Teacher Tips: How Teela Cunningham Launched a Successful Marketing Campaign

As a Skillshare teacher, marketing is your key to success; it's not only the best way to make sure your classes reach hundreds - or even thousands - of students, but it’s also a great way to earn extra revenue!

The more friends, family members, and followers you can recruit into your new class, the higher it will rise on our Trending page. This is the best way to get your class discovered by students on the platform. Marketing also helps you earn extra revenue through our referral program. When you market your class using your referral link, you’ll earn a $10 referral bonus for each new student you bring to Skillshare who signs up for Membership. Let’s say, for example, 10 of your family members sign up with your link; that’s an extra $100 (on top of your teacher royalties).

Let's take a look at how one Skillshare teacher, Teela Cunningham, launched a successful marketing campaign for her waterbrush lettering class:

Step 1: Marketing Tools

Before Teela dives into marketing her new class, she locates her marketing tools:

Referral Link

She grabs her class referral link from the left toolbar of her class. Students who sign up for Skillshare through this special link receive 2 free months of Membership (and she receives $10 for each student)!

Free Access Link

She also creates a free access link in the "Promote" section of her class creator, which she'll use in step 2 to give select students free access to her class.

Learn more about Skillshare's marketing tools here.

Step 2: Class Announcement

Teela announces her new class on both her website and her YouTube channel as soon as she publishes using her class referral link! Both posts give a quick, engaging glimpse into the new class, encouraging her followers to sign up. She makes sure to let her followers know that all new Skillshare students who sign up via her referral link will receive 2 free months of Skillshare Membership.

Step 3: Free AcCESS Giveaway

Teela adds some excitement to her class promotion - while also spreading some free Skillshare love - by running a free access giveaway for her followers on Instagram. While teachers don’t earn royalties through free access links like the ones Teela shared, they do help ensure that the class starts trending quickly. Plus, Teela receives her $10 referral bonus for each free student who eventually upgrades to a Membership after using her free access link.  

Step 4: Permanent Link

Teela not only announces her class as soon as it’s live, but she also keeps up the momentum by featuring a permanent link to the class on the homepage for her website. Permanently featuring your class using your class referral link on your website as well as your social media accounts is a great way to market long-term and continually maximize your referrals. Read more about this and other creative marketing tips here.

Head to your classes to launch your own marketing campaign today!