I recently went down a rabbit hole while looking at potential forms of income as one does. This particular rabbit was looking into the idea of selling digital products on social media after taking a course that offers 100% resell rights. The big one that kept on popping up during my research was Ultimate Branding Course. (UBC)

This course caught my attention because of its popularity and the trends that I was able to pick up on after looking at different accounts that purchased the course. What I am determined to find out is, whether or not these courses are worth it? Could someone actually make a profit after following their exact steps? Can I replicate the results through observation alone?

My Perspective On The Matter

Digital marketing is one of the most popular side hustles, occupations, interests, etc… in today’s global economy. This is just a result of the current state of humanity. Internet access is virtually everywhere and the opportunities for income are nearly limitless at the moment.

This means everyone and their mother (quite literally) are trying to hop on this bandwagon in any way they can. Chances are there is something in digital marketing that you can get really good at and sell for money. So what’s the one problem that they all run into?

“How do I start?”

This is where courses come into the picture. The funniest thing is that courses are also a part of this digital marketing revolution. They’re from people that cracked the code and decided to sell the solution for a profit. Bringing in sales by marketing their courses on social media and whatnot.

But just because they’re marketing is bringing them millions of dollars doesn’t mean that it will do the same for the thousands of people that they are selling to. Let’s take a closer look at one of the biggest courses on the market right now.

Ultimate Branding Course (UBC)

This is probably the most popular course in its category. I saw this course being resold in stan.stores on social media accounts quite often, which is the dead giveaway that they bought the course and are now reselling it for that 100% profit value. Which is an excellent incentive in the package deal that UBC is offering, and likely sweetens the deal for many of its prospective customers.

The only problem for new beginners is that this course costs up to $499. Chances are if you’re just starting out with your personal branding then it isn’t very likely that people will want to purchase such a premium product from you.

What I will say is that if you are able to create a solid following and find success in other products and marketing services you offer, then people could see you as an authority in your field and actually purchase that course instead of a brand new PS5.

If it were me I’d get the PS — nevermind.

So what does UBC offer? Let’s keep it brief because there are thousands of articles out there that will tell you the same thing, just longer.

Essentially, UBC is a program that teaches you how to get your online brand and presence started so that you can complete the whole process by yourself A-Z. They offer various modules covering topics like email marketing, leveraging social media, selling, and much more including a network of people to connect with, plus weekly calls to help you out along the way.

It is a comprehensive package that offers great value for a majority of people. Fortunately, there is undeniable evidence that their course actually works because numbers do not lie. Literally hundreds of testimonials swearing by this course and how it has changed their lives for the better. Making this a very hard course to argue with when it comes to the inevitable “scam or not” debate.

So what? It works, what left is there to be said?

Reverse Engineering UBC

What if we were able to create the same results that this course boasts about for free? Just through simple observation and a lot of testing.

The whole point of this course is to boost one’s brand and social presence. That means that there are thousands of people already online, demonstrating exactly what to do in order to achieve the same results as them. All it takes is paying a little bit of attention and connecting the dots.

Once you notice trends in successful accounts that have taken the course. Try them out for yourself. Not just once, but for at least 1–3 months, see how the change affects your personal accounts.

Here are a few trends that I have noticed in multiple accounts that have purchased the course:

• Their accounts are streamlined across all forms of social media. They have a singular professional image that they portray everywhere online.
• The structure of their captions is always trying to lead you through their sales funnel. It has a tone of hope and optimism that is contagious.
• They utilize the video formats in their social media accounts (e.g. instagram)
• They all have some sort of store on their profiles (stan.store, beacons.ai, etc…)
• They sell Done For You (DFY) products like reels or guides.

So let’s boil these findings down into what they really mean for you and how it becomes actionable advice that you can start trying right away.

The Key Takeaways

1. First off, maintaining a solid and cohesive social presence is crucial for potential customers to see. It needs to be effortless for people to immediately recognize who you are, what you’re about, and what you sell. So make sure to create an online persona that is consistent and then make it visible across all of your social platforms.
2. When you are writing about your service or product, don’t oversell, but that doesn’t mean don’t sell at all. Create an optimistic message that portrays you as someone who is so confident in their craft that they can deliver no matter the circumstances. You need to paint a picture for them and include yourself in that picture as the solution to their problem. That’s how you hook them, because now they believe that you’re the key to solving a particular issue for them.
3. This one is more technical and algorithmic. But for some reason, social media loves video and if you are optimizing your account to post video content you might just see a significant increase in your exposure. EVERY UBC account that I have come across has a profile riddled with video content. A majority of them aren’t original content either, most of the time it is background footage with text displayed over it. Give this a try and see if your exposure numbers increase. (Try standing out and creating original content if that’s your thing)
4. If you are selling digital products or services, I suggest having a store or some sort of direct link to your product on all of your social pages. Make this action super easy for potential customers, it is key to bringing in as many people to your business as possible.
5. DFY products are definitely something to look into. It is a bundle of ready-to-go content, or guides that can be sold right from the start. They require very little upkeep and really just operate in the background. To be honest, I am still learning about these myself but I can already see the immense value and passive income that these could rake in.

• As for right now, I think the most important thing to note is that you don’t need to pay a $499 premium to get access to sell DFY products. I suggest finding alternative methods that offer the same products but for much less money because you are purchasing them separate from a course. Or better yet, put in the work to create them yourself and then experience the fruits of your labor afterwards.

Conclusion

This isn’t to take anything away from people that have decided to purchase courses like UBC. To be fair, this course saves a lot of people a bunch of time that would otherwise be spent researching all of these topics. But for the bootstrappers and penny-pinchers it is not always an option to shell out $499 for a course that doesn’t guarantee success. Which is why observing people that have had success with this course is something that anyone can do and experiment with to see what actually works. The truth about courses like UBC is that they didn’t reinvent the wheel and put the knowledge behind a paywall. They were in the same spot as everyone buying their course and they looked at who was successful and replicated the process and now they’re fortunate enough to sell their accumulated knowledge for a profit.

Which of these tactics do you think you’ll be trying out for your personal brand? Have you noticed any other strategies that these courses teach?