As a female entrepreneur, building and running a membership site can help your marketing a great deal because you are building a community around your brand. Now, it takes some effort to build your membership, but once you get it running it can offer an essential piece of your sales funnel and marketing strategy.
Below, we are sharing some of the biggest benefits it can offer your business and why we believe you need to create your own membership this year.
Subscribe here for access to my recommended membership resources and a very special online workshop you won’t want to miss (it’s FREE!).
A New Income Stream
You can earn money directly through running your membership site. Members pay a membership fee, which guarantees you a regular income. This provides you just one more stream of income in your arsenal of monetization strategies.
Low Overhead
When you consider all of the possible monetization strategies online, membership sites are actually one of the most profitable because there is very little overhead. If you offer a service, then there is no physical product to manufacture and deliver. Your website costs very little for you to run, especially if you sign-up for Bluehost. You only need to put in the time building the site, driving traffic to it, and providing content. Done right, this is a business model that can scale as your business grows with little extra effort.
Build Relationships with Your Target Market
Your membership site gives you a chance to build relationships with your target market. You provide them with exclusive content and a place to interact with like-minded people and get their questions answered. In turn, they start to see you as a helpful expert in your niche. They will come to know and trust you, which makes it more likely that they will buy from you, as well as tell others about you.
For example, my membership is called the Public Relations Academy and I focus on one thing: creating an effective publicity strategy. I’m also very specific about my target audience. Join my mailing list to learn more about this.
An Opportunity to Serve Your Market
Your membership site gives you a chance to offer true value to the market. You can provide your audience with excellent content that offers solutions to their problems, as well as exclusive goodies like free information products, webinars, and other educational opportunities. Depending on which model you use, they may also get a chance to network with like-minded people.
Opportunities to Upsell Products and Services
In addition to the regular membership fees, building a relationship through your new platform gives you opportunities to upsell and cross-sell. You can pitch products and services that are available for members only. As members of your site, they’re already warm leads who are more likely to buy from you when you offer something they can use.
Gain Valuable Insights into Your Target Market
Your membership site is an excellent touchpoint with your market. Through your interactions and engagement here, you can learn more about them and gain insights. With these insights you can refine your customer profile and then offer them even more goods and services to help them solve their problems.
It gives you a chance to get to know your audience on a personal level.
The first step is to revisit your customer profile and look for ways you can serve your customers through a membership site. Create a topic and start thinking about how it will fit into your business. Then, you’re ready to get started building your site.
If you are interested in creating a membership site, sign-up for access to my recommended membership resources here.
Build Your Membership Site
There are many software programs and services available, but if you want to create a membership site quickly, the easiest is to use Kajabi or Teachable. Personally, I started with Teachable and then I moved to Kajabi as I needed an all-in-one platform.
For example, I use Kajabi to run our membership site for the Public Relations Academy. Kajabi has multiple layouts to choose from and you can also create your website on the platform. If you don’t want to use WordPress and hire a website developer, then this is a great option for you. It’s an all-in-one platform that allows you to take your ideas and turn them into a polished, high-value product.
Please sign-up with our custom link to get a free trial!
If you are just getting started with online courses, Teachable is a budget friendly option. We created some of our first courses on this platform and it’s very easy to get started. In fact, we host the Women in PR North America courses on this platform. There are more than 100,000 creators who use Teachable to share their knowledge. The best part? You can create unlimited courses and students on all paid plans with our link.
You can also create your own using your site’s WordPress dashboard and install a variety of membership site plug-ins. Spend a little time checking out different plug-ins and reading reviews. You don’t need anything fancy or complicated.
Choose one that offers the membership model and features you need.
Whether you’re looking to create a website, blog or online store, Bluehost can get you started with a hosting plan tailored to your specific needs. We recommend the shared hosting option as it’s the easiest, most economical way to get your website connected to the Internet so you can start building it. It’s only $5/month to get started. When you sign-up with our link you get a free domain credit added to your account after checkout. Read our full review of the website hosting tool here.
If you’re interested in working together, I can help you through my executive PR services at Pink Pearl PR, through a brand strategy session or in the Public Relations Academy. You can download my PR resources and planners to get you started or join my 5 Day Perfectly Planned Publicity Challenge.