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Do you want to launch a membership, or have you launched already and now found that there are big, established competitors in your market?Don’t panic. Your competitors may have a massive library of content, years and years of experience under their belt, or thousands of members, but don’t let that intimidate you. Your size, your uniqueness, and your ability to zig when your competitors zag, gives you an edge – if you know how to take advantage of it.In this episode, I share many tips on how to differentiate yourself from the competitors. From zeroing in on your specialty and niche to emphasizing your personal brand and offering a personalized service, these tips will help you get a share of that membership pie.Essential Learning Points:1.   How understanding ‘why you exist’ can help you differentiate from your competitors2.   Why specializing and niching down on your topic and who you serve can help your positioning3.   The benefits of focusing on your personal side, embracing your underdog nature, and striving for quality4.   Why you should avoid getting wrapped up in competitor numbers and look for opportunities5.   What to avoid doing when dealing with competitorsImportant Links & Mentions:Bob Burg, “The Go Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea”The Membership AcademyThe Membership Mastermind Facebook GroupThe Membership Guys’ TwitterMike’s InstagramCallie’s InstagramKey Quotes:“If you can offer something that caters to a specific segment of your audience, then you are going to stand out and beat your competition every single time.”“Don’t be intimidated by that established competitor with a library of content. It’s all about what value and what results you can deliver.”“Don’t obsess about the fact your competitor has more members than you or that they have cornered a percentage of the market because, in all honesty, you only need a small percentage of the marketplace to succeed.” 

Are you finding Instagram a frustrating platform to promote your membership? Instagram is the one social channel where it is hard to add links to promote your content. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore it. As well as just using it as a content outlet to promote your blog, podcast, or video content, there are multiple ways Stories can be used to promote your membership business. In this episode, we share 7 ways you can make the most out of Instagram Stories. From creating native content to utilising interactive Stories badges. We have lots of suggestions about how you can use Stories to showcase your social side and promote your business at the same time. Essential Learning Points:How to creatively use Instagram Stories to promote your membershipWays to use native content on Stories to engage your membersThe benefits of using Stories to show behind the scenes contentHow you can use Stories to share social proof and brag about yourself The benefits of features like the Stories countdown and question badges to promote your content and engage your audienceImportant Links & Mentions:The Membership Academy The Membership Mastermind Facebook GroupThe Membership Guys’ TwitterMike’s InstagramCallie’s InstagramKey Quotes:“Instagram Stories has a lot of potential. But, you will have to be more creative to take advantage of it.”“You can use Stories to brag about your members and to showcase them. By shining, a spotlight on your member’s successes will show a different dimension to your business.” “Stories are great for getting existing members excited about what’s coming up and building connections, but also for enticing new members.”

Did your membership achieve its goals this year? If it did, congratulations! If not, could your approach to goal setting have improved your chances? As the year draws to a close, there's no better time to take stock of how far you've come. Reviewing the last 12 months is a great way to appreciate your achievements and the first steps to planning for your membership's future. Goal setting is a vital part of setting your membership up for success. But it can be challenging knowing what goals to set for your membership and, once you've figured those out, even harder to know the right way to achieve them. In this episode, we're sharing a practical goal-setting process that will help you determine where you want your membership to go and reveal how to get you there.Essential Learning Points:How the CO-STAR process can help you set and achieve goalsPractical goal setting examples and actionable steps Why your goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound)The optimum time period for a planning and review cycleImportant Links & Mentions:The Membership Academy The Membership Mastermind Facebook GroupThe Membership Guys’ TwitterMike’s InstagramCallie’s InstagramKey Quotes:“Any time you're setting goals, any time you're planning, you need to take stock. You almost need to audit what's going on right now.”“You need to be able to measure the goals that you're setting in order to determine if you're on track.”“You have to consider your priorities and the relevance of what you're spending your time on, and what you're prioritizing within your plan.”

