The launch of your membership is your chance to bring in an initial influx of members that will give your membership momentum for months and years to come.
Launching a membership isn’t as do-or-die as launching a course or software.
If your membership launch doesn’t go as planned or if you decide to go with a slow launch, you still have a basis to build from.
The first members of your membership are going to keep paying you month after month and that gives you a solid foundation.
How do you set yourself up for a membership launch that will help you create momentum over the life of your program?
The key is to turn it into an event.
In this article, we’ll share the steps you need to take to make an event out of your launch and set yourself up for success.
1. Start a Waiting List ASAP
The second you decide you’re going to start a membership site, you should put up a waiting list. Create a coming soon page and send traffic there to catch the interest and email addresses of potential members.
As you’re building your membership, you can drip out details on the progress you’re making. Teasing people with tasty morsels of what's to come.
You can also conduct a focus group with these interested members on your email list to gain valuable feedback that will help you better shape a membership that appeals to their needs.
When you open the doors, they’ll be chomping at the bit.
These are the people who will rush at your membership because they've been waiting for it.
The key is to build up anticipation and get them excited so that when you launch, you have a base of initial potential members salivating over the idea of joining your membership at last.
You could even use your wait list subscribers as a beta-testing group. Open the doors in advance to have them test out the site and give you early feedback.
It’s always a good idea to let your waitlist in early so when you do have your big opening, there are already members in the membership chatting among themselves. The buzz and excitement is already going on in your community, so people feel like they’re joining something special.
2. Release High-Impact Content
Something like an online summit, 30-day challenge, 24-hour live stream, or in-person event will get people paying attention to you and your membership.
This will help give your launch that big event feel that gets a lot of eyeballs. And once they’re consuming your content, they’ll likely want more from you.
Keep a time sensitive element to it and draw people in to get your audience highly engaged with the message of your membership. You’ll entice them into sticking around and learning more.
High visibility content will give you that event-like buzz rather that you wouldn’t get from just putting up a blogpost.
3. Offer a No-Brainer Launch Promotion
The price at which somebody joins your membership during your launch should be the best deal that’s ever offered.
This isn’t just so you’ll be able to tell people pricing will be less than normal.
It’s more about emphasizing the fact that they’re not only getting the lower price, but they’re also locking it in for the lifetime of their membership.
They’re not just saving $20 today, they’re saving that every month for the life of their membership.
That could be hundreds, or even thousands of dollars in the long run.
This enables you to really compel people into action.
If people dither and wait a few weeks to join, it will cost them more. It’s as simple as that.
4. Sweeten the Pot with a Bonus
Any added incentives you can offer like a one-time seminar, live Q&A, or monthly coaching call will increase the motivation for people to take action.
What’s important is that they are motivated to join your membership during this very specific window of time that will give you the buzz and momentum to carry yourself forward.
It really pays off to get as many people as possible to join during the initial launch period.
Your launch is some of the easiest marketing you’ll do for your membership site because you’re bringing something brand new to market. There’s a natural level of excitement, curiosity, and buzz that comes from that.
It’s not difficult to ride that wave to build your foundation of members.
Once the launch is over, the real work begins…
