The Course Creator’s Content Dilemma: Teaching vs. Marketing

You didn’t become a course creator to spend your mornings staring at LinkedIn wondering what to post.

You got into this because you’re GOOD at teaching. You have knowledge that transforms people’s careers, solves real problems, and makes a genuine difference. Creating courses, refining your curriculum, answering student questions - that’s where you come alive.

But then there’s the other stuff. The marketing stuff.

You know you “should” be posting on social media. You’ve heard that consistent content builds your audience, establishes authority, and fills your courses. And yet, when you sit down to write a LinkedIn post, something feels off. It feels like time stolen from the work that actually matters.

So you do what most course creators do: you post inconsistently, feel guilty about it, and watch your enrollment numbers ride a rollercoaster of feast-or-famine cycles.

Here’s the thing though - what if marketing and teaching aren’t opposites? What if the tension you’re feeling is based on a false assumption?

What if marketing IS teaching, just in a different format?

Why Marketing Feels Wrong to Educators

Let’s be honest about why this is hard.

First, there’s the “salesy” stigma. You’ve seen those LinkedIn posts - the humble brags, the manufactured vulnerability, the “I’m not here to sell you anything” posts that are DEFINITELY trying to sell you something. That’s not you. That’s not how you operate in your courses, and it feels inauthentic to operate that way in your marketing.

Second, there’s the time problem. Every hour you spend crafting social media content is an hour you’re NOT spending on improving your course, creating new materials, or actually helping your students. And since you got into this to TEACH, the choice feels obvious.

Third, there’s the expertise gap. You’re an expert in YOUR subject - whether that’s programming, photography, business strategy, or anything else. You’re probably NOT an expert in content marketing, LinkedIn algorithms, or social media strategy. It’s like asking a chef to also be their own accountant. Sure, they COULD learn it, but should they?

The result of all this? Inconsistent posting leads to inconsistent visibility, which leads to inconsistent revenue, which creates stress that pulls you even FURTHER away from the teaching you love.

It’s a cycle, and it’s exhausting.

The Reframe: Marketing IS Teaching

Here’s where I want to challenge your thinking.

That LinkedIn post you’re dreading? It’s not a sales pitch. It’s a LESSON. A micro-lesson, delivered to people who haven’t bought your course yet.

Think about it. The same skills that make you an exceptional educator are EXACTLY what make great content:

Breaking down complex ideas into digestible pieces? That’s what a good post does.
Meeting people where they are instead of assuming prior knowledge? That’s how you hook readers who don’t know you yet.
Building trust through genuine value rather than hype? That’s how you turn followers into students.

When you write a post about “3 mistakes beginners make in [your subject],” you’re not marketing. You’re TEACHING. You’re helping someone avoid a pitfall, giving them a quick win, and demonstrating that you know what you’re talking about.

The only difference between that post and your course content is the LENGTH and the AUDIENCE. The post is shorter, and it reaches people who haven’t committed to learning from you yet.

Here’s the real shift: You’re not selling. You’re helping people decide if you’re the right teacher for them.

That’s it. That’s all marketing is for a course creator. It’s a series of micro-lessons that lets potential students experience your teaching style, your expertise, and your approach BEFORE they invest in your full course.

When you see it that way, marketing stops feeling like a betrayal of your teaching identity. It becomes an EXTENSION of it.

The Automation Opportunity

So if marketing is just teaching in a different format, why does it still feel like such a burden?

Because even when you KNOW what to write, you still have to sit down and write it. Every day. Or at least multiple times a week. And that’s time you genuinely don’t have.

Here’s the opportunity most course creators miss: You’re sitting on a GOLDMINE of content.

Your course materials - the lessons, the examples, the frameworks, the explanations you’ve already created - contain dozens, maybe hundreds, of potential social media posts. The insights are already there. The teaching is already done. It just needs to be reformatted and repurposed.

This is where AI can help. But here’s the catch - most AI-generated content is obvious. It sounds robotic. It uses the same tired phrases everyone else uses. It lacks personality.

You’ve probably seen this “AI slop” flooding LinkedIn lately. Posts that technically say something but feel hollow. Content that checks all the SEO boxes but connects with no one.

That’s not what you want. You need content that sounds like YOU - with your voice, your style, your way of explaining things. Otherwise, you’re just adding to the noise.

A Better Way

What if you could take your existing course content and automatically transform it into weeks of LinkedIn posts - without losing your voice?

That’s exactly why we built ContentBee.

ContentBee is designed specifically for course creators who want to show up consistently on LinkedIn without becoming full-time content marketers. It takes the teaching you’ve ALREADY done and repurposes it into engaging posts that sound like you, not like a robot.

Here’s how it works:

Your content goes in - Course materials, lesson transcripts, the frameworks you’ve already created
AI transforms it - Not generic AI, but AI trained to match YOUR writing style and voice
Quality gets verified - Every post goes through checks to catch “AI slop” patterns and ensure authenticity
Posts get scheduled - Content is queued up and posted automatically at optimal times

The result? A consistent LinkedIn presence that builds your audience and fills your courses - while you spend your time doing what you actually love: TEACHING.

No more guilt about inconsistent posting. No more choosing between marketing and course improvement. No more staring at a blank screen wondering what to write.

The Choice That Isn’t Really a Choice

Here’s what I want you to take away from this:

Teaching vs. Marketing is a false dilemma.

For course creators, marketing done RIGHT is just teaching in public. It’s sharing your expertise with people who haven’t found you yet. It’s demonstrating your value before asking for a commitment.

And with the right tools, it doesn’t have to consume your calendar.

You became a course creator because you have something valuable to teach. Don’t let the marketing grind pull you away from that mission. Automate what can be automated, systematize what can be systematized, and get back to the work that lights you up.

Ready to turn your course content into consistent LinkedIn posts without losing your voice? Check out ContentBee and see how it works for educators like you.