Just like that, another year is over...And what a year 2020 has been!Rather than dwell on what could only be described as an insane 12 months, let’s end the year on a high and think about what we’ve all achieved. It has certainly been a big year for Callie and I.We’ve: Grown our team with two full-time hires - Kathryn, our Head of Digital Content and Tom, our Graphic Designer.  Launched some amazing new features in Membership Academy including our Game Plans and Member Huddles, and…Created another year’s worth of The Membership Guys weekly podcast and season 4 of Callie’s Behind The Membership podcast. It’s been a lot of fun! We hope it’s been a successful and productive year for you and your membership. With only a few days left of 2020, it’s time for our traditional end of year recap show.Listen for our top 10 most popular episodes of The Membership Guys podcasts in 2020. Thank you so much for your continued support of the show this year - I really appreciate each and every one of you. Here’s to an awesome 2021. Episode Links (not in order - don't want to ruin the suspense!):Using Facebook Ads to Promote Your Membership With Gavin Bell8 Things You Need to Know Before Starting a Membership Site  9 Simple Marketing Tactics That’ll Get You More MembersUsing Pinterest to Market Your Membership With Cara Chace Should You Allow Competitors to Join Your Membership?7 Things to do Before You Publish Your Next Piece of ContentWhy Signal vs Noise Ratio is Key to Membership Community Engagement Should You Build Your Website Yourself or Hire Help - With Martin and Lyndsay from Jammy DigitalCelebrating the 5th Anniversary of Membership Academy How to Use Content Marketing to Sell Your Online MembershipCheck out previous years' countdowns:10 Most Popular Episodes of The Membership Guys Podcast 201910 Most Popular Episodes of The Membership Guys Podcast in 201810 Most Popular Episodes of The Membership Guys Podcast in 201710 Most Popular Episodes of The Membership Guys Podcast in 2016

How are you planning to run your membership over the festive season?As a membership site owner, you have the freedom to choose how you run your membership all year round. However, the holidays present unique opportunities for producing content, running promotions, and taking the time to sit back and relax.In this episode, I tell you the six things you can start doing now to plan for the holiday season. From what seasonal content to plan, to when to start thinking about next year, these six things will help you figure out how your membership can effectively navigate the festivities.Essential Learning Points:Which content types are perfect for the festive seasonHow to run a seasonal promotionWhy taking a break is essential to your membership’s successHow to prepare your members for your reduced availabilityWhat to reflect on and how it can shape your membership’s futureHow to start planning for the year aheadKey Quotes:“The holidays are a great time to run a promotional campaign, whether it's a discount, whether it's a promotion where you offer some bonuses, some sort of event marketing, like a summit or a challenge.”“Even if you've got to force yourself to take some time off, know that time away is actually an extremely important investment in your business.”“If you haven't hit your goals, or things haven't gone the way you want, that's business. That's life. A lot of the time, these goals are arbitrary, they’re guesses, they’re best estimates. So, don't dwell. Make a deliberate effort to focus on the positives from your year.”

How do people view your brand?Businesses don’t achieve brand loyalty because they’ve picked a great color scheme for their website. You earn brand loyalty by aligning and effectively communicating your principles and purpose.You probably already know your membership’s values, vision, and mission, but does your audience? These key elements play a big part in how people view and interpret your brand. Your brand is far more than just your logo.In this episode, I break down what elements make up a brand and how you can use them to set up your brand for success. Essential Learning Points:What a brand actually is (and what it isn’t)Why your brand’s principles are importantHow to position your brand correctlyImportant Links & Mentions:Simon Sinek’s book, Start with WhyMembership Academy CoursesSubscribe to the Membership AcademyThe Membership Mastermind Facebook GroupKey Quotes: “People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” “Imagine your brand as a person and think about what its personality would be like – what it would be like to hang out with them, what it would do, what it would be into, how it would talk, how it would sound.” “Your purpose, your mission, your vision, and your values: getting clear on those will inform everything else you do. This is the heart of what your business and what your brand is all about.”

Does your WordPress membership site have sufficient security measures in place?Many membership site owners live in fear of their website being attacked, and for good reason...If someone manages to hack into your Wordpress website, install something nasty or delete or steal your data, it could cripple your membership business.That's why it's so important to be extra vigilant and make sure you take adequate steps to keep your site secure...In this episode, I'm sharing my top tips for keeping your membership site secure and advising which plugins and services you can use to help.Essential Learning Points:Whether or not WordPress is an insecure platform to build your site onWhy it's crucial that your membership site has security measures in placeThe eight top tips to proactively safeguard your membership siteWhat you can do if the worst happens and your site is hackedImportant Links & Mentions:ManageWPSucuriWordfenceWP EngineLiquid WebBackupBuddyWP Fix ItFixRunnerKey Quotes:“The fact that WordPress powers 455 million sites definitely makes it more of a target. The counterbalance to that is that there's also a lot of people involved in keeping it secure and responding extremely quickly to any issues.”“If you need to give admin access temporarily to your web designer, or maybe someone from tech support at your plugin company, make sure you remove their account after they no longer need it. It's not about not trusting those people, it's about there being an additional potential account that someone could get into.” 

