To attract new members, you need to keep providing value.

To keep providing value, you need to keep sharing content.

To keep sharing content, you have to spend time (and probably some stress!) creating it.

Content creation might take up a lot of time, but there are ways you can create great content for your membership without having to reinvent the wheel.

In fact, a shift in perspective may be all it takes to create amazing content from the things you’re doing already.

So, I want to help you leverage the work you’re already putting in to create new content! There are nine easy ways you can create great content without doing anything new.

Delivering value and creating membership content aren’t always the same thing

Before I share those nine ways, I want to clarify an important distinction!

To keep members engaged, you do need to keep delivering value long-term.

Content is a part of that, but it isn’t the only way you deliver value.

A huge amount of value in memberships is in community, connection, and communication.

I try to think about ‘deliverables’ rather than content.

I think content is a narrow way of looking at how you provide all that value to your members.

And once you make the connection that value comes from more than your membership content, you’ll hopefully realize that you don’t have to spend hours coming up with shiny new courses and training.

There is a better way… Nine of them, actually!

Put other content you’ve created into your membership

If you’ve started out in the online business space, perhaps by creating a course or an eBook, and then moved on to running a membership, you may be sitting on a goldmine of great deliverables.

Not every deliverable in your membership has to be a perfect fit for what you do, it can still be of value to your members.

For example, many years ago, I wrote a book called Bootstrap Marketing. It’s a book on small business marketing on a budget. It isn’t about marketing memberships, but it was one of the first deliverables I added to Membership Academy.

Nobody’s going to join for that specific book, it’s not cornerstone content or headline news, but it’s in our resources section and it’s of value to some people.

Adding extras like that are part of what makes up the wider value of your membership.

Include your lead magnets and freebies in your membership

Many membership site owners use things like eBooks or other content pieces as lead magnets to grow their email list. But why would you just give that value to new subscribers?

If you’re giving something away for free, why shouldn’t everyone have access to it?

It doesn’t make sense that, if a member wants to access your lead magnet, they would need to sign up to your email list. It’s like making them walk 10 steps backwards!

If it’s good enough for your leads, it’s good enough for your members (and vice versa).

Produce bonus content from your best-performing blog posts and podcasts

Dive into your website analytics and find your 10 most popular blog posts and/or podcast episodes, then take some time to think about how you can produce bonus content from them.

Say you have a blog post that is a tutorial. Could you create a downloadable file or resource pack from it?

If it’s just text, what if you recorded a video version of it? How about an infographic or flowchart?

Creating bonus content like this is going to double your most valuable content.

You have the guarantee from your analytics that it’s premium content, now you get to breathe new life into it and start the process all over again!

One of the best by-products of creating this bonus content is that it makes for a powerful CTA as well:

“If you want to see the video version of this and download the resource pack, you can access them as a member.”

Create and record extra material when you interview guests

If you ever conduct interviews with guests, there is a super quick way you can create extra value from them.

Keep some questions back – enough to make up at least 10 minutes of extra content – and make those answers available exclusively for your members.

As with a lot of those points, this won’t – on its own – be enough to sell your membership, but we’re talking about the bigger picture here.

10 or 15 minutes of extra chat with a guest isn’t going to 10x your membership, but it provides a high-value and effective CTA for non-members and gives existing members more value without you having to create a whole new content piece.

Putting out free content that’s valuable, then attaching the fact there’s even more of that in your paid membership will show your value and build confidence in buying decisions.

Run webinars as paid workshops

You may use webinars for Q&As or for other sales and marketing purposes, but have you considered running one as a workshop?

This allows you to give attendees a deep dive on one of your specialisms and you can open it up to non-members with a one-off charge.

Establishing a buying relationship on single-purchase terms is a great way to get somebody used to your paid content without asking them for the commitment of a full membership subscription.

You can take this a step further, too. If you run a webinar that lasts for a few hours, you can then take that recording and chop it up into one or two dozen clips that you can turn into a brand-new course for your membership!

It works as a strong lead-in for the attendees who might want continued access to the course and will, of course, be hugely valuable for your members and for you.

At the very least, you’ll be getting paid for membership content creation!

Record and repurpose your live events

If you ever do a live, in-person talk, workshop, or seminar – make sure you get it on film!

Using the same principles as in idea five, you can break the recording up into shorter clips and include it in your membership resources – either as stand-alone content or as a course.

I’ve even known some membership site owners who have been able to turn a full-day workshop into 6-12 months of content. These kinds of events are so rich and in-depth, with a focus on practical and actionable advice, the opportunities for repurposing them are huge.

If you can get a year’s worth of membership content from one day’s work, you’ll more than justify the cost of hiring someone to properly film the event.

Many events record their own footage, so it’s worth talking to the organizers before you bring in your own crew!

Offer your other services and products at a preferential rate

As a digital entrepreneur, you’re probably spinning a few different plates.

If you are running other businesses than your membership (e.g. a mastermind, events, an e-commerce site, coaching), make sure your members have access to them!

Your paid members should always get first dibs and the best price on anything else you might be offering as a perk of being a member.

A standing discount and the knowledge that they get first refusal on your other products and services can be a real perk. If they like you and what you do already, it’s pretty likely they’re going to enjoy the other work you do too.

This concept can be so valuable for you and your members, so any opportunity you have to put it into practice should be grabbed with both hands.

Take people behind the scenes

Memberships are based on expertise – people want to learn from the best and want to learn how you are doing your thing successfully. So be a role model to them.

People aren’t joining memberships just because of the content they contain, but because doing so gets them closer to an expert in their field.

Let your members get closer to what you’re doing so they can learn by watching. Share behind the scenes details of how you do what you do – it could be as simple as recording your screen as you make an update to a process or automation!

There are also some fantastic ways you can share processes directly with your members. For example:

• Process Street lets you export preset processes and workflows that your members can download and use for themselves.
• Active Campaign can work similarly, letting you export an automated process from your sales funnel.

Feature members in your content

Following on from that point about giving your members closer access to your insight and ideas, one of the best ways you can do that is to record coaching sessions.

Obviously you’ll need to get the consent of the person you’re coaching, but you can offer it for free on the basis that you are recording and sharing it.

This is so powerful, as you are creating what is basically a live action case study!

What will you try first?

There are enough ideas there to start a whole new membership!

Hopefully you can see how many ways there are to create valuable deliverables from the hard work you’re already putting in. For me, this is the beauty of being a membership site owner – there are so many ways to create value and help your members.

Take a few of these ideas and see how you can apply them to your membership. You might find yourself overrun with content before long!