Best Digital Marketing Tactics for Membership Websites

Digital marketing is the lifeblood of a successful membership website. No matter the size of your membership business, it is one of the best ways to expand your business.

However, to build your membership business and grow your revenue, you need the best digital marketing strategies by your side.

The problem is membership marketing strategies are dime a dozen. So picking one may seem hard. Well, you don’t have to pick one. The most effective tactics are intertwined and rely on each other’s strengths to succeed.

So, which membership marketing strategies will be best for your business and relevant for consumers today?

Find out more in our breakdown of the most effective membership digital marketing strategies for 2020.

How to Use Digital Marketing to Promote a Membership Website?

Membership websites are no different from marketing your online courses. In fact, you can use the same techniques with a little customization to promote your membership website.

There is nothing wrong with focusing on one thing like blogging or SEO. but to make the most of your efforts, you must juggle with as many marketing activities as possible. For example, here is a list of priorities juggled by professional marketers on a daily basis,

  • Content marketing – Blogs, content distribution etc
  • Visual marketing – Infographics
  • Video marketing – Webinars, how-to videos
  • Search engine marketing

The majority of marketers invest their time in websites, email marketing, event marketing, and even field sales. And so should you.

But what should you do?

Should you focus on blogging or SEO or invest all your efforts on social media?

Well, the right answer is ‘all of the above’

Here are some of the easiest digital marketing strategies to reach prospective members.

  • Focus on content marketing – These days, content marketing is the rage as they are one of the most promising ways to attract and convert prospects. According to wpforms, 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog. Writing blogs, creating ‘how-to’ videos on YouTube, and hosting webinars are some of the popular content marketing tactics for membership sites
  • Have a testimonial page – Dimensional Research says, 90% of people who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive online reviews influence their buying decisions. So, testimonials is a fantastic addition to your website as it humanizes your services and helps users take a leap of faith to trust you
  • Promote content on social media – According to IBM, 55% of buyers do research via social media. So, social media is a great way to attract potential members. You can either go via the organic way or through paid promotion on social media
  • Activate advocacy – Use referral marketing to attract new members. You can incentivize referrals by simply asking members to refer your organization and attaching a reward or use digital certificates to inspire referrals
  • Improve your membership offers – Make your membership structure more desirable by offering a free trial, short-term memberships, increment billing, giving a guarantee, and providing multiple tiers of membership
  • Search engine optimization – In today’s online world, SEO is one of the most effective digital marketing initiatives. According to Online Live Stats, Google receives over 77,000 searches per second.It helps to get more qualified traffic to your website. New SEO trends such as voice SEO also helps to improve your online visibility
  • Email marketing – According to OptinMonster, on average, email marketing has a 4400% ROI.The main goal of email marketing is to stay on top of your potential members mind and offer existing members’ useful information. You can send personalized content, like product coupons to keep them coming back
  • Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising – PPC is one of the most cost-effective paid advertising methods. According to smallbizgenius, Paid advertising returns $2 for every $1 spent – a 200% ROI rate. It can help you rank for high volume keywords and improve conversion optimization. When PPC is combined with SEO, it will amplify your marketing success

Phases of Membership Digital Marketing Success

You have to fit all your digital marketing strategies together and make sure they work. To do that, you can break down the plan into action steps by following 3 simple phases of membership digital marketing. Let’s take a look at them.

Membership Digital Marketing Phase 1: Preparation Work

This is the phase where you devote time to create your digital marketing launch materials. The main areas for which you’ll be creating content are landing pages, promotional graphics, emails, etc. All the creative work is completed at this stage so you can be fully prepared during the actual launch. You must also be prepared to write some extra content for an email or social media post during the launch phase.

A. Create a launch flow document

From the 1st point of contact to membership conversion, create a solid workflow. This will help you see the bigger picture and give you an idea of the possible ways through which members can come in. You can mind-map the launch flow to get a better view.

B. Create content

Now it’s time to craft your content. Refer to the flowchart to make sure you don’t forget to create content. Here are some different forms of content you can create to give an idea to your potential customers on how your actual paid membership will look like.