Are you considering increasing the price your existing members are paying?When you first launched your membership, you might have offered your initial members an amazing deal to entice them to join. However, it’s now a few years later and your membership has evolved. You’ve added lots of new content, your community’s grown, and your membership is much more valuable.You’ve increased the price for new members, and now you’re questioning the fee that your initial members are paying – and thinking about raising the cost of their subscriptions.In this episode, I explain why this is a short-sighted approach and highlight why you shouldn’t increase membership prices for your long-term members.Essential Learning Points:Why you might be considering raising costs for existing membersThree reasons why you shouldn’t put existing member prices upThe one situation where you can increase existing member pricesImportant Links & Mentions:The Membership Guys Facebook GroupMembership AcademyKey Quotes:“People who invest in a tech company when they're still working out of their dad's garage, they deserve the return. They deserve to be in that stronger position, years down the line, than investors who waited until they could back a winning horse.”“Remember just how important those earlier members are to your long-term journey.”“It doesn't matter that your membership has increased in value because you would not be in the position to grow your membership to where it is now if not for those initial members.”

Are you celebrating the milestones in your membership business?If not, you should be!Whether it's an anniversary or hitting an important goal, it's worth making an effort to mark those significant achievements.In this episode, I share my top tips for celebrating your membership milestones in style...

Turning your membership idea into a reality can take a lot of time and, often, a lot of money.As such you might be trying to find a way to raise funds earlier in the process.Some membership owners do this with a pre-sale.A pre-sale works like this: you have a great idea for a membership, so you test its viability by taking it to your audience to see if they are willing to invest in your concept (even though it doesn't exist yet!).If they are, then you can generate seed money to help finance the development of your membership.However, before pre-selling your membership idea, it's important to know the pros and cons...Essential Learning Points:How a pre-sale works, and how it relates to terms like "seed launch" or "founder launch"What the three main benefits to a promoting a pre-sale areThree big drawbacks to a pre-sale that you need to considerOur preferred alternative launch strategy with better chances of successImportant Links & Mentions:Pros and Cons of Offering Lifetime MembershipsCreating an MVP to Test and Validate Your Membership IdeaThe Lean Live Launch StrategyThe Membership Guys Facebook GroupMembership Academy Key Quotes:“The vast majority of ideas don't go any further than just thoughts in a brain or scribbles on a page. This kind of pre-sell, having money change hands, makes you more committed.”“If you don't get a good response to a seed launch, that doesn't tell you anything. That isn't a sign that your membership is not going to be successful.”

Customer service is at the heart of the member experience.No matter how great your membership site is, you’re going to have members contacting you for additional support at some point.Providing your members with good customer service is an easy way to elevate their experience of your site, and similarly a bad customer service experience will quickly turn their opinion of your membership sour.In this episode, I break down the 4 step approach to master your customer service strategy, as well as specific tactics for streamlining customer service as your membership scales.

As a membership site owner it’s easy to tie yourself in knots trying to come up with the best ways to get your members to engage with your site, your content, and your community.From fancy progress tracking to complex loyalty schemes; laborious member outreach programs through to advanced gamification systems.However it can be easy to forget that often some of the less glamorous methods of engagement are the most effective.So in today's episode I’m going to take a look at one of my favourite tactics for member communication, engagement and retention – the humble “member roundup email”.

When people think about launching a membership, they think about the day that they finally open their doors for the very first time and welcome their first crop of new members.It's a big deal!However that grand opening isn't the only opportunity you have to launch...There are different launch types for each stage of your business, depending on how far along you are in the membership site creation process, or what you might need your members to do to help get your product ready for market.Listen in for a full breakdown of the 6 different launch strategies you can use at various stages of your membership journey... Essential Learning Points:Validating your membership idea by running a pilot programThe difference between launch strategy for open memberships vs closed doorHow to generate seed money to help you develop your membership ideaThe best way to reduce the stress of a big launch and ease yourself into the membership modelImportant Links & Mentions: The 6 Different Types of Membership Launch When the closed door membership makes senseJeff Walker's book, LaunchCreating an MVP for your membershipThe lean live launch strategyMembership AcademyThe Membership Guys Facebook Group Key Quotes:“Your big launch event will usually be a week or two, where you're doing lots of promotional marketing activity to get as many eyeballs as possible on your launch – in the hopes that you'll get that influx of initial members.”  “The beta launch can be extremely useful for helping you to ensure that you are in absolute top shape, or as close as you can get to top shape, before you open the doors to your membership. And, it has the great side effect of also ensuring that you already have people there in your community.”“If you know you need a little bit of a softer entry into the world of running an online membership, then a soft launch can work for you.”

