Do your potential members understand your membership offering?
The benefits of joining your membership…
What to expect as a member…
And how you can help them take the necessary steps to reach their desired outcome?
More often than not the answer to this is a resounding no.
And this can be for many reasons…
The most common of which is that they simply don't know what's inside the box.
In other words, they have no idea what goes on inside your membership…
And that's preventing them pressing the ‘join today' button on your sales page.
It's our job as membership website owners to rectify this…
And there's one very simple but powerful marketing tactic you can use to do that:
Taking them behind the scenes of your membership…
Why you should go behind the scenes with your marketing
It may sound simple and straight forward…
That's probably because in theory it is…
Superman can't really fly?! Who knew?
But many people don’t realize how powerful it can be to pull back the curtain and show members what goes on behind the scenes of your business…
Especially when it comes to memberships, as they can be a bit vague product at times…
They're not like an online course, which is usually really specific on the type of content it covers…
A list of modules, learning outcomes – it's all wrapped up in a nice little bow…
Easy to describe and understand.
But memberships aren’t quite as straightforward.
They can often feel quite abstract.
Yes, there may be courses, workshops, and a community inside…
But it’s harder to define than a one-and-done course.
And with constant changes happening inside a membership…
New content being added and updated, new members joining and so on…
Marketers find it easier to talk about the membership as a whole, rather than giving a detailed look at what’s inside.
The thing with this approach is that not everyone will know what an online membership actually looks like…
And not showing them what's inside the box makes it harder to explain…
And to market!
Some people will get it…
But others need something more…
And as membership owners, we need to not only realize the hesitations that potential members have…
We need to address them and help them overcome them.
Maybe they’re unfamiliar with memberships and don’t know what to expect…
Or maybe they’re not sure if it’s worth paying every month for something they’re unfamiliar with.
That’s where taking people behind the scenes can really provide some clarity and help people understand what you’re offering.
You can give them a taster of your content, let them know what to expect…
And help some potential members, who may be on the fence about joining your membership, make the decision to join.
Here are a few ways to take potential members behind the scenes…
Behind-the-scenes video tour
The simplest way to do this is to use software like ScreenFlow, Camtasia or Loom…
Any screen recording software that lets you capture whatever you’re doing on your computer or laptop.
You can then narrate over the top of whatever you’re doing and talk people through your website…
The membership login, dashboard, upcoming training, your content library…
Whatever it is you want to show off…
You can say something like, “I’m going to show you behind the scenes of Membership Academy. Let’s start with the member dashboard. You’ll find x, y, and z here.”
This type of video gives members a real look into exactly what they'll be able to do once they join….
It also breaks down that barrier of uncertainty for them…
And achieves far more than a screenshot could.
A behind-the-scenes video tour can be such a powerful tool to have in your arsenal…
We’d definitely recommend having it in your email sales funnel…
That way, when someone subscribes to your email list, you can send an email about your tour in one of your follow-up emails…
You could also use it on your sales page, in your Facebook ads, and so on.
Use social media Stories
These days most social media platforms have some sort of Stories feature…
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter… Even LinkedIn.
In Stories, you’ll see people sharing more of an insight into their personal lives and their brand…
They’re fantastic for showing some personality, that’s why businesses are jumping on this…
But they’re also great for giving people a little sneak peek into what you're doing inside your membership.
You can use Stories to show off what you do day-to-day…
This could include things like creating new courses, running live Q&As, or engaging with your community…
Behind the scenes of our member Q&A's
You could take a little photo of your laptop to give a teaser of what you’re working on…
Behind the scenes completing a member course
You could even do a little video just to give people a glimpse behind the scenes.
It’s a fantastically simple way to signpost future value of your membership…
And show potential members what they're missing and could be part of.
Create content that focuses on your journey
Another way to give a behind the scenes look is to focus on you, your story and how you came to launch a membership.
We do this every year to celebrate the anniversary of the Membership Academy’s launch.
We release a yearly review, so we do an episode where Callie joins me on the show…
And we give a big old peek behind the scenes of everything that’s gone on in the business over the previous year…
We share the ups, the downs, the things we tried that worked or didn’t work, the challenges we’ve faced, and a peek at what we’re planning for the future.
Not only does this satisfy a bit of curiosity, but it also adds more depth to what people know about us.
It demonstrates that we’re just humans who are working hard to continuously improve the membership.
That transparency can be very appealing to people.
It helps to build trust.
Showcase your existing members
If you have some kind of platform…
Whether that’s a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or Facebook page…
Look for any opportunity to tap into existing members to create social proof.
To showcase their stories, their success, and their wins
This achieves a lot of things…
First and foremost, it stops your content from getting boring…
You’re not just talking about yourself or your membership all day.
Your members’ stories can really resonate with someone else on a similar journey in a way that sharing your story alone doesn’t.
It could help potential members feel more engaged with your content…
It also gives them context of how your membership fits into their lives and their successes…
And shows what your membership is truly capable of.
Let’s take Membership Academy as an example…
It’s one thing for us to talk about starting up a membership…
But unless you, the listener, are creating a membership about memberships as well, it’s not a like-for-like situation.
You’re operating in a different industry than us in most cases.
So, what if we brought someone on who happens to be in your industry?
Having that context is going to resonate with you in a totally different way than us just talking about our own membership all day.
It also shows your potential members the calibre of your membership community…
And may even encourage people join.
This something we do with our Behind the Membership podcast…
We interview a member each episode of our podcast.
Every single guest we feature is from Membership Academy…
And while they're sharing their story, the Academy often naturally comes up in conversation…
What it’s done for them, and how it fits into their journey.
It’s truly some powerful behind the scenes content…
And you can definitely do something similar.
Taking people behind the scenes can be so compelling…
It can add a whole new dimension to your marketing strategy…
And make what can be a difficult product to describe, instantly recognizable…
So if you're struggling to explain to your audience what your membership offering actually is…
Why not show them instead?
This is a fantastic way to help them appreciate what you can do for them…
And ultimately make them want to sign up…
After all that's what it's all about, right?
