Ep63 Transcript: 3 Things to Consider When Creating a Membership

Hey, late starters, it’s your host, Andrea Vahl, and in today’s episode, I’m going to talk about the three main things you need to consider if you’re thinking about launching a membership.

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In episode 61, I talked to my friend Anne LaFollette, and she had a thriving membership for her pattern surface design business. And one of the things that she did really well is learn from other people on how to create this business when she didn’t know what to do after her 30-year corporate career.

If you are in that space and thinking, “Hey, a membership sounds like a great idea.” There’s lots of different things that you need to consider beyond just creating the content or how it’s going to be set up. So the top three things are how it’s going to be hosted, how you’re going to launch it, and then how you’re going to sell it.

It sounds simple, right? But there are a lot of moving parts to all three of these pieces. So let’s dive in a little deeper.

First of all, how are you going to host your membership? There’s lots of different types of membership software out there at a variety of prices.

One is just a simple WordPress site with a membership WordPress plugin that’s an option that you could do, and that way it’s a little bit lower cost and it allows people to log in and have access to the content.

Beyond that, you may wonder how do I want their experience to be? Do I want there to be a forum where people can connect and have a discussion? So some different types of membership software offer different types of options. I’m going to list a whole bunch of possibilities from some of the top membership software sites. And I’m not going to be able to go super deep into all of them, but it might be worth exploring some of these and we’ll have links in the show notes here.

So Kajabi is the one that Anne is using and it is also one that I use as well. And it’s a very nice, all-in-one platform. It can be a little bit expensive. If you are just starting out, so if you’re new and aren’t sure how many memberships you’re going to sell, you may not want to start at the most expensive one.

Some other options are Mighty Networks. That’s a popular option, and I like a lot of features that they have on that. Thinkific, Skillshare, Udemy, Learn Worlds, Learn Dash and Podium are all different options for membership software.

And what these allow you to do is put in content and structure that content. Maybe if you’re having people learn along the way with that extra content, then you check into the different options and see which one looks best for the type of course or membership you want to have.

The second thing to consider is launching the membership. Are you going to promote it with a webinar or a five-day challenge, for example?

That is something that Anne would do. She would do a challenge and have people in a Facebook group, or she would go live and teach something each day, and then she would bring people into the offer where they would be able to join the membership ongoing and continue with her.

Maybe it’s just as something as simple as an email sequence. If you have an existing email list, you might just offer them a membership and just tell them about it and let them know. Or it could be a video series. I’m part of Jeff Walker’s Launch Club and he has a very particular video series that he does to make an offer and sell something and launch it and it works really well. And I know that’s exactly where I met Anne, and she uses some of that framework and has used it in the past as well.

You want to have something special that you’re getting the word out about this membership, like some free content because that will then grow your email list and get people connected into your offer and give them a taste of what you’re going to have in that membership with some of that free content you’re offering.

And that brings the third consideration, which is how you’re going to sell it. It definitely is a good idea for you to build in some scarcity around how you’re selling it. And what I mean by that is there needs to be some sort of special price that is going away or something that’s available only for a limited time.

Maybe people are founding members and they get in at the special monthly pricing that’s only available to founding members. Maybe you’re going to open and close it and you’re going to open and close it just a couple of times a year where people only can enroll during that time. And that sounds counterintuitive because you might think, well, I want people to be able to join at any time, but if it’s available all the time, a lot of times people don’t make that decision and actually join. So forcing that decision, allowing people to come in all as a big group can be a real advantage to that.

Or maybe there’s something else like expiring bonuses that are only available if they sign up within a certain timeframe of them initially opting into your content. And that requires a little bit more in terms of the backend and tech that you’re going to need to use so that you know if people signed up in time to get that expiring bonus. But those are just some of the ways that you can sell it.

Now, obviously, you could have things like Facebook ads or Instagram ads going to actually sell that membership. But having some sort of scarcity in there built in so that people have to buy it by a certain time or they’re not getting something special that goes with it, is a really good way to bring a bigger group into your membership and sell more seats.

So that’s the main consideration for selling a membership. Obviously, there’s lots more that goes into all of this. I’m happy to answer any questions that you have. Just put them in the comments or on this post or somewhere. Find a place to put the comments and happy to answer questions about this topic.

Hope that was helpful, and make sure you grab the free guide, Top Tools for Late Starters on the website at latestartersclub.com, and let’s turn dreaming into doing.