Have you launched your membership and then found yourself regretting your choice of technology that runs your website? Or maybe you haven't yet launched but you live in fear of that turning out to be your reality.“What if I make the wrong choice and then in 6 months’ time I discover I’m stuck with it?”Because of this we see a lot of people have a lot of anxiety about deciding on which platform or plugin is right for them. In this episode I reveal everything you need to know about switching your membership platform.Essential Learning Points:The questions you need to ask yourself before deciding to switch platformsWhy data migration is the most crucial aspect of switchingHow to communicate this big change to your membersWhat you need your members to do, and how to get itThe reality of what switching platforms can cost youImportant Links & Mentions:Guide To Choosing A Membership Plugin Key Quotes:“This isn't something you do on a whim, or because a new tool sounds cool and has got a lot of buzz. This isn’t a small decision...”When communicating, make sure you address the question that's going to be in their minds. “What's in it for me?” Focus your message on how the new system is going to benefit them.“At all times in all memberships there will be a percentage of the member base who are only there because of inertia. The only reason they’re still members is because they keep forgetting to cancel their subscription.”“Don’t start switching over, then run a couple of tests and regret the change you’ve made. Test first and test thoroughly, before you do anything else.”

Do you know the difference between good marketing advice and bad marketing advice?The marketing industry is full of information. Some can help you build meaningful customer relationships and effectively generate sales. But some is based on misinformation, pressure tactics, and “shortcuts” that could lead to slower audience growth or even a damaged reputation.I find it so infuriating that people are being pressured and pushed around by membership marketing myths that they believe are the industry standard. In this episode, I get on my soapbox to bust the most common marketing myths and help steer you away from the nonsense.Essential Learning Points:Why pressurizing leads can drive them to buy elsewhereHow to prevent your customers getting buyer’s remorseWhy a good product isn’t enough to generate salesThe number of followers you really needImportant Links & Mentions:Open Every Day by Ross O'Lochlainn1,000 True Fans by Kevin KellyOur free Membership Mastermind Facebook GroupMembership AcademyKey Quotes:“Successful marketing is all about getting the right message, to the right person, at the right time.”“Some people are just not ready to buy when you’re ready to sell. Your business and how you market it is actually more about being there when someone is ready to buy, rather than trying to force the sale too quickly.”“If you’re not able to connect the dots and to compel people to put their hand in their pocket and pay you for the solution to their problem then it doesn’t matter how great your membership is, it doesn’t matter how great your product is. “Build it and they will come” is not a valid strategy.”

How much should you charge for your membership site? And, what should your pricing strategy look like?Well, the answers to both of those questions depend on your membership. However, there are some advanced pricing tactics that successful membership sites use when it comes to determining their prices.As I’m sure you’re aware, getting the price of your membership right is so important. But it’s often more than that, you also need to make sure that you use effective pricing strategies to convince people to join your membership. In this episode, I reveal my top and most advanced tips and tactics to help you with your membership pricing strategy!Essential Learning Points:The differences between B2C and B2B pricingWhy you need to consider the numbers within your priceHow to create compelling discountsThree ways to leverage price anchoring for your membershipImportant Links & Mentions:ResponseSuiteMembership Academy Key Quotes:“The more choices you give, the more you add friction to the buying process, which can lead to decision fatigue.”“With a decoy product, you specifically create an option with the entire purpose of that option being that it makes your main option look better. You actually don't want people to buy this product.”

