Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

As 2016 draws to a close, we're in a reflective mood here at The Membership Guys HQ. It's been a great year for us and for many within our community; and a particular highlight has been the growth and evolution of The Membership Guys Podcast. We've had the great privilege of being joined by a number of great guests, and it's been humbling that many of our most popular episodes feature only Mike and, well, a mic! In this special holiday edition of the show, I'm counting down the 10 most popular episodes according to download numbers during 2016, and revisiting some of the biggest gems and value-bombs from them all. Visit themembershipguys.com/episode77 for links to each of the full episodes mentioned in the show.

As the holiday season approaches, it's a good time to remind ourselves of the value of taking time away from your membership. In some circles, working every hour under the sun and being so busy that you're eating your Christmas lunch with your laptop on your knee, is seen almost as a badge of honour. Evidence that you're "hustling" harder than anyone else and as a result your business will be more successful. It doesn't work like that. Working hard is not the same as working smart; and neither you nor your paying members benefit from you being so tethered to your business that you can't take a little time out. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast we talk about why taking a break is so important, and I share a story about when I first realised that the world doesn't stop spinning if you step away from your business. In this episode, I discuss: The main reasons why people are afraid to take a break from their membership, and why they're all nonsense The first time I realised that my business wouldn't fall apart if I had some time off Why spending too much time on your membership is actually bad for your members The importance of setting boundaries, managing expectations and making sure you control your business rather than it controlling you.

Most memberships are focussed on helping people to reach a goal or achieve some sort of positive outcome. Whether you enable this with courses, worksheets and tools, community or something else - it's the result that matters. Running a free online challenge as part of your audience building and lead generation strategy taps into this in a big way and as a result can be one of the most effective tactics for attracting new members. If you run a challenge that helps people get a specific outcome; then not only are you delivering value but you're also proving that you're capable of helping them to get results; and that's an extremely compelling motivator for joining your membership for anyone wanting to take the next step towards achieving their larger goals. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I share a lesson taken directly from our Building an Audience course where we talk specifically about running an online challenge to grow your membership. In this episode, I discuss: What makes free challenges such an effective way of promoting your membership How to plan and deliver your own free challenge Strategies for generating membership sales from challenge participants How you can REALLY leverage your challenge content and use it to create additional marketing assets

Live video is hot right now, and it's only set to become ever more powerful as a marketing tool. A lot of memberships we see are centered around an authority or expert of some type; and it stands to reason that one of the most effective ways of demonstrating your expertise, establishing your credibility and truly connecting with your audience is to get in front of a camera and share your message. Live video removes many of the barriers to doing that and enables you to connect with your audience at the click of a button. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast I'm joined by Luria Petrucci from LiveStreamingPros.com. These guys are absolutely nailing live broadcasting, and Luria has brought her years of experience in online video to the show to give you the steps and strategy you need to follow to make live video work as part of your membership marketing strategy. This is a very actionable episode, so if you've been contemplating how to use live video for marketing your membership website then you'll want to grab a pen and pad... In this episode, we discuss: Whether Facebook Live is the only game in town, or whether there are other live video platforms you should be using Do you need to be polished and professional in order to start using live video How to avoid blending into the background by creating a regular live show Where to start when planning the structure and format of your live show How to get more people to watch your live video ...and much more!

Growing your membership audience can be a slow, painstaking process. Ultimately when all things are equal, people will buy from people they know, like and trust; and that sort of relationship takes time to develop. However there are ways to speed up the process; and in this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast I look at 4 of the tactics you can use to accelerate your audience growth. In this episode, I discuss: How event-based marketing tactics are one of the best ways to drive people to action Ways to make it more compelling for people to join your email marketing list Strategies for getting other people to promote your membership and grow your audience What to do next if you want to see real growth in your membership audience.

Building an audience is essential to the success of your membership. After all if you have no audience to speak of, then who are you going to sell to? Where are your members going to come from? “Build it and they will come” is, unfortunately, a myth – so you need to invest time in growing your own audience in terms of your email subscribers, website visits, podcast listeners, social followers and, of course, paying members. But where do you start? How do you actually find your audience? In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I talk about the main places to look when it comes to figuring out where your audience are hanging out so that you can start engaging with them and getting them onboard with what you’re doing. In this episode, I discuss: Why your existing email list and social followers might not be worth engaging with The importance of building an audience when launching and growing your membership What are the best places to research if you’re trying to find where your audience are currently “hanging out” What to do once you’ve found your audience and how to use your research to improve your marketing

When starting a membership, you have to be in it for the long haul. However despite your best intentions the time may come when you're considering shutting down your membership site. However if that is an option you're considering; it's important to handle it careful to avoid upsetting your members and ruining your reputation. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I discuss the best approach to take to shutting down your membership site without burning your bridges or causing yourself unnecessary problems. In this episode, I discuss: The 2 questions to ask yourself before you finalise your decision about shutting down your membership Possible alternatives to closing the doors on your membership forever The one thing you absolutely should NOT do in this situation How to create an exit plan for shutting down your membership that minimizes the pain for everyone.

Typically the type of membership sites we talk about here involve an expert using their skills, knowledge, experience and expertise to teach other people and help them achieve their goals. But what if you're not an expert in any one thing, can you still start a membership? In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I discuss the 4 different strategies and models you can take to start a membership where you're not the expert authority, as well as the one approach you should absolutely avoid at all costs. In this episode, I discuss: Why it can be tougher to sell a membership where you're not an expert in a particular subject Should you "fake it 'til you make it?" How leveraging other peoples expertise can make for an attractive membership offering Do all memberships need to teach something?

I think it's fair to say that we're pretty big fans of the membership model. You don't call yourselves "The Membership Guys" and dedicate yourself to teaching this stuff if you're not... But for all we love the whole world of running membership sites, as with any type of business there is an ugly side that you'll undoubtedly encounter at some point when running a membership of your own. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I talk about 3 "ugly" issues that we've recently had experience with for our own membership and our advice for dealing with it should those same problems come up for you. In this episode, I discuss: How to deal with "copycats" who take immitation too far and cross the line into plagiarism Why you shouldn't take attempts to prevent piracy too far What to do if your membership content is pirated, and your options to have illegal links removed Disputing false chargeback claims with your payment processor

Creating membership content can be one of the most time consuming parts of running a paid membership website. If you're billing people on a recurring basis, you need to deliver value on a recurring basis; and often delivering that value involves some form of content. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I discuss how to approach content strategy for your membership, and the steps to take in order to ensure your production process is streamlined so you're not constantly grinding to put out new content. In this episode, I discuss: Two key mindset shifts to embrace that will change how you approach your membership content What content you should be creating, and how to deliver more while actually REDUCING your workload The steps you need to take before hiring someone to help you to produce content The one thing that will make a monumental difference to your content production process