Marketing for distance education

[Lwyrd]

Hi!
For the past few months (since before I started reading TMF ) I've been working on a distance education business model. I was invited by the board of a non-profit education association to be one of 4 course coordinators for a graduate distance legal education course.
I can see this as a beginning of a Fastlane (Need, Effect, Control (plenty, if not full), Scale and Time).
To tip the Scale commandment, our group was thinking of implementing some sort of network/ml marketing venture to reach as many potential students as possible. We have the means to present a nationwide product, and the law is the same for the entire country, unlike the US (3.3 Mi sq mi, with almost 3 Mi people with some kind of legal education).
We will also have digital marketing, but we need a more aggressive strategy.
Since I am not "the boss" per se (although my decisions directly impact the directions of the course), my financial success depends on the scale of the product, since I will be paid a percentage of the gross profit and a percentage of whatever I sell.
I have no education, formal or otherwise, in marketing. Where can I learn to sell our product? What should I be reading? Is there some other thread in the FF that might help me get started?
Thanks!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[KSR]

What is your speciality? You've mentioned MLM, so I'm a sceptic as to whether this is properly legitimate. They've brought you on the board to market the product but they know that you have no marketing education/experience? Seems shady to me.

But nonetheless, I'm currently reading 'The 1-Page Marketing Plan' right now. It would be a good place for you to start.

 

[Lwyrd]

What is your speciality? You've mentioned MLM, so I'm a sceptic as to whether this is properly legitimate. They've brought you on the board to market the product but they know that you have no marketing education/experience? Seems shady to me.

But nonetheless, I'm currently reading 'The 1-Page Marketing Plan' right now. It would be a good place for you to start.

Sorry, I should have been more specific.
I'm a Law professor. I was brought on board to build and plan the course. We're all academics, but we believe there is a market out there in this big country of ours, and we're all learning to market. Our product is a top notch graduate legal program, with both Brazilian and international professors, at an affordable price. We have had experience with only local courses, with 60-80 students per semester.
From what I've read, I'm aware that MLM is a big red flag in the community, but it was something that was brought up, not to scam anyone, but to have the largest impact. Since I have no background in marketing – nor do any of the people creating the course – I am unaware of strategies to potentialize impact/scale. We've heard of success stories in these kinds of "viral" face-to-face sales strategies, and thought it might be interesting. But I'm honestly all ears. I'm interested in the product we're developing and selling it to as many students as we can, not in making money through the marketing itself.