Before a student enrolls in your course, they often need to encounter your ideas multiple times, find them valuable, and trust that you can deliver results.
Your interest list are people who've signed up for one of your waitlists, attended a Lightning Lesson, or downloaded one of your free products. These are the leads who are already moving in the direction of wanting to learn more from you.
Growing this list is both an important pre-sales activity and growth stage action. Here's how to do it.
Step 1: Create a free product worth signing up for
Step 1: Create a free product worth signing up for
The most effective way to grow your interest list is to give prospective students a genuine taste of what it's like to learn from you. On Maven, that means:
Lightning Lessons: a free, 30-60 minute live workshop. This is your highest-leverage lead generation tool. It lets you demonstrate expertise in real time, field questions, and collect signups from people who raise their hand to learn from you specifically. Aim to run one every 4–6 weeks.
Free Resources: downloadable guides, templates, frameworks, case studies, videos, etc. People provide their email in exchange for the product and as a result get added to your interest list.
When planning your free product, think about the single most valuable insight or framework you could share live or in a well-structured resource. The goal is to leave attendees thinking I need more of this.
Step 2: Promote across every channel you own
Step 2: Promote across every channel you own
Give yourself 2–3 weeks to promote your free product. A single announcement post rarely moves the needle. What works is consistent, multi-channel promotion over time.
LinkedIn is the highest-leverage platform for most Maven instructors. When sharing, your goal is post genuine insights that make people want to follow you.
Post 3 times per week leading up to your Lightning Lesson.
Lead each post with a strong hook rooted in a real observation or counterintuitive idea. This isn't clickbait.
Include a clear CTA at the end of each post linking to your Lightning Lesson or free resource signup page.
Ask a question in your post to encourage comments; engage with every reply to boost reach.
When you post, remove the auto-generated link preview image so it reads like content, not an ad.
Add your instructor page link with all your Lightning Lessons and Resources linked in your LinkedIn header/ link-in-bio so it's always visible.
Your newsletter or email list
If you have an existing newsletter or email list outside Maven, this is one of your warmest audiences. These people already trust you enough to give you their email.
Send a dedicated email 2–3 weeks before your Lightning Lesson announcing it
Follow up with a reminder email 4–5 days before
If you have a Course or Workshop live, include a P.S. about your upcoming cohort. Many students discover a course through a free product and then look for a way to go deeper.
From inside Maven, email your Maven interest list directly using the Broadcast feature.
Professional communities
Most instructors are already active in at least a few professional Slack groups, Discord servers, or online forums. These communities are full of your target students.
Identify 3–5 communities where your ideal student spends time.
Post your Lightning Lessons and Resources when relevant - keep it conversational, not promotional.
Offer to answer questions in the thread to drive engagement and surface who's most interested.
Don't spam multiple channels in the same community; one well-placed post in the right channel outperforms three scattered ones.
Your immediate network
Don't underestimate the power of direct, personal outreach to people who already know your work. Your goal here is getting a small group of credible people to publicly endorse you and share your content.
Make a list of 15–20 people who respect your expertise and would be willing to support you.
Send them a personal message (text or email) asking them to comment on your LinkedIn posts to boost engagement, or to share your Lightning Lesson with someone who'd find it valuable.
Be specific in your ask - something like "leave a comment sharing your experience working with me or on this topic" gets a much better response than a generic "please share this"
Step 3: Keep a free product always available for signups
Step 3: Keep a free product always available for signups
Maven's marketplace and recommendation emails only surface content this is available for signups. Students often need ~5 touch points before decided to enroll in a higher-priced offer like a Course, and free lessons and resources are a powerful way to enable those touch points and build trust.
As soon as one Lightning Lesson ends, schedule the next one and open it for signups.
Keep at least one free product live at all times, even during quieter periods between cohorts.
Current students who are experiencing breakthroughs naturally want to recommend you to colleagues - make sure there's always something for those referrals to sign up for immediately.
Step 4: Turn attendees into potential enrollments
Step 4: Turn attendees into potential enrollments
Every person who attends a Lightning Lesson or free workshop is a warm lead. Here's how to convert that attendance into a lasting subscriber relationship:
Follow up with all attendees via email after the lesson - share a key takeaway, a resource, or a next step.
Offer a limited-time discount on your course to attendees within 24–48 hours of the lesson, while the experience is fresh.
DM every person who engages with your content on LinkedIn - a short, personal message goes a long way.
Share the recording of your Lightning Lesson on LinkedIn afterward to reach people who couldn't attend live.
Step 5: Track your progress
Step 5: Track your progress
Tracking your interest list growth helps you understand what's working and plan how to hit your goals before launching a paid product.
What to measure:
Aim for around 250 emails on your list ahead of launching your first paid Course or Workshop. Instructors who hit that milestone tend to have significantly more success with their first sale.
Use this as a rough planning heuristic: each sharing action (a LinkedIn post, a community mention, an email to your network) typically drives 10–20 new signups if you're just getting started. If you already have an established audience, you'll likely see higher numbers. Work backwards from your subscriber goal to plan when and how often you share.
Track views and signup conversion rates on all your free products in your Analytics tab. Double down on the channels and content driving the most signups, and adjust what isn't working.