  • Email sequences
  • Video scripts, blog posts, or module previews of your membership site
  • Social media promotional copy
  • Sales and thank-you pages
  • Online advertisement copy Facebook ads, PPC etc
  • Content for live streaming video or sales webinar

C. Create graphics

Make sure you keep everything professional by creating innovative graphics. If you don’t have a professional by your side, then it is high time you hire a graphic designer. An experienced designer will help you create graphics as per the overall look and feel you want to achieve. Even though hiring a professional is an investment, it will definitely pay you off in the end.

D. Create email sequences

Once your content and graphics are ready, you can start creating email sequences. For instance, you can create sequences such as promotional sequence, purchase sequence, and shopping cart abandonment sequence. If this is hard, you can also get help from marketing automation experts.

E. Do a trial run

When all the necessary pages in your membership websites are live, you have to perform one important action, testing. Go through the op-in to purchase like an actual customer and see how everything works. There may be a few glitches, you’ll definitely be happy that you caught it before it went live.

Membership Digital Marketing Phase 2: Pre-Launch and Promotion

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This is the phase where you can pre-order offers to get the word out. In this membership digital marketing phase, you are actually building awareness and spreading the word to your soon to be members.

A. Make use of paid advertisements

Usually, any type of paid ad will work. But, the crucial thing is that your potential members must be active in that medium.

You can go one step ahead and segment your audience based on the cold audience who have never heard of you before, targeting ads on people who have already been on your site, and current members who know about you.

You can run ads on Facebook, Google, or Pinterest so that people can be aware of your free content. People can also register for the webinars you run so they can experience your teaching style.

B. Social media posts

Through paid ads, you can reach a bigger amount of audience, but you must never underestimate the power of social media. A well-crafted social media post can bring a lot of unexpected revenue. You have to keep one point in mind, not everyone will see your social media post, so make sure to schedule posts at different times.

C. Blog

Blogging is one of the best ways to bring organic traffic to your membership website. Without having a strong library of content, it will be hard to convince people to keep coming back. Also, you cannot post one be done. Blog writing is something that has to be done regularly.

D. Use your email list

Make use of the email list you have built and share the good news by sharing a series of emails to your subscribers. Similar to social media posting not all your subscribers will view your announcements. So schedule emails with more than one touchpoint.

E. Make use of affiliates

If you are an established membership website with an affiliate program in hand, then make use of it by sharing graphics and content with them so that they can present your membership website to their followers.

Membership Digital Marketing Phase 3: Launch

The launch begins soon after you start seeing the sales roll in. This stage is quite tricky. Even though you did a lot of preparation, there is still a lot to be done. So, stay present, keep an eye on the response, if necessary make changes to clarify a point or send an email to address concerns. Plus, if the results are not satisfying enough, make sure to revisit the flow chart and see where you can improve. Make sure to keep a ‘what worked’ and ‘what didn’t work list to make improvements next time.

What Type of Membership Websites Can Benefit From Digital Marketing?

Here are the various types of membership models that can benefit from digital marketing. They make up the majority of the membership sites that you will see.

  • Online course
  • Online community
  • Product membership websites
  • Service-based membership websites

Summarizing

Creating a membership website is exciting as it gives you an amazing way out to ditch the 9-5 job and become your own boss. No matter how well you have calculated the pricing structure of your membership website or created an excellent membership model, you still have to market it. Keep these following tips in mind,

  • Combine different digital marketing strategies to get the most out of your efforts
  • Membership websites need social proof, so make sure you display enough testimonials
  • Best marketing methods are always free, but the fastest way (ads) of promotion isn’t. Make sure you combine both to earn fruitful results
  • Create explainer videos and tutorials on YouTube to attract more crowd
  • Host webinars to drive up lead generation

Digital marketing needs a few tactical decisions, some bravery, and a lot of hard work. If you’re up for the challenge, that’s great. If not, you can always get help from professional digital marketing agencies. At ColorWhistle, our experts can formulate custom and result-driven digital marketing strategies. Whether you’re looking to increase sales, revenue, awareness, or loyalty, our team can help.

Get in touch or call us +1 (919) 234-5140 at any time. We can create a variety of digital marketing strategies to reach your unique goals.

Anjana
About the Author - Anjana

Anjana is a full-time Copywriter at ColorWhistle managing content-related projects. She writes about website technologies, digital marketing, and industries such as travel. Plus, she has an unhealthy addiction towards online marketing, watching crime shows, and chocolates.

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