Is your membership community a ghost town? Are you constantly banging your head against a wall trying to figure out ways to get your members to actually converse with each other? This guide has got the answers.We’ve said it many times before - people come for the content but they stay for the community. However, getting an active, thriving community inside your membership is easier said than done.It’s not a case of just setting up a Facebook group and assuming that all the conversations will start flowing, and connections will happen automatically. You need to put in the work to drive the discussion and the connections within your community. It can take quite a bit of time to get the discussion flowing, particularly in the early days where this can feel like trying to push a boulder up a hill. But these steps will help get it done.Essential Learning Points: Start The Discussion YourselfEncourage “Low-Hanging Fruit” ConversationsDon’t Rush To Answer Every Questions YourselfTag Other Members In DiscussionInclude Your Community As Part Of New Member OnboardingImportant Links & Mentions:The Membership Academy - https://www.membershipacademy.com/The Membership Guys Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/MembershipGuys/groups Key Quotes:“You’re going to have to be the one who drives the conversation. It’s not going to be a case of creating a forum or a Slack channel, giving people the link and seeing the engagements and discussions just happen.”“If you’re getting to every question first and answering straight away, you’re shutting down discussions before they get a chance to start. So, it can be worth strategically stalling.”“Embrace the role of not just the expert who answers questions, but as the community leader. Embrace being the person who creates connections between your members and facilitates the best path of learning.”“The best way to encourage people to be active in your community is to get them in there early and ensure your community is an integral part of the member experience.”

Wow... 5 years of Membership Academy!And what a rollercoaster ride our fifth year has been.Listen in as Callie and I recap the highs and lows of the past 12 months of Membership Academy, and look ahead to what's in store in the next year and beyond.In this episode, Callie and I discuss:The real impact that running our first conference had on our membership businessHow we navigated personal illness and a global pandemicChanges we've made to our content strategy, and the results we're seeing so farThe big step up we're taking in the coming yearDig further into our journey so far...Inside the launch of the Membership AcademyLooking Back at the First 12 Months of the Membership AcademyInsights & Reflections on Year 2 of the Membership AcademyLooking Back at Year 3 of the Membership AcademyCelebrating the 4th Anniversary of Membership AcademyAs always, we want to thank each and every one of your for your support over the past 5 years - whether you're a podcast listener, Facebook group member, blog reader or one of our highly treasured Academy members (or indeed, all of the above) - we just want to take this opportunity to thank you, sincerely, for being with us on our journey.

A membership has many moving parts, lots of technical elements, and will take plenty of hard work to get started.But there is one element of running a membership site that is constant and, if you don’t have it, you won’t keep your membership alive.If you don’t have an audience, you won’t have a membership.So, if you’re just starting out and eager to get your membership going, it’ll pay dividends if you invest in finding and growing your audience now. This classic episode of The Membership Guys will show you how.Essential Learning Points:Why it’s important to build your audience before you release your productWhere the best places are to look for your potential audienceHow finding your audience will also help you fine-tune your membership content and marketing strategyWhere you can go to learn more about establishing and growing your audienceImportant Links & Mentions:How to Generate Email Leads for Your Membership SiteUsing Segmentation to Increase Leads and Member SalesHow To Use Content Marketing To Sell Your Online MembershipMarketing Tactics for Attracting New Members4 Ways to Discover What Your Audience REALLY Want from your Membership Key Quotes:“If you’re building a product, you need to have someone to sell it to!” “Passionate people find each other and they congregate around different places online.”“A lot of your initial audience building efforts are going to center around finding where your particular crowd are and hanging out with them.”“Don’t take it for granted that your existing audience will have an interest in what you’re doing with your membership.”

Setting boundaries is essential if you want your membership to be productive and positive for you – and your members.But how do you do it without cutting people off, coming across as aloof or inaccessible, and how can you ensure your members are having their questions answered whilst still respecting your boundaries.It’s certainly a balancing act, but it’s one you can perfect by putting into practice some of these tips and tricks. We’ve tested and refined these approaches over time with our own Membership Academy and our members have also found these approaches to be beneficial in their memberships too.Tune in to find out how we, and many other membership site owners, set healthy boundaries with our members that benefit everyone. Essential Learning Points:Why opening yourself up to more communication can actually reduce contact overwhelmSome of the best tools and tactics we’ve used to set healthy boundaries within our membershipWhy setting the right boundaries will benefit your members as much as youImportant Links & Mentions:Is Starting a Membership Website the Right Move for You?Recommended Tools & ResourcesHow to Add an Online Forum to your Membership WebsiteLive Membership Q&A with Mike and CallieMembership AcademyKey Quotes: “Your members will contact you and any successful membership site owner will respond when they do reach out. That’s not to say that you can’t set boundaries and that you can’t be the one to set the terms.” “When people know that they don’t have to try hard to reach you, that takes the urgency out of the equation.” “Nobody should be in a position where they send you a message and they have no idea of when to expect a response.” “Setting and managing expectations is good not just for you, but for your members too.”