An instructor recently told us:

“I spent almost $3,000 over two years on Instagram ads and hardly sold anything.”

That sentence sounds painful—but it’s also incredibly common.

The problem isn’t Instagram.
The problem is assuming that learning is bought the same way as consumer goods.

Courses are not impulse purchases

Instagram is optimized for discovery, entertainment, and emotion. Courses are bought when someone:

• recognizes a gap in their knowledge

• trusts the source of instruction

• believes the learning will help them do something better

That’s a very different psychological moment than “this looks cool, I’ll buy it.”

Paid ads skip the most important step: trust

Most learners need repeated exposure before they invest in education. They want to see:

• how you think

• how you explain problems

• whether you understand their real-world constraints

A single ad—even a good one—rarely does that.

What works better (and costs less)

Successful course creators tend to rely on:

• existing communities (professional associations, industry groups, employer networks)

• content that teaches before it sells (short videos, articles, workshops)

• partnership distribution instead of solo promotion

• email, which remains wildly effective for education because it allows context and continuity

The real lesson

If your course didn’t sell through ads, it doesn’t mean:

• the topic is wrong

• the price is wrong

• the quality is wrong

It usually means the channel didn’t match the way people decide to learn.

Education spreads best through relevance, relationships, and reputation—not interruption.

When you align your course with those forces, marketing stops feeling like shouting and starts feeling like helping.