Are You Up for a Profitable Challenge?
Membership sites are NOT just for delivering online courses. They are the ideal way to deliver lead magnets that keep new opt-ins engaged and connected. If you follow the traditional format, the new contact opts-in. You have their email address and you can continue emailing them. If the person isn't interested in hearing from you, they unsubscribe. That ends it.
They got what they wanted and you get zero, zip, nada.
Let's try a different approach. Offer a lead magnet as a mini-course you drip out to them over several days. Consider building a challenge that takes 10, 15, 30 days to complete. You offer a lot of content they consume over over a period of time. This is very different from a one time e-book, PDF or video you send them. In order to get what it is they want, these new contacts must come back to your site over several days.
This changes the dynamics. You are sending them a series of email messages which is what you typically do when you send them a link to the lead magnet followed by additional email messages. What's different is you are sending them a series of emails that together get them what they requested. You aren't sending them and email and what could be considered SPAM. The second, third and additional emails are no longer messages they put up with. It's what they requested.
NOTE: I'm no lawyer, but this approach would be more GDPR Compliant than the other approach I describe. That's another up side of this approach.
Let's go over an example. I offer my mini-course called, "Building and Selling Your Online Course PROFITABLY." You can visit www.TheProfitableOnlineYou.com to get it. I'll explain how it works.
The mini-course contains five lessons. Each lesson consists of a 4 to 6 minute long video and copy on the corresponding topic. On day one, I send them a link to the overview (lesson 1). It gives them an overview of the mini-course. On that day, I also send them an email with a link to lesson 2 called, "Pricing Set Ups That Work." I get them started right away on the first two lessons.
The next day, I send them a message with a link to lesson 3, then lesson 4, then lesson 5 over the following three days. It's a five day drip sequence and, like I said before, it's a sequence they requested. It's not a follow up nurture sequence they have to put up with.
Since I have them on my memberships tie, I offer them additional items. The provide them with a section of the site dedicated to showing off our membership site portfolio. I provide them access to video tours of seven different membership sites we have built. They can request access to the portfolio by clicking a button. I also provide FREE access to a second mini-course called "7 Guiding Principles for Building Your Membership Site."
Since I've taken people to a mini-course that requires they come back over a several days, I keep a close watch on their activity on the site. The system provides me information on how engaged they are.
- Are they logging in every day?
- Are they requested access to the other sections of the site?
- Do they show behavior that they are very interested in what the site has to offer?
They don't know it, but each person is being watched closely This enables us to market to them based on their behavior.
I will explain more about this in another article. The point is you have a lead magnet that keeps people engage and keeps you in front of them showcasing your expertise and building credibility. You are also training them to expect valuable content from you that arrives via email messages from you.
This is not a bad way to introduce yourself to new prospects interested in what you have to offer.
Hope this helps!