The Course Launch Stack: Kit + Zoom + Google Docs + Canva

Open a new Google Doc and write your launch plan. This doesn't need to be elaborate. A simple table works: four rows (one per week), two columns (what you're building, which tool you're using). The act of writing it down forces you to think through the sequence and identify dependencies. You can't promote a lead magnet you haven't built. You can't fill a webinar you haven't scheduled.

In the same document, draft the content for your lead magnet. If it's a PDF checklist, write the checklist items. If it's a short guide, write the guide. If it's a mini-course delivered by email, write the lessons. Google Docs is the right place for this because it's fast, you can share it with a collaborator or reviewer, and you don't need to worry about formatting yet. Get the words right first.

The strongest lead magnets for course creators are ones that give people a real sample of your teaching. A yoga instructor might offer a free three-day mini-course on morning routines. A dog trainer might offer a "First Week with Your Puppy" checklist. A health coach might share a meal planning template with five days of real meals.

The specificity matters more than the length. A focused two-page checklist outperforms a generic twenty-page ebook because it demonstrates that you understand the specific problem your audience is facing.

This is the week where all four tools come together. You'll build the landing page and email sequence in Kit, design the webinar slides and social graphics in Canva, and draft the enrollment emails you'll send in week four.

Kit: Landing page and email sequence

In Kit, create a landing page for your lead magnet. Write a headline that states what the subscriber will get and why it's useful. "The 5-Day Morning Yoga Starter Course" is better than "Free Download." Add a sentence or two of description, and keep the form simple — email address only. Every extra field reduces signups.

Next, set up the automation. When someone subscribes through your landing page, Kit should immediately send an email delivering the lead magnet (a download link for a PDF, or the first lesson if it's a mini-course). Tag the subscriber so you know where they came from. Then build a short nurture sequence — three to four emails over the following week that share useful content related to your upcoming course. The last email in the sequence should mention the live webinar you're hosting and include a registration link.

Also draft your enrollment email sequence now, even though you won't send it until week four. Write three emails: one announcing that enrollment is open, one sharing what students will learn (with specifics, not vague promises), and one reminding people that enrollment closes on a specific date. Having these ready in advance means you're not writing sales emails while also hosting a webinar and answering questions.

Canva: Webinar slides and social graphics

Open Canva and create your webinar presentation. You don't need many slides — most effective webinars for course launches have 15 to 25 slides, including a title slide, an agenda, the teaching content, and a closing slide with your course details. Use a clean template. Don't spend two hours customizing colors and fonts. The slides support your teaching; they aren't the teaching.

While you're in Canva, create two or three social media graphics to promote your lead magnet. A simple design with the lead magnet title and a clear call to action ("Get the free checklist") is all you need. Make versions for the platforms where your audience is active — Instagram, LinkedIn, a Facebook group, wherever you already participate. Canva's templates for social posts are good enough to use directly with minor text edits.

This is the week where most first-time launchers get nervous, because it involves putting your work in front of people. There's no trick to it. Share your lead magnet landing page link in the places where your potential students already gather. Post your Canva graphics with a short, clear description of what people will get.

If you have an existing email list — even a small one — send them an email about the free resource. If you're active in online communities related to your topic, share the resource there (as a real contribution, not a drive-by promotion). If you have colleagues or collaborators, ask them to share it with people who might find it useful.

As subscribers come in through Kit, they'll automatically receive your lead magnet and enter your nurture sequence. By the end of the week, the final email in that sequence invites them to your live webinar. You can also send a standalone webinar invitation email to your broader list. Include the date, time, a one-sentence description of what you'll teach, and the Zoom registration link.

Schedule the webinar in Zoom

Create a Zoom meeting for your webinar and enable registration so you collect attendee email addresses. Set it for a time when your audience is likely available — Tuesday through Thursday, late morning or early evening, tends to work well for most course creator audiences. Zoom's free plan gives you 40 minutes, which is tight but workable for a focused session. If you want a longer webinar with Q&A, a Zoom Pro plan ($13.33/month billed annually) removes the time limit.

Practice running through your slides at least once before the live session. Time yourself. Most people underestimate how long their content takes when they're also answering questions. If your slides take 25 minutes in rehearsal, plan for 35 to 40 minutes live.

Host the live webinar

On the day of your webinar, log into Zoom 10 minutes early. Share your Canva slides using screen share. Teach something useful — not a teaser that holds back the good content, but a real lesson that helps attendees take action. The goal is for people to think: "If the free session was this good, the paid course must be worth it."

In the last five minutes, introduce your course. Explain what it covers, who it's for, what the price is, and when enrollment opens. Put the enrollment link in the Zoom chat. Don't be apologetic about it. You taught them something valuable for free, and now you're offering something more. That's a fair exchange.

Send your enrollment emails

After the webinar, activate your enrollment email sequence in Kit. The first email goes out within a few hours — while the webinar is fresh. Include a link to your course sales page and a brief reminder of what you taught. The second email, a day or two later, adds more detail about the course content. The third email, on the last day of enrollment, reminds people that the enrollment window is closing.

Three emails is enough. You're not trying to wear people down. You're giving interested people multiple chances to see the offer in case they missed the first email, got distracted, or needed time to decide. If someone isn't interested after three emails, a fourth won't change their mind.

This four-tool workflow handles the launch — getting people from "never heard of you" to "enrolled in your course." It doesn't cover the course itself. You need a platform to host your course content, manage students, and handle payments.

Some course creators try to stitch together the same free tools for course delivery — Google Drive for files, email for lessons, a shared doc for discussions. That works for a pilot with five students. It breaks down quickly after that. A purpose-built course platform gives your students a clean experience and saves you from managing access, tracking progress, and chasing payments manually.

I've watched thousands of course creators launch over the past 14 years, and the launches that go sideways rarely fail because of the wrong tool. They fail because of disconnects between tools. The webinar registration doesn't sync to the email list. The payment confirmation doesn't trigger course access. The welcome email links to a page that doesn't exist yet.

Before your launch week, test the entire flow as a student would experience it. Subscribe to your own lead magnet. Check the delivery email. Click every link in every automated message. Register for the webinar. If anything is broken, you want to find it now — not when 40 people are trying to sign up.