often want to add more lessons, modules, or technical details to a course. While this can improve quality, it can also overwhelm students or delay the launch. As a co-producer, you should help them strike a balance between depth and marketability.
Ask questions like:
- “Does this lesson help students achieve the promised transformation?”
- “Will this additional content confuse or empower the learner?”
- “Is it better to launch now with a complete but smaller course, and expand later?”
These questions guide the expert to think about the student experience and the market, not just their own expertise.
Handling Resistance to Marketing Practices
Sometimes, non-marketing experts resist strategies like discounts, email sequences, or webinars, fearing they will “look too salesy.” In these cases:
- Share data and examples of how these tactics work.
- Position marketing as a way to serve students, not just make sales.
- Show how ethical marketing can increase credibility rather than damage it.
By reframing marketing as helping the right students find the right solution, you can reduce resistance and gain cooperation.
Leveraging Their Authority for Marketing
Even if they lack marketing skills, experts often have authority and credibility in their field. Use this to your advantage:
- Encourage them to post on LinkedIn, share articles, or speak in interviews.
- Help them showcase their achievements and qualifications in a way that builds trust with potential students.
- Position them as thought leaders while you handle the technical and strategic aspects of promotion.
This creates a powerful partnership: they bring authority, you bring marketing execution.
Building Long-Term Relationships
If your collaboration goes well, a non-marketing expert can become a long-term partner for multiple courses. To make this possible:
- Celebrate milestones together (first sales, first 1,000 students, etc.).
- Keep communication consistent, even after the course launches.
- Share transparent reports on sales and student feedback.
When experts see results and feel valued, they are more likely to recommend you to peers, opening the door to even more co-production opportunities.
Final Thoughts: Turning Expertise Into Market Impact
Working with non-marketing experts as a co-producer is not always easy, but it is highly rewarding. Your job is to amplify their knowledge, ensuring that it reaches the right people in a format that sells. By building trust, simplifying communication, defining roles, and balancing content with marketing, you create a partnership where everyone wins — the expert, you, and most importantly, the students.
The more you master this collaboration skill, the more successful your career as a digital course co-producer will be.