Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

Facebook groups are a fantastic way of cultivating a community of like-minded people, all interested in a particular topic, product or problem. It's little wonder, then, that running such a group can be a highly effective strategy for membership site owners, for a wide variety of reasons. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I'm joined by Jill Stanton from Screw The Nine to Five, who shares her insight into not only running a popular, highly successful free Facebook group; but also how she leverages this to benefit her paid membership community. (Warning: this one gets a little bit sweary, so those of a sensitive disposition may want to give it a miss!) In this episode, Jill and I discuss: Running a free Facebook group vs using a group for your paid membership Advice on how to get people engaged and active in your group Tips and techniques for attracting new members to your Facebook group The specific strategy that Jill uses to get people from her Facebook group to join her membership website How Jill manages her time keeping on top of a 10,000 person strong free group as well as her paid community ...and loads more!  

You’ve got plenty of loyal members who continue to pay for your membership – but are you taking member retention for granted?Some members may be paying for your membership without any delays or issues, but that doesn’t mean that they are happy and satisfied. You can’t assume that just because somebody is continuing to pay, that it means they are 100% pleased with their experience. The truth is that inactive paying members probably don’t even realize they’re still paying for their subscription!So, what’s the best course of action if you think you’ve got paying members who could be getting closer to the exit door? On this episode of the podcast, I reveal exactly what you should do, and I share three main reasons why you shouldn’t take member retention for granted. Essential Learning Points:The real reasons why members who are not engaged with your membership continue to pay for itThree reasons why you should never take member retention for grantedWhy you need to make sure you deliver constant value with your membership siteImportant Links & Mentions:Creative ways to improve your member experience with Andrew & Pete Try these tactics to pre-empt and prevent member cancellationsThe Membership Economy with Robbie Kellman Baxter4 simple but effective ways to deliver massive value to your membersHow to increase engagement within your membership siteKey Quotes:“It's very easy to mistake somebody sticking around on your membership or the fact that someone continues to be a member, as an indicator that they're happy that they're engaged, that they're satisfied with what they're paying for.”“You need to make sure that you're always looking for ways to continuously add value, that you have that ongoing dialog with your members that you're regularly getting feedback.”“Some people will be paying you and will be continuing subscription without even realizing it.”

Cancellations are the one things most membership site owners hate and fear, but are also something we can't avoid - no matter how hard you try to hide the "cancel" button! Your onboarding, engagement and retention strategies are key to prolonging the member lifecycle - however another key thing to consider is that often your members will have common "drop-off points", where you're most at risk of losing them. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I discuss how you can identify your common member drop-off points, and more importantly what you can do to deal with them.  

Running an online membership removes the barriers for doing business around the world. Regardless of where you're based, your members will come from far and wide. This represents a huge opportunity for membership website owners to build a global brand. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I'm joined by Chris Ducker - founder of Youpreneur - to talk about his experiences in launching a membership site that is truly global.   In this episode, Chris and I discuss: Refining how you position yourself and an authority, and how to escape the "pigeon hole" The important of "serving" your community How launching a membership site has changed Chris' approach to live events and speaking gigs Chris' top tips for building a global brand with your membership site. ...and loads more!

With Valentines Day just passed, love is in the air, and in this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast I'm professing my deepest feelings for my one true love... the membership model. Tune in and find out why we're so enamoured with membership websites, and why they appeal to us far more than any other business model out there.

We've had countless people approach us over the years in need of help in figuring out why their membership site launch hasn't quite gone to plan; and in almost every case it's because they jumped head first into wrestling with membership plugins and creating content - skipping past the crucial task of actually evaluating and validating their idea. I'm joined on this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast by Pat Flynn, founder of the extremely popular Smart Passive Income blog and podcast; and author of the brand new book Will It Fly, which teaches you how to test your next business idea so that you don't waste your time and money. In this episode, Pat and I discuss: Why idea validation is so important for membership site owners Where to start if you have an idea and you're not sure how to figure out if it's worth pursuing What to do when you simply have more ideas than you can handle How to 'course-correct' if you've skipped the idea validation stage and you're now regretting it

Should your membership site always be open, or only open for limited periods throughout the year? It's a question that comes up frequently; and while we tend to fall on the side of having an "evergreen" membership that's always open, it's hard to deny the appeal of using the urgency and scarcity that are only typically effective with a limited-opening approach. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I discuss some ways in which evergreen membership site owners can utilise urgency and scarcity in their marketing strategy without having to close the doors of their site.

Retention is crucial for a successful membership site. It costs more to win a new member than it does to hang on to an existing one; so it stands to reason that you should have a strategy in place  for ensuring that your members stick around. In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast I discuss 3 specific tips and techniques that you can use to keep your members hooked and subscribed for longer.

As a recognised authority in your field, gaining access to you can be a major reason why people will join your membership website. This introduces a whole host of additional challenges when trying to run and grow your community. In this episode, I'm joined by James Schramko from SuperFastBusiness, who shares his insight and experience from years of running a successful membership site that leverages his own authority as a highly regarded expert in online business and marketing. In this episode, James and I discuss: How James went from managing a Mercedes Benz dealership to running a successful membership community The roadblocks that get in the way of people turning their ideas into reality Handling access to him and managing member expectations across multiple "tiers" of membership Building a larger business with your membership site at its core ...and a lot more!

If a membership site launches with no audience to notice, has it truly launched? In this episode we answer the much asked question of whether it's possible - or advisable - to launch a membership site when you do not have an audience. I also discuss why audience building is particularly important for membership website owners, as well as my top tips for how you can get started on building an audience for your site